[TheForge] Power hammer preferences Bull vs Say-Mak vs?

[Ries Niemi]

On Saturday, October 23, 2004, at 08:16 AM, John Switzer wrote:

> Here is my final question of the day.  I am thinking of adding a newer 
> larger hammer in the shop.  Currently I have a 50# Little Giant,but 
> would like the power and control of a more modern air hammer.  There 
> are lots of possibilities, The Phoenix (formerly Bull), Sy-Mak, 
> Sahinler, Kuhn, Striker, Anyang, Big, Blue, Kick Ass and probably 
> several I haven't thought about.  The question is, what types of power 
> hammer or hammers do you have, why that particular hammer, what do you 
> like about it and most important if you had to do it all over again, 
> would you buy the same hammer.
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> John Switzer
> 7019 Burnt Mill Rd
> Beulah, CO 81023
> (719) 485-3109
>
>


Seems like there are a few decisions here-
Self contained versus Utility hammer is the first one.
The Utility hammers are cheaper, but then you need a big compressor. 
And its gonna be running a lot, so it needs a place to be where it can 
make all the noise it likes. I know a smith with a nice 250lb old 
Utility hammer- might be a chambersburg, I am not sure- and he has 
something like a 55hp compressor to run it.

Personally, I prefer Self-contained. And I suppose if I could, I would 
maybe have a nice Nazel 2b or 3b. But out here on the west coast, there 
just arent that many used tools. Nazels out here routinely go for big 
bucks. Unless you are talking about really big hammers- like a 5 b or 
so- they can be had for 5 grand or thereabouts.
But a hammer that big is a big committment- too big for me- I am 
already married and have kids- I am overcommitted as it is. I am not 
willing to bring a 25,000lb hammer into my life.
I know people who have, and the expenses add up quick- foundations 
alone for big hammers like that run into the thousands very quickly, 
not to mention the wiring expense of hooking up 40hp  3phase motors.

So I ended up with a Chinese Chambersburg copy. Mine is an Anyang, but 
that was kind of a fluke- initially Striker was importing from more 
than one chinese factory, and he brought in a few Anyangs. He decided 
that his current supplier is higher quality, so I got my Striker Anyang 
cheap.
There are quite a few chinese self contained hammers up here in 
washington, and I have not heard any real horror stories- sometimes you 
need to replace electricals, or hardware, and the anyang oiling system 
is pretty funky, but all those peripherals are available from Grainger. 
The basic castings and machining on the chinese stuff seems solid- I 
have had mine, an 88lb 2 piece hammer, for about 3 years now, and have 
run it hundreds of hours. No problems so far. It works, and it is nice 
and controllable. Since it is a 2 piece hammer, with a separate anvil, 
I can move each piece with my 4200lb capacity forklift, which is a nice 
feature for me. I did not have to build a special foundation for it- 
just bolted it right down on my 6" slab.
I have used the 165lb strikers, and I like em. There are a bunch of 
"Wolf" chinese air hammers up here, but I think that was a one time 
deal- a bunch of guys got together and imported a container full of 
them. But everybody who has one that I know likes em. David Lish has a 
300lb Wolf, and that thing is COOL. Blue and yellow paint job too.

If I was to do it over again, I would buy a 165lb striker- It is big 
enough to do anything I can ever see doing, and seems better made, and 
with better product support than the Anyang. I work up to about 1 1/2" 
round stainless with the 88lb anyang, and while it will do it, you can 
tell it is at the top end of its capability. I would probably keep the 
anyang, as it is a nice little hammer, but if I only had one hammer, a 
bigger one would be nice.

I have used the Kuhn and turkish Kuhn copies a little bit, and prefer 
the mass of the cast chinese hammers. Plus those Kuhns are mighty 
pricey. And the turkish hammers- well, I have heard mixed reviews. I 
have a Turkish made set of plate rolls in my shop, and I would put the 
quality at similar to China. Just spent the last day troubleshooting 
the turkish electrics, and replacing a control transfomer. But my 
Turkish rolls will roll 4 feet of 1/8" plate, and have been doing it 
without fail since about 1998, so I guess I cant complain too much, as 
I paid about 1/3 what an american made plate roll would have cost. So 
Turkish quality cant be that bad.

But I dont have a moral problem buying a chinese tool, and I know a lot 
of people do. I buy whatever works- my shop is multicultural, with 
tools from Japan, Taiwan and China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and 
lots from the USA.
I also wanted a ready to go, plug and play hammer- I have work waiting, 
and so I need a tool that I can just turn on and use. I prefer to put 
my time into making product, not building tools and repairing them. But 
I know lots of people are different, and if you have more time, and 
less paying work, then building your own Kinyon style may be the best 
way to go.

One hammer I would look at is John Larson's Iron Kiss hammers- John is 
building his own line of really cool air hammers in Maryland- both 
Utility and self contained. His 90lb Utility hammer is pretty darn 
cool. And competitively priced with Big Blu and others. You can always 
find John on the Keenjunk website.

ries