A broad, square-edged block head rides on a long handle of pale wood that slims through the middle and swells into a full grip before a flared end, so your hand locks in and the weight of the head does the work. Built as a joiner's mallet, its end faces drive a chisel handle strike after strike, whether you are chopping out dovetail waste or driving a chisel through a mortise.

Reach for it to drive bench chisels, tap tenons and dowels home, knock a frame together or set a leather stamp. A wooden face is gentle on chisel handles and on the work in front of you. Each one is made by hand in Yacolt, Washington, by the woodworker behind Wood Forge, so no other head carries the same grain. Give it to the woodworker who still borrows a rubber mallet or a claw hammer for joinery.

Shop the small round-head mallet