On 19/08/13 18:00, Oren wrote:
On Mon, 19 Aug 2013 09:44:17 -0600, "WW"
wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl8qfu-ojTQ

[...]
What a interesting video. Great craftsman work. WW
That was very interesting. Notice it stated to use a rawhide mallet -
pounding brass.

IIRC the show _ How It's Made_ had an episode on making tubas.
Fairly standard when you don't want to compress and stretch the material
to use a mallet head material softer than what you're working, rawhide
is suitable for brass, copper. When I was doing some metal smithing of
pewter in high school we used paper mallets as pewter (Britannia metal)
is very soft. Unfortunately the mill that made them was old, the market
small, and when OSHA wanted them to upgrade safety it wasn't worthwhile
so they closed the company. Nylon was used instead but had to be used
with care as it could mark pewter especially if the nylon surface was
damaged.