Mallet or maul?

[chakotay]

I thought my old rubber mallet would suffice for tooling. But it has quickly started crumbling apart under the impact of blows leaving little flakes on the surface I have to constantly blow off. What's the consensus on mallets vs mauls? If I could only afford to buy one (which IS the situation,) what would give me the most bang for my buck?

[Camano Ridge]

When you ask for consensus I am not sure you truly will get one. It is kind of like asking what is better 9mm or .45 cal. I used a rawhide mallet for many years then I took the plunge and bought a maul. I now have two mauls of different weights. I will never go back to a mallet. For setting rivets, snaps etc. I use a dead blow hammer from harbor freight. A good maul will be more expensive then a mallet. however if you can afford it in my opinion a maul would be the way to go. At first I was hesitant because of the round instead of flat surface. However I found the use of the maul to be intuitive. I have never had a missed hit or anything like that. There are several makers of mauls. I bought mine for Bearman Mauls/leatherburnishers.com   http://www.leatherburnishers.com/BearMauls.html

[rickk]

Never used a maul so I don't know how well they work.

I have been using one of those orange urethane covered dead blow hammers for about 15 years now on  regular basis and it still looks almost good as new. Mine is 2#, your preference may be a bit different +-. The heavy weight means that it does most of the work when it comes down and you can focus on accuracy rather than power.

[Octagonal Barrel]

+1 to Rickk's comment if you're on a budget.  I don't do a lot of leatherwork or tooling, but I do a little, and I use an orange 3 lb. deadblow hammer, too.  Got it at Harbor Freight for a good price.  One good blow sets the stamp pattern just fine.

[David Carrico]

Barry King Tools

[Dalton Masterson]

For me it depends on the work I am doing. If I am stamping heavier leather, I like my rawhide headed maul for most of my holster work, but when I am working on something lightweight, I switch to my light rawhide hammer.
I don't like the nylon/delrin headed tools though, as they seem to make a much sharper noise than the gentle thud of rawhide.
DM

[St8LineLeatherSmith]

I think Camino Ridge answered correctly,six of one and half a dozzen of the other
I use a one pound head maul for stamping/tooling and a mallet for setting hardware
I can accurately strike the tool with the maul while my eyes are focusing on the stamp placement and the extra weight of the maul makes for heavier blows with less effort, IOW i dont wear my arm out swinging as fast with a maul.

[Slowhand Bob]

My biggest mistakes were always made when I went with to light a tool for the job.  I always try to make up for the loss of weight by swinging harder, which frequently ends in a whopped hand or project.  Which ever style you choose, I like both but use them for different jobs, get the heavier first.  It is easier to learn to use reduced blows on tiny sufaces than it is to master a light tool needing to strike mighty blows.  Like some have mentioned above, for really heavy work there are some good cheep alternative striking tools.     

[Graveyard Jack]

Most rubber mallets are going to be way too light and too soft for tooling. I don't think I'll ever go back to a mallet. I use a pair of Barry King tapered mauls. A 28oz for tooling and light work and a 64oz for punching and setting. Wouldn't mind a slightly heavier maul for stamping.

[KidTerico]

I have 4 different weights of Barry King mauls and love them. KT