[TheForge] Another air hammer question

[Cindy and James]

I attended the SCABA conf. in Perry, OK this past weekend... good 
conference, good demo's and great people.  Very worthwhile!

Tom Clark was there and had one of his Turkish air hammers.  He is very 
interesting to watch and I enjoyed visiting with him.  He is good with 
his air hammer.

Now the question:

Several commented to my first question that they had Bull (Phoenix) 
hammers or Big Blu.  Does anyone have one of Tom Clark's air hammers?  
If so, what is your opinion, use of, etc., etc.

The Turkish hammer Tom sells does not require an outside air compressor, 
but is self contained.  Tom says it is better.  Is it? 

(It may be, but I would say that too if I were selling them!)  I have a 
shop air system that puts out 25 CFM air (7.5 hp 3-phase, 2 stage, 80 
gallon) and is piped throughout my shop w/ 3/4 inch pipe.  Tom's hammer 
is roughly $2 to 3000 more expensive than the Phoenix or BigBlu, about 
the same cost as an upgrade of my air system to a 10 hp/30 cfm unit (if 
required to run a non self contained hammer).  I could probably get by 
with my current air system although I might have to wait a bit here and 
there.


James Allcorn
Bois D'Arc Forge
Paris TX