Drive chisels and strike work without damaging its surface. To avoid marring, choose a mallet with faces that are softer than your workpiece. Lighter weight mallets are good for tapping work into place and driving a chisel to make small cuts. Use heavier weight mallets when assembling joints, dislodging stuck parts, and making aggressive cuts with a chisel. Longer mallets allow for more powerful swings.

Rubber and plastic faces are softer than metal faces, so they're good for striking plastic, wood, and sheet metal. All have a face hardness rating for comparing their hardness with other rubber and plastic faces. Soft faces have a hardness similar to that of a tire tread. White rubber faces are nonmarking.

Aluminum and copper faces are harder than lead and softer than brass. Use them on brass, copper, aluminum, and steel.

Hickory handles resist vibration. Fiberglass handles combine the strength of steel with the vibration resistance of wood.

Textured and ribbed grips provide slip resistance.

Pair a body with two faces of different materials to create the perfect striking tool. Use mallets to drive chisels and strike work without damaging its surface. To avoid marring, use a face material that's softer than your workpiece. Lighter weight mallets are good for tapping work into place and driving a chisel to make small cuts. Use heavier weight mallets when assembling joints, dislodging stuck parts, and making aggressive cuts with a chisel. Longer mallets allow for more powerful swings.