06-24-2016, 09:21 AM
The recent post on mallet finishing made me remember my favorite mallet tip. I was a young woodworker who had just finished college and was living in married student housing. My ex wife, The Plaintiff, was still in school but I had a job. During the search, I visited a cabinet shop in Durham and did a little dumpster diving on the way out. There were some luscious mahogany 8/4 cut offs. They musta been making some cabriole legs. Anyway, I loaded the back seat and made plans to carve a chess set. Huggins Hardware was on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill where I loved to browse. I saved up my change and bought a chisel for the project. It was a Stanley #60 3/8" butt chisel and was one of my prized tools (there we not many tools in the stable then). For Christmas, I got a carvers mallet from Constantine and was able to practice safe chisel work. One hand for the chisel and one hand for the mallet means no stabs. Somewhere I read a tip about covering the mallet head in tape. It softens the blow, keeps noise down, and lowers rebound. So I covered my mallet in friction tape. It was in the spring of 1972. Sometime in the 1990's, the friction tape glue began to fail and I covered that tape with duck tape. That means the tape covering has lasted about 44 years. It is a treasured shop tool that I use frequently. The tape makes it user friendly. Tape yer mallet is a highly recommended practice.
Both wrappings seem to be holding up well. The best news is that there have been NO chisel stabbings in 44 years.
Both wrappings seem to be holding up well. The best news is that there have been NO chisel stabbings in 44 years.
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Please visit my website
splintermaking.com
Please visit my website
splintermaking.com