Reddit reviews TEKTON 30812 Double-Faced Soft Mallet, 35 mm

I'm not a huge fan of hook knives as I prefer to carve seasoned hardwoods rather than green, so I prefer gouges instead. I love my set of Flexcut Deluxe Palm Set for detail work, well worth the investment for me with excellent steel, quality, and fit/finish. The only problem is the relative small size, making large amounts of stock removal a chore even with a mallet. I plan to invest in a set of Flexcut's mallet tools next and use larger antique carving gouges for that task. As for a mallet, I love my Wood is Good mallet for gouges, and a chisel hammer for bench chisels. The carving mallet allows you to put different angles and power behind your blows for carving, while the chisel hammer lets you connect very squarely.

For me at least, a spokeshave is a must for contouring the outer bowl and handle. I prefer a good antique Stanley 53 as you can adjust the mouth to quickly dial in depth of cut. They are affordable on the secondhand market and depending on where you live can be found at flea markets and antique shops. Veritas also makes multiple models that i have heard great things about and plan to purchase one of those in the future as well.

Rather than an axe, I prefer a small draw knife for roughing work. I currently have the Flexcut 5" which isn't bad if you can get it on sale, but it is a bit smaller than I would like. Currently on the lookout for a larger antique one at a good price. If I am going to use an axe, I like a sharp hewing hatchet, as it is easier to get the bevel to bite accurately without gouging too deeply.

A good carving knife is beneficial, but I find myself using my bench chisels for that work more often. You don't need to go too crazy here as they are very simple tools, and you can get sets on Amazon for cheap. I like my VonHaus set, and have heard good things about Narex as well. I have a set of Flexcut carving knives but honestly find the pelican knives useless and would much rather have something else, but do use the carving knife and detail knife on occasion. Wish this set would have come with any other 2 knives.

Whatever tools you decide on, invest equally in your sharpening system. The best tools on the planet aren't worth anything if they dull and you can't bring them back to a pristine edge, especially in seasoned hardwoods. Tools that allow you to control depth of cut are going to give you a more precise and evenly contoured look, whereas tools without depth control will give you a more rustic and uneven look. Each has their place and are fun to explore and mix. I prefer symmetrical, even shapes normally but love to switch it up and try new techniques. If you don't have the cash to make big purchases, start scouring local flea markets and antique shops. Normally there is at least one booth at flea markets specializing in cheap old tools which you will need to learn to restore. There is usually at least one antique shop as well that specializes in old tools (some woodworking specifically) that you want to search for. Be careful though, acquiring and restoring antique tools can end up being just as fun as using them. If you have any questions, just let me know!

If you buy from PSA, I'd recommend using a pre-paid credit card, as they've had site security issues in the past.

I think by "80% lower" you may have been thinking of a stripped lower, where all you have is the aluminum lower, with none of the controls installed. A stripped lower is s great place to start! YouTube has a bunch of easy how-to videos. I recommend /u/nsz85 videos, which I used for my first build.

Some other things you'll want to have handy:

Vice Block for Lower

Vice Block for Upper

Roll pin starter kit

Rubber Mallet

Torque Wrench

These are the basics, and once you buy them, you'll never have to buy them again for future builds. There's other tools out there to consider, but get you started.

Best of luck!

EDIT: shit, how could I forget the AR Wrench!

I bought one of these a while ago from an Amazon vendor. It's heavy as fuck, but does the job.

EDIT: Don't know if you need other tools, but this seems like a pretty good deal too, since it also includes vise blocks and a front sight tool for not much more.

EDIT #2: You'll also want a roll pin punch set if you don't already have one. A roll pin starter set and a rubber/plastic mallet are nice to have but not absolutely needed.

Woodworking with power tools revolves around the table saw. If you go that path, get the best one you possibly can. But used so your money goes father.

Woodworking with hand tools needs a few things:

• A saw. A $30 Japanese saw with crosscut blade on one side and rip cut on the other is a great way to start if you aren't already an experienced sawyer. If you want to buy local, don't buy the crappy ones from Home Depot or Lowe's. You can get a good one from Woodcraft.
  
• Chisels. Even the $10 six pack of chisels from Harbor Freight will work great. You have to sharpen a little more often, but it's much easier to get a keen edge.
  
• A pounder. This can be a rubber mallet, a nylon mallet, or a stick. My first project was making a wooden mallet. I used a rubber mallet I already owned while making it.
  
• A smoother. The best option is a bench plane (a used #4 Stanley, Record, or other pre-WWII plane is ideal; you can get fully restored planes on eBay for $75-90; you can buy a new Wood River at Woodcraft for under $150; or you can restore one (only do this if that process interests you). Stay away from new planes under $100). A secondary option is sandpaper. You will never match a plane's finish with sandpaper (literally glass-like), and some tasks, like stock removal, will be much more difficult or even impossible, but it is pretty cheap to get started.
  
• A sharpener. On the cheap, you can use the "Scary Sharp" system using sandpaper and some thick glass to get started (I use a glass shelf I bought at Home Depot when I want to sharpen with sandpaper). For more money up front but less over time, you can use whetstones (water or oil) or diamond plates (I have a cheap $3 eBay-special 150 and 400 grit diamond plates to flatten my water stones and for major material removal, and I have two two-sided waterstones with 400/1000 and 4000/8000 grit for most sharpening). A $15 honing guide can make things much easier if you have coordination like me, but you probably want to spend a few minutes tweaking it to get best results.
  
• Some marking/measuring tools. A marking gauge, a combination square (you will want to check and, if necessary, adjust it), a marking knife (a small pocket knife or utility knife works), and, maybe, a small tape measure. The tape measure gets used the least; most measurements are relative measurements made using the marking gauge.
  
