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  #1  
Old 11-30-2011, 03:26 PM
chappys4life chappys4life is offline
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Default mallet & slappers question

I am a new guy here and have been looking at slappers and mallets lately as I do not own any. I have seen people make wooden mallets from baseball bats and slappers from leaf springs but my questions are:

Mallets - wood or plastic?
Slappers - wood or metal?

I do not understand when or why one would be better over the other so I was hoping to gain some insight as I have no experience.
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Old 11-30-2011, 04:14 PM
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Joe Hartson Joe Hartson is offline
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The answer to your question is it depends on what you are working on what you are trying accomplish.

Hammers made from a baseball bat is very good for shaping in a beater bag. There are hammers made out of aluminum with plastic inserts of different shapes that fit in the ends. Joe Andrews at Hoosier Profiles is making a nice one. Take a look at this thread, http://www.allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=4664 The plain UHMW mallets are usually too light in weight to move metal very fast.

Same thing for slappers, both metal and wood are used. Metal is usually used for steel and wood for aluminum. The wooden slappers are also used to help straighten beaded panel to make them flat.

Since you are new to this take a look at this thread. http://www.allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=2926

The Search button is your friend on this site. Use it to help answer you initial question it will save you a lot of time and effort.
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Old 11-30-2011, 04:58 PM
Peter Tommasini Peter Tommasini is offline
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HI Bud Ihave been using steel slapper and wood mallets for40 years and I am quite happy whith them. I use mallets for alluminium and steel slapper for metal work
Peter
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Old 11-30-2011, 05:49 PM
robert robert is offline
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i have very little experiance using slappers
and i have never made a metal finish that didnt need bondo or thick primer
came close often but never really there
maybe a good understanding of slappers and how to use gets me to the final destination

so a thread like show your e wheel would be nice in show your slappers
with maybe in addition wich slapper would work best on different type of panels
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Old 11-30-2011, 08:18 PM
hp246 hp246 is offline
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I've been a woodworker for years. When I first got into metal shaping, I figured it would be pretty easy to build my own wood mallets and slappers. I tried laminating my first mallets, and used ash handles. The ash handles worked great. I'd stay away from trying to laminate the heads though, as the heads split because of the repeated pounding. I've used solid oak turned on a lathe and it seems to work pretty well. I want to try some maple the next time around. I used the same oak to make some slappers for aluminum. It seems to work OK, but I have had some issues with the oak splitting. Next time around, I will try maple and ash for the slappers.

I have some old leaf springs that I am looking forward to making into some slappers for steel.
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Old 12-01-2011, 02:24 PM
chappys4life chappys4life is offline
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Thanks for the info guys its starting to make more sense. Looks like I will buy a rubber mallet and make a slapper for now. I do not plan on using aluminum anytime soon but can get the tools later if I do.

Now to work out the stump, tuck forks, or tuckpuck now. So many new things t learn.
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Old 12-01-2011, 06:50 PM
Richard-S Richard-S is offline
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One of the best woods for mallets is Hickory. It is very resistant to splitting. Oak splits quite easily. There are Hickory trees all over Richmond, Virginia. I grew up there.
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Old 12-01-2011, 08:41 PM
hp246 hp246 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard-S View Post
One of the best woods for mallets is Hickory. It is very resistant to splitting. Oak splits quite easily. There are Hickory trees all over Richmond, Virginia. I grew up there.
I will give Hickory a try next time around.
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Old 12-02-2011, 11:31 AM
chappys4life chappys4life is offline
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Good to know I will have to see if I can find a stump.
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Old 12-02-2011, 07:04 PM
invision invision is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard-S View Post
One of the best woods for mallets is Hickory. It is very resistant to splitting. Oak splits quite easily. There are Hickory trees all over Richmond, Virginia. I grew up there.
Clint Eastwood beats gang of thugs senseless with hickory stick in Pale Rider then exclaims "Nothing like a good piece of hickory." So it must be good for metal shaping too
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