A Workshop's Gentle Persuader: The Rubber Mallet
Some kind of hammer is most likely the first tool most people accumulate, whether their destiny is to become a carpenter or a hedge fund manager on Wall Street. My first tool, which I still have more than fifty years later, was a wood-handled 16-oz finishing hammer. Now that one has been joined by all sorts of hammers, such as a classic Estwing rock hammer and an 8-pound sledge. All these metal hammers have hard heads, though, so whenever I run into an situation that requires a little finesse I break out my Stanley Rubber Mallet.
The Mallet's DesignI’m talking old-school design: the mallet isn’t a 21st-century technological wonder with Bluetooth and iOS 8.0; and it’s not constructed of miracle nanotech materials. It’s simply a cylindrical hunk of black rubber sitting on a simple wood handle made of hickory, like baseball bats once were, and given a coat of lacquer. The head has a little heft, weighing in at 18 ounces, and is made of a tough yet yielding synthetic rubber compound. The flat striking face is 2½ inches in diameter to reduce the chances of marring or denting a delicate-ish surface, but it still lets you smack something hard enough to nudge it in the right direction. |
