A maul or beetle is a heavy wooden mallet.
The effect of the blow of a mallet is quite different from that of a hammer, in that the force is exerted more gradually; whereas the effect of the hammer blow is direct, immediate, and local, and is taken up at once.

But a mallet continues to act after the first impulse, pushing, as it were.

This is because of the elasticity of the head.

A chisel, therefore, should always be driven with a mallet, for the chisel handle would soon go to pieces under the blows of a hammer, because of their suddenness; whereas the mallet blow which is slower will not only drive the blade deeper with the same force, but will not injure the handle so rapidly.

Mallet-heads are made square, cylindrical, and barrel-shaped.