#1
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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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Bud |
#2
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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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Joe Hartson There is more than one way to go to town and they are all correct. |
#3
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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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P.Tommasini Metalshaping tools and dvds www.handbuilt.net.au Metalshaping clip on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEAh91hodPg Making Monaro Quarter panel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIpOhz0uGRM |
#4
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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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robert veldman |
#5
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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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Mike |
#6
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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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Bud |
#7
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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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Richard When I die heaven can wait, I want to go to McMaster-Carr. My sculpture web page http://www.fantaciworks.com |
#8
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I will give Hickory a try next time around.
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Mike |
#9
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Good to know I will have to see if I can find a stump.
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Bud |
#10
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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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Nick M. Some more projects: http://www.facebook.com/iNVisionPrototypes https://www.instagram.com/invisionprototypes https://www.youtube.com/c/iNVisionPrototypes |
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