MALLET

A sort of wooden hammer, too well known to need description. The mallet used by caulkers to drive the oakum into the seams is in general very different from that of shipwrights, as it is longer and more cylindrical, and is hooped with iron at each end of the head, to prevent its splitting and wearing in the exercise of caulking. Northcountry shipwrights, who generally practice both branches, use the last-mentioned mallet upon all occasions.