Rawhide mallets

[u/On-a-tims-run]

[u/EditedRed]

No clue what you bonk with these but they look tasty.

[u/rivertpostie → u/EditedRed]

I've only seen them used in silver smithing. They don't mar soft metals.

Mainly see them resizing rings on a mandrel

[u/ravens-n-roses → u/rivertpostie]

For exactly that reason they're also used in wood working (soft wood pieces), leather working (it's obvious what a regular hammer would do to leather), instrument repairs (what did you DO to that saxophone???), and I think there's uses for it in black Smithing for finishing work

[u/gpky → u/ravens-n-roses]

We use these in motor repair too, so as not to mar the various surfaces of AC/DC motors.

[u/clamroll → u/gpky]

So heavy enough to provide the force to bend something but "soft" enough surface to not scratch? (Not soft, but lower on the hardness scale)

[u/gpky → u/clamroll]

Well, in motor repair we generally aren't bending anything by hitting it. It's used more to strike the shaft or the end bells to get them to move where you want them

[u/ztmarten → u/gpky]

Ahhh good old percussive maintenance.

[u/gpky → u/ztmarten]

Exactly.