Tape yer mallet
#5
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.

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#6
That was durable tape!

I once got a deadblow mallet that left black marks, so I swaddled it in tape. That has prevented black marks for several decades, though not 4.4. I don't think it's on the original tape still.
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#7
Good tips, esp. regarding hand placement.

Not following that tip, along with rushing to finish a (DT pine jewelry box) present, led to 4 stitches and an ER visit for me this past Christmas Eve.

I sure remember Franklin street, also. Esp. "Town Hall." Around '74-'75.

Eric
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#8
Pick from a number of colors and patterns if you get the type of friction tape they use to tape hockey sticks.
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
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