Use by Operative and Speculative Masons
 
Mackey and Coil say the gavel used as a hammer has one flat face opposite the sharp end so that from the top it resembles a gabled roof on a house, and because of this, "gable" becomes the German word "gipfel" meaning summit or peak (Mackey, Coil, Hunt) or "giebel" (Macoy) and then the English word "gavel," although in German lodges the gavel is called the "hammer." 
 
It is one of the oldest working tools used by man, as illustrated by stories of Scandinavian mythology where Thor, the principal god, was given a special hammer or mallet which always struck its targets with great force and then returned to the thrower without any injury to him. Symbolically, as the hammer of Thor destroyed his enemies, so it should continue to be used to destroy the enemies of that which is good and true. (Hunt)
 
It is used on stone to make a rough shaping or dressing, with the finishing done with a chisel and mallet or maul. Gavel is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (1901) as a mason's setting maul or a presiding officer's hammer, and it is said to be an American usage. (AQC, 101 and XL) The name "gavel" was not known in England before the nineteenth century. (Jones)
 
Freemasons are taught that the common gavel is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice. It is used by operative masons to break off the corners of rough ashlars and thus fit them the better for the builder's use.  It is not adapted to giving polish or ornamentation to the stone, and hence it should symbolize only that training of the new Freemason which is designed to give some limited skill and moral training, and to teach that labor is the lot of man and that "qualities of heart and head are of limited value 'if the hand be not prompt to execute the design' of the master." Its meaning has been extended to include the symbolism of the chisel, to show the enlightening and ennobling effects of training and education. (Street)
 
The gavel is adopted in Speculative Freemasonry to admonish us of the duty, often painful (Hunt), of divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices and impurities of life, thereby fitting our bodies (Mackey and Macoy) or minds as living stones for the spiritual building, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (Mackey) 
 
The gavel represents the force of conscience. (Jones) It is our will power, through which we govern our actions and free ourselves from debasing influences. It requires repeated exercise of our will power to subdue our passions. Will power is common to all and it is fittingly symbolized by the "common" gavel, but just as the gavel is of no worth unless it is used, so is our will power. (Hunt) 
 
The gavel is an instrument common to the lowest and the highest in the Lodge. The common gavel is shown to each Entered Apprentices to remind him that symbolically he should use it in Freemasonry to divest himself of the vices and superfluities of life. Years later, even when one has attained the highest rank in the Lodge by becoming its Master, the same implement of a gavel is placed in his hand as a reminder that we all need to continue to strive for improvements in our manner and character. (Mackenzie)
 
Albert Pike felt the mallet and chisel (and gavel) symbolized development of the intellect of each individual and of society. He wrote, "...a man's intellect is all his own, held direct from God, an inalienable fief. It is the most potent of weapons....Society hangs spiritually together....The free country, in which intellect and genius govern, will endure....To elevate the people by teaching loving-kindness and wisdom, with power to him who teaches best; and so to develop the free State from the rough ashlar;---this is the great labor in which Masonry desires to lend a helping hand."