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February 29 Information
Mallet
I have a use for a small mallet. Whats the smallest I can get?--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 00:04, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
See
Mallet. The smallest (but definitely not the cheapest) that
Amazon sell is a dental mallet - slightly larger and much cheaper ones are also available, and other on-line retailers have similar product ranges. "Jewelers Hammer" is a useful search term.
Tevildo (
talk) 00:18, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
Doesn't "Whats the smallest I can get?" refer to the smallest one that's commercially available? --
Jack of Oz[pleasantries] 09:17, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
There are people who make bespoke tools, so the smallest one you can buy is determined by the size you want it to be. You can have miniature tools made for dolls houses if you want. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
109.150.174.93 (
talk) 09:31, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
Well, this is a bit more nuanced than that. The smallest possible "mallet" would (I'm sure) be some nanotechnological wonder made from a few dozen atoms. But our OP clearly needs this for some purpose - so we need a WORKING mallet...and that imposes some restrictions I think.
Let's think about the consequences of making a tiny mallet. I own a laser cutter, I can machine bits of wood to a precision of 1/30th of a millimeter and a 1/10th millimeter 'kerf'. I could certainly manufacture a mallet with a head that's (say) a 3mm wooden cube with (let's say) a 1x1x10mm cuboid handle pushed through the middle of it. But at this point, the resulting tool would be too small to comfortably hold - and it would be exceedingly lightweight. The objective of a mallet (or hammer of any kind) is to magnify the forces you can exert with your hands by turning a long-duration low-force swing into a short-duration high-force impact.
So the weight of the head and the length of the shaft become important issues for the mechanical advantage that the tool provides. If the mechanical advantage is less than ~1, then it's not really a functional mallet anymore.
Note particularly, that if the mallet is merely a scale model of a 'traditional' sized tool - when you halve the linear dimensions, you reduce the mass of the head by a factor of 8. So going from a 10cm head to my 3mm laser-cut mallet head reduces the mass by a factor of 37,000! So the impulsive force delivered by my micro-mallet is TINY...far, far less than you could get by pushing on something with your finger.
You can kinda fix that by not making a traditional wooden mallet - and going with denser materials. Of course at that point, what you have is a "hammer" and not a "mallet" - but still there comes a point where even the densest available metals don't give you enough heft for the tool to have any mechanical advantage.
So at some point, while I'm quite sure you could make a nano-technology mallet with just a few dozen atoms and claim the record for the "smallest possible" - I'm also rather sure that it would be functionally useless. So the quest really boils down to asking what the smallest functionally useful "hammer" is...and I'd bet that a watchmaker's mallet would be it.
Of course, your objective might be to limit the amount of force you can exert. That would kinda be the opposite of what a mallet traditionally does - but I'm sure there is a better way to do that with some different kind of tool.
A
selection of mini hammers actually available on-line includes a tiny 2 oz. Toolmaker's Mallet and a 1.5 oz. hammer for model railroading, ship modeling, dollhouse miniatures, etc.
AllBestFaith (
talk) 15:42, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
I don't think Barbie uses tools. She's too busy getting dressed. KägeTorä - (影虎) (
もしもし!) 16:42, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
OP here. Well sorry I havent been back (busy). What I need is a small wooden mallet with a striking surface about 1.5 in * 1.5 in and a couple oz in weight for best effect I think. Where can I get one?--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 01:07, 1 March 2016 (UTC)reply
Such mallets are widely available -
this is Amazon's offering,
this and
this are products from other retailers.
Tevildo (
talk) 09:23, 1 March 2016 (UTC)reply
Hey I only want to ripen my partners plums, not pummel them into mush!--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 16:58, 1 March 2016 (UTC)reply
Still not quite right. Something like the paddle but with a bit of weight at the end would be ok. I need it to bounce off the plums a bit to transfer the correct momentum. TT bats are far too large to fit into the available space.--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 01:08, 2 March 2016 (UTC)reply
Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the
current reference desk pages.
