Leathercraft
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Tooling & Stamping

Mallet / Maul

A striking tool used to drive stamps, punches, and chisels into leather, chosen by weight and head material for the job at hand.

Nearly every struck tool in leatherwork — stamps, pricking irons, stitching chisels, drive punches — needs something to strike it with, and that's the job of a mallet or maul. The two terms get used loosely and overlap in casual conversation, but there's a real distinction: a mallet typically has a cylindrical or barrel-shaped head, while a maul has a rounder, domed head and a weighted, balanced design meant to drive force straight down through the tool with less bounce-back on the swing.

Head material matters as much as shape. Rawhide heads are soft and forgiving, ideal for stamping and tooling where finesse matters more than raw force — the slight give in the material absorbs some shock rather than transmitting all of it straight into a delicate stamp. Poly or nylon heads are firmer and better suited to setting rivets or driving heavier punches, where a bit more authority is useful.

Types

  • Rawhide mallets — soft, shock-absorbing heads, the standard choice for stamping and tooling.
  • Poly/nylon mallets and mauls — firmer, better for rivet setting, drive punches, and heavier chisel work.
  • Wood mallets — traditional and inexpensive, though less forgiving than rawhide on delicate stamp work.
  • Rubber mallets — a basic, widely available option that won't damage metal tool heads.

How to use it

  1. Match the mallet to the job — light, controlled taps for stamping and tooling, firmer blows for punches and chisels that need to fully penetrate leather in one or two hits.
  2. Let the weight of the tool do the work rather than swinging hard from the shoulder; leatherwork striking is closer to a controlled tap-tap-tap than a hammer blow.
  3. Strike squarely on the top of the tool being driven — an off-angle hit is a common cause of chipped chisel or stamp edges.

💡 Tip

A new rawhide mallet often needs breaking in — a few minutes of striking it against a rough surface like concrete or brick roughens the factory finish and exposes the softer material underneath, giving better shock absorption from the start.

Care

Keep mallet heads dry, since rawhide in particular can harden, crack, or mildew if it stays damp. Wood handles should be checked periodically for looseness where they meet the head. A head that's become hard or glossy from years of use can often be lightly roughened again the same way a new one is broken in.

Sources