Rawhide Mallet
A Rawhide Mallet is a striking tool used by leather workers, jewelers and brass wind instrument makers. Rawhide is a byproduct of the leather-making process, though it is still leather, it is split from the main hide and allowed to dry. Once dry, rawhide hardens (imagine a rawhide dog bone). That thick rawhide material is soaked in a resin or shellac and then rolled up very tight and allowed to cure and harden. In its cured form, rawhide is a very hard and durable material but still soft enough for use on softer metals without marring them. For example: The saddle tree (the frame of a western horse saddle) is wrapped in a layer of rawhide before the outer leather pieces are added. It is a very solid material. To experience rawhide in its most basic form, not treated with any chemicals at all, go find a plain unflavored rawhide dog bone at the store.
The rawhide in a dog bone is far thinner than the rawhide in a mallet, however, they are the same materials.