Plastic mallet repair

Hi all,

Can anybody enlighten me on the best way to maintain or repair the
faces of a high impact plastic mallet? Mine is rather beaten up but
still has a lot of plastic left and the replacement heads are not
easily available where I live. Heating, sanding, sawing?? Any
suggestions?

John Bowling

Hi John:

Depending on what it’s made of, a coarse file should do it. (mill-
bastard coarse, not #0 swiss coarse. AKA: really coarse.) Failing
that, a belt sander with 80 grit should do nicely.

I mostly don’t worry about the faces of mallets unless they get
totally shredded. What are you doing with them?

Most of the plastics used for mallets wouldn’t respond to torch
supplied heat very well at all. Just grind/file it.

As a suggestion, order a bunch of replacement heads at a go, or
learn to make your own. (depending on the mallet, they can be pretty
trivial to make.) Failing that, solid plastic mallets aren’t that
hard to make either.

Where are you that supplies are an issue?

Regards,
Brian Meek.

Hi John, Use a file, emery paper and then polishing compound (tripli
or bobbing compound) to refinish your plastic hammer. Be very careful
polishing - no one needs a flying hammer.

Tom Arnold

Hi John,

Can anybody enlighten me on the best way to maintain or repair the
faces of a high impact plastic mallet? Mine is rather beaten up
but still has a lot of plastic left and the replacement heads are
not easily available where I live. Heating, sanding, sawing?? Any
suggestions? 

I generally put on a mask, and take it to the belt sander.
Alternatively, put it in a vise, and file, sand, or
rasp----depending on how much material needs to come off.

Cynthia Eid