Once more... Mauls

oh, and btw, on the earlier link i posted about the rawhide maul: the german shop has updated their website... it is once again and ivan item (i think they are taiwan made). so a no go for me... eyeing that craft japan maul now instead (i am quite satisfied with the stitching prongs)... geez... gotta win the lottery...
 
Very much so, thank you. Its difficult to judge a tool by just looking at it. Getting another smacky mallet in my shop would be very disappointing.
 
just a note of random awesomeness, my favourite leather shop over here will now stock barry king items / act as a reseller, at very reasonable prices... so now the question is, what weight of maul to pick?
 
vilePossum said:
just a note of random awesomeness, my favourite leather shop over here will now stock barry king items / act as a reseller, at very reasonable prices... so now the question is, what weight of maul to pick?
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What are ya gonna be whacking? That is great news. You'll love it.

I only have the 1lb so I can't really comment, but it's probably clear that I like it with basket weaves, camos and the like. :)
 
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Omega Leather Works said:
What are ya gonna be whacking? That is great news. You'll love it.

I only have the 1lb so I can't really comment, but it's probably clear that I like it with basket weaves, camos and the like. :)
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well i guess my usual 2.5mm leather with the craft japan tools and maybe the occasional cat... :p
na, i signed up for pre order for the 16oz round maul with the tapered head.
 
vilePossum said:
well i guess my usual 2.5mm leather with the craft japan tools and maybe the occasional cat... [emoji14]
na, i signed up for pre order for the 16oz round maul with the tapered head.
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Sweet! Looking forward to pics and your thoughts on the taper. It was a hard decision to go with round, but I figure 10, 000 Elvis fans can't be wrong. :)
 
I would find a place where I can walk in and handle BK tools a very dangerous place indeed. It would knock very big holes in my wallet.
 
Heard about a 3 pound Stohlman on clearance at my local Tandy. Very much wondering if I should snag it for future use or passing on. Its a little heavy for my uses, but you never know.
 
Horsewright said:
Here's Nichole's BK. She was flower carving these chink tops for me. Her chunk of granite is 18" x 24" x 3". Weighs 200 lbs. Sometimes if I'm good I get to come into her office and use "The Rock"

HQXQ9Wl.jpg
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what are those round padded thingies for? elbow rests?
 
Those round thingies are either shot or lead filled weights, leather covered for use to hold down smaller items when tooling because you need both hands when tooling. You'll find them on most pros' bench.

Paul
 
sheathmaker said:
Those round thingies are either shot or lead filled weights, leather covered for use to hold down smaller items when tooling because you need both hands when tooling. You'll find them on most pros' bench.

Paul
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An old timer will call that a paper weight. The name goes back to before the days of air conditioning when the windows stayed open all the time.

Yes it's true, I'm showing my age!
 
Yep they are shot filled. We use em for all kinds of things. Nichole mostly uses them when tooling as Paul outlined. I use them to hold down patterns while tracing onto leather, I use them to hold the side flat when laying out cutting and then rough cutting from the side. I will also place them in front of my cutting board to help hold it in place while doing detailed cutting. I also use them a lot like Woodworker said to hold things down from blowing around. It can get breezy here. In fact buying shot here in Tehachapi is tough because of that and we pay a premium for it. All the windmill maintenace companies buy it up to balance the blades. Guess a guy could use sand. Here's a shot in use:

ppbb1h4.jpg


Couple belts Nichole was working on and she was intrugued by the difference, a side by side comparsion of Wickett and Craig on the left and Herman Oak on the right.
 
I had the privilege to work on The Lady Barbara. A 65 foot all wooden pirate ship back in 1986. She was a new construction, fully rigged pirate ship getting ready to go to New Your for the 200 year celebration in 1986. What an honor for a young carpenter. She was floating in Snug Harbor, St. Petersburg, Fla. by the time I joined on. We worked on her 24/7

The reason I had to tell you all that was when it came to for the "sculpter" to carve out the handrails that came down from the upper deck and curled around to the lower deck, you should of seen the chisels that old man had and the leather mauls. His, as I recall, were all leather on the tops, tapered at the lower end and got larger towards the top. He carved the handrails out "in place." He was a true craftsman, artist, sculpter, carver, whittler..you name and he was it. Dying art it was for the most part.
 
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Here is my "mystery maul" I bought this thing years ago from Tandy before they went to the Stohlman line. It had no box but the nice thing was the store had spare heads on hand. I need to check and see if they still have those. I bet not.

Looks like from another thread here it may be a Maul Master brand?





Its a poly maul yes, but it does give less of that loud POP when it strikes. Not sure why, but it does. Its nearly 3 pounds, on my scale it comes in at 2 pounds 12 ounces.

How does this one compare to yours Dave? I assume this is an older version of yours?
 
Dave, a side note on the Wickett&Craig vs Herman Oak. I know you know, but the other guys might not. Another side by side with two different sides from the same tanners with different humidity and temperature etc. could yield a completely reverse comparison. I have found that now days the best you can hope for from a given tanner is "generalities" as in they are "generally" consistent from the same tanner but not always.

The relatively unstable and unsure hide market, I believe, is the major cause for this. Due to droughts and rancher sell offs of significant parts of their herd and mostly the older ones, more younger and smaller cattle coming to market vs the mature cattle. The yield is smaller sides and different tanned quality…now the ranchers are rebuilding their herds so there are fewer hides coming in for an even larger consumer market, hence the perfect storm for higher leather prices and some spotty quality.

Paul
 
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So, according to my local Tandy, they are discontinuing the Stolhman line of mauls. I'm very curious if they will replace them with something different or something redesigned or nothing at all.

Going to have to talk with my contact at TLF. I'll chime back in when, and if, I hear something relevant.

Honestly the quality has dropped a little from the first one I got to the most recent available. The most telling is the logo machined in the top weight, or is it cast? Either way its not as sharp and clear as it used to be. The other I looked at the handle was drilled offset so the washer and nut weren't set in the middle.

Both my older mauls came in a nice box, the new stuff comes in a blister pack? I know, packaging doesn't count but jeeze.
 
Packaging probably shouldn't matter, but it does to me. The BK's come with no packaging, but they are a smaller entity than TLF so I forgive them. :D

Speaking of packaging, my favorite photo on BF is from a customer that was selling his knife he included the sheath, and in the pic was the burlap that I wrap and tie sheaths in. I stencil my logo along with a hand written "custom" on the front. No big deal but I know packaging does matter to some.

Dwayne, have you seen any origin markings on the package? I'm not sure I've seen anything at my local store that is US made other than, possibly, their high end stamps and things like the Speedy Stitcher, which has nothing to do with Tandy from a manufacturing standpoint. To be fair, I didn't exactly inspect their offerings, but you can just tell on certain things.

If I ever get better (I'm having my doubts) I could do a little passaround with the BK maul. At least then you could compare it directly to what you use now.
 
Looks like these are made in China, I wonder if the varied sanctions are causing issues with import. I'm very curious if they will replace them with anything.

They used to carry a lot of Osbourn tools, not so many these days.

This new Pro line of tools do look good, rather pricey but good. Tandy seems to be returning to a push toward offering something for the professional, but still having those cheap tools for the crafter.

The US made tools and leather, or lack thereof has been a sore point with them for a long time. They slowly took out US made stuff in favor of cheaper imports. Call it the post Sam Walton Wal Mart system. And the reason they died out for so long, I'd wager. The management is still not happy unless the profits are flowing, a long time complaint from the store managers.
 
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