For the last couple of years I have been looking for a quality carpenters mallet.

The best I can find are lightweight softwood or at best poor quality hardwood mallets.

I came across some nice, well aged, hardwood yesterday and proceeded to make a hardwood carpenters mallet.

Sounds easy, but the tapered mortice is not the easiest to make.
If it's wrong, you have wrecked the mallet head, no way back.
But with care, and using my best, freshly sharpened, chisel, it turned out near perfect.

I now have a hardwood mallet, much heavier than the crap in the shops.
I have sone hardwood left over, so I'm planning on making a 1/2 size for detailed work.

Kat wrote on Oct 29^th, 2021 at 8:03am:


Yes, good tools make the job easier and generally don't fail.

I spend up big on quality tools where I know accuracy or function is important.
But I'm happy to purchase cheap stuff where I just need it for roughing out or I know it's going to be abused.
My cordless tools, drills, impact driver, torque driver, circular saw and angle grinders are all Dewalt.
My table saw is an old Triton I purchased years ago, it's accuracy has never let me down.
All my spanners are Sidchrome,  except for a couple that my sone bought me.

But I also have a reciprocating saw, jig saw and a couple of other tools that are Ozito.
Cheap and nasty, but never used for accurate jobs.
Surprisingly reliable too, never an issue..

Oh, and I made a mini carpenters mallet yesterday when I was bored.
It's the smallest I can make unless I make a couple of tiny chisel to make the mortice.
I'll take a picture when I get a chance.
It's quite cute.

Redmond Neck wrote on Oct 29^th, 2021 at 12:28pm:


The reason I went Dewalt is because I have no confidence in Ryobi.
The two Ryobi tool I had were, at best, problematic.
Makita were seriously overpriced considering their reliability issues. My son in law is a Makita convert, however he has had a couple of dogs that took forever to resolve.
Bosch, not a chance in hell
AEG were overpriced as well.

We used Dewalt in the workshop where I worked.
They were given seriously brutal treatment, after just a few months they looked like they were years old.
Have you ever seen a 1/2 inch drive extension snapped?
We had 3 and 1,1/4 impact sockets were purchased in bulk.
I saw them dropped from machines onto the concrete floor.
I saw some drowned in hydraulic oil and even engine oil.
They washed them out, let them dry and were used without failure.

Some did die.
One after an 40 ton mining machine ran over it, I don't think that counts.
But in a workshop of 80 people and hundreds of Dewalt tools.
I can forgive 4 or 5 giving up the ghost.

Now, most of these older Dewalt were not the brushless type.
And some were even older electric tools.
But I was suitably impressed.

One of my chargers died a month off 12 months.
Took it back and was handed a brand new one, thank you, come again.
That for me is a good outcome.

I also understand your comment about the "cheaper" Dewalt tools.
But careful buying and research ensures I get the best, even for a little more.

All this aside, one should not discount the old Bunnings Ozito tools.
If you plan to abuse it or just need it for some rough work, they seem to be more than adequate.
My first reciprocating saw was an Ozito, only needed it to chop up a tree.
That poor tool was pushed to it's absolute limit.
Sent 3, 4ah batteries flat and the tool go so hot I could barely hold it.
It still works, perhaps a little noisier than new, but I have found it a remarkably useful tool.
I'm saving for a Dewalt one, I can only hope it's as good.

Valkie wrote on Oct 23^rd, 2021 at 2:58pm:


You been visiting Bobby?

peccar head has finally lost it.

When are you leaving like you promised?

Take your socks with you.