The head on these mallets is loaded with metal shot for added weight and a controlled impact with minimal rebound. Use them to drive chisels and strike work without damaging its surface. To avoid marring, choose a mallet with a face 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. All have a textured or ribbed grip for slip resistance.

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 plastic faces. Hard faces have a hardness similar to that of a bowling ball.

Fiberglass handles combine high strength with good vibration resistance.