I paid two dollars at an estate sale for the old hammer pictured above (and below). I assumed it was made by a company that is no longer in business. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Garland Manufacturing in Saco Maine is still making non-marring rawhide faced hammers. They've been making them in Saco since 1899! Better yet, Garland is a sixth generation family owned and operated business.
It appears from their website that Garland has managed to not only survive but even thrive over the years because they diversified into UHMW plastic products in the 1950s. They have a modern 84,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Saco.
I'm sure that rawhide mallets must now be a relatively small part of their business. I mean, how much demand is there for rawhide face mallets these days? Were Garland owned by a private equity company, those mallets would've been dropped years ago. So it is that the Garland family is to be commended for keeping their heirloom hammer business going!
The hammers are top-shelf (and priced accordingly). Even if you have absolutely no need for a non-marring mallet I recommend that you check out the mallet selection on Garland’s website. They are beautiful tools.
My two dollar find is a solid-head hammer. New rawhide inserts are still available (Garland sells all replacement parts) but an arbor press is needed to get them installed.
The better option (in my opinion), and surely more popular, would be Garland's split head hammers. The split head design allows you to simply loosen a locking nut to remove the rawhide. Plastic and copper faces are available.
You can purchase Garland’s split-head hammers at Amazon (new solid-head hammers are hard to find). The model 31001 split head is their smallest size (1.5 pounds) and comparable to my solid-head 41001. The 31001 currently sells for $100.
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