  I'm a big believer in starting small and cheap and working my way up. With a few hand tools, you can get started for under $200 and have everything you need to make good quality stuff. The skills you learn with those tools will transfer to every project in the future, no matter how big. Fine joinery is the same, whether the boards are cut with a hand saw or a table saw, and you will never learn to read wood with a power jointer, planer and table saw like you will with a handsaw and bench plane.
  
  As you reach competency with these tools, you can decide how you want to expand your tools to achieve more. That may be more hand tools like a dovetail saw, additional planes, cabinet scrapers, etc, or it may be power tools with a table saw, band saw, dust collector, etc. Or it may be somewhere in the middle.
  
  Personally, I do this for relaxation, so a quiet shop and a face free of respirators and face shields is much better to me. Since I am in no hurry to finish projects, I use primarily hands tools (I have a few power tools from a previous life that I'll pull out on very rare occasions. I think often about selling them).
  
  If getting stuff done drives you, though, power tools are a great way to do that. It changes woodworking a little because it becomes a skill of setting machines up correctly (not a trivial skill!) to get the correct cut.
  
  The Wood Whisperer, who coined the phrase and, literally, wrote the book, Hybrid Woodworking, does a pretty good job blending hand and power tools. If I cared more about getting things done (and had the space and money to devote to it), that would be the path I would follow.

First, I would not recommend using those rubber caps - they'll probably leave black marks on whatever you're hitting.

I would recommend getting a specific non-marring hammer rather that putting a rubber cup over a regular hammer.

I really like this hammer:
TEKTON 30812 Double-Faced Soft Mallet, 35 mm https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MWVAUUA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hmYACbJB984TN

Also, a few layers of electrical tape on a regular hammer works too, in a pinch.

This mallet works pretty well for getting pieces to fit together: TEKTON 30812 Double-Faced Soft Mallet, 35 mm https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MWVAUUA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rQ7hDb17C17DE

Also, I only use glue a few times per insert, when a joint feels particularly loose. Most brands fit together nicely and feel quite sturdy when they’re done. I second the recommendation for gorilla wood glue on this front.

I just built exactly what you're describing. I can share some of my experiences.

• Torquing things:
  
  
  • An AR-15 armourer's wrench is a dedicated device for AR-15 assembly and will be needed to attach the barrel, buffer tube, and flash hider. I initially got a super cheap one that couldn't take the torque and the tool's teeth snapped off while stripping a few of my barrel nut's teeth. I now use a TAPCO-brand model and it's very well made.
    
    
  • A torque wrench ensures you are tightening the barrel, flash hider, and castle nut to the correct minimum amounts using an objective indicator of applied torque. The minimum values are in the 25-35 ft.-lb range, so get a wrench that can exceed this by a healthy margin.
    
    
  • You need a vise to hold your upper and lower receiver at the individual stages where you're attaching parts, especially anything that needs to be tightened to a specified torque level. C-clamps and speed clamps are also helpful here.
    
    
  • A pair of plastic blocks clamp your upper receiver tightly to your vise. A block of magazine-shaped plastic goes into your magwell to hold your lower receiver in place on your vise. Get a combo pack of both.
    
    
  • Molybdenum-based anti-seize (greasing) compound is necessary when attaching your barrel to your receiver. It makes things easier when torquing the barrel nut and prevents the barrel from chemically bonding to the receiver. I made the mistake of attaching the barrel without it, had great difficulty tightening the nut, found that I couldn't align the gas tube properly, and then couldn't remove the nut again. Had to toss the thing into a freezer overnight to allow thermal contraction to separate the parts.
    
    
• Pushing in roll pins:
  
  
  • You want a mallet with a non-marring head for driving in roll pins without damaging your weapon's finish.
    
    
  • A roll pin starter set will save you so much trouble getting the pins aligned for the first few hammer hits. Buy it.
    
    
  • For most of my roll pins, I used a roll punch set instead of a standard punch set to drive in the pins. Roll pins are hollow and a roll punch has a small indentation that fits inside the hollow area which makes driving the pins much easier.
    
    
  • A standard punch set came in handy to keep high-tension parts aligned while I punched in roll pins from the other side.
    
    
  • A bench block is useful in holding your parts in place while hammering in roll pins, but it's not needed if you have a friend to provide spare hands at some stages of assembly. I started off using it, but a roommate's hands plus a roll of tape (to rest the work piece on) worked just as well.
    
    
• Specialty / miscellaneous
  
  
  • If you're installing a handguard that uses the standard delta ring, you will want snap ring pliers to manipulate the snap ring part of the delta ring assembly. I initially tried using improved tools. Save yourself the cursing and just get the pliers.
    
    
  • I saw a video guide to installing the front pivot pin using a clevis pin. It looks like a good technique to use and would have saved me a lot of trouble.
    
    I'm super happy with the results of my build. The process is fraught with a lot of cursing and you're probably going to lose a couple of the tiny parts (like detent pins and tension springs) but the end result will be totally worth it. You'll be intimately familiar with the insides of your AR-15 and share a sentimental connection with your firearm thanks to its DIY nature. Enjoy!

Yes...and the thing is, I would not have used it if I hadn't seen it suggested a couple of times as a way to not scratch the receiver. Look at it on Amazon and you'll see people talking about how they used it on their AR. Look in these comments and you'll see people who used one...

but I will never ever use one again on this particular pin

I used something like this for the hammer - plastic end worked great. You can get something like this if you prefer metal.

These are the punches I used, they're great. Definitely recommend something like these.