February 29 Information
Mallet
I have a use for a small mallet. Whats the smallest I can get?--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 00:04, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
See
Mallet. The smallest (but definitely not the cheapest) that
Amazon sell is a dental mallet - slightly larger and much cheaper ones are also available, and other on-line retailers have similar product ranges. "Jewelers Hammer" is a useful search term.
Tevildo (
talk) 00:18, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
Doesn't "Whats the smallest I can get?" refer to the smallest one that's commercially available? --
Jack of Oz[pleasantries] 09:17, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
There are people who make bespoke tools, so the smallest one you can buy is determined by the size you want it to be. You can have miniature tools made for dolls houses if you want. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
109.150.174.93 (
talk) 09:31, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
Well, this is a bit more nuanced than that. The smallest possible "mallet" would (I'm sure) be some nanotechnological wonder made from a few dozen atoms. But our OP clearly needs this for some purpose - so we need a WORKING mallet...and that imposes some restrictions I think.
Let's think about the consequences of making a tiny mallet. I own a laser cutter, I can machine bits of wood to a precision of 1/30th of a millimeter and a 1/10th millimeter 'kerf'. I could certainly manufacture a mallet with a head that's (say) a 3mm wooden cube with (let's say) a 1x1x10mm cuboid handle pushed through the middle of it. But at this point, the resulting tool would be too small to comfortably hold - and it would be exceedingly lightweight. The objective of a mallet (or hammer of any kind) is to magnify the forces you can exert with your hands by turning a long-duration low-force swing into a short-duration high-force impact.
So the weight of the head and the length of the shaft become important issues for the mechanical advantage that the tool provides. If the mechanical advantage is less than ~1, then it's not really a functional mallet anymore.
Note particularly, that if the mallet is merely a scale model of a 'traditional' sized tool - when you halve the linear dimensions, you reduce the mass of the head by a factor of 8. So going from a 10cm head to my 3mm laser-cut mallet head reduces the mass by a factor of 37,000! So the impulsive force delivered by my micro-mallet is TINY...far, far less than you could get by pushing on something with your finger.
You can kinda fix that by not making a traditional wooden mallet - and going with denser materials. Of course at that point, what you have is a "hammer" and not a "mallet" - but still there comes a point where even the densest available metals don't give you enough heft for the tool to have any mechanical advantage.
So at some point, while I'm quite sure you could make a nano-technology mallet with just a few dozen atoms and claim the record for the "smallest possible" - I'm also rather sure that it would be functionally useless. So the quest really boils down to asking what the smallest functionally useful "hammer" is...and I'd bet that a watchmaker's mallet would be it.
Of course, your objective might be to limit the amount of force you can exert. That would kinda be the opposite of what a mallet traditionally does - but I'm sure there is a better way to do that with some different kind of tool.
A
selection of mini hammers actually available on-line includes a tiny 2 oz. Toolmaker's Mallet and a 1.5 oz. hammer for model railroading, ship modeling, dollhouse miniatures, etc.
AllBestFaith (
talk) 15:42, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
I don't think Barbie uses tools. She's too busy getting dressed. KägeTorä - (影虎) (
もしもし!) 16:42, 29 February 2016 (UTC)reply
OP here. Well sorry I havent been back (busy). What I need is a small wooden mallet with a striking surface about 1.5 in * 1.5 in and a couple oz in weight for best effect I think. Where can I get one?--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 01:07, 1 March 2016 (UTC)reply
Such mallets are widely available -
this is Amazon's offering,
this and
this are products from other retailers.
Tevildo (
talk) 09:23, 1 March 2016 (UTC)reply
Hey I only want to ripen my partners plums, not pummel them into mush!--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 16:58, 1 March 2016 (UTC)reply
Still not quite right. Something like the paddle but with a bit of weight at the end would be ok. I need it to bounce off the plums a bit to transfer the correct momentum. TT bats are far too large to fit into the available space.--
31.109.183.147 (
talk) 01:08, 2 March 2016 (UTC)reply