[TheForge] air hammer

[Andrew Vida]

ries wrote:
> 
> On Nov 3, 2008, at 1:25 PM, Andrew Vida wrote:
> 
> I'd heard many complaints against the early Chinese clones - cheap, 
> thin, ratty castings.  IIRC, they quickly caught on and increased the 
> wall thickness and overall  quality - apparently more than a trivial 
> number of their hammers were failing.
> 
> Andy- I have heard rumors to this effect- but I have never actually met 
> a single person who had one fail.
> Do you actually know anybody?

     Some of the complaints came from folks right here, though I cannot 
recall who made them as this was about a decade ago.  I was only 
relaying what was said or written by others.  Could have been an 
assassination campaign against Chinese products for all I know.  But I 
do seem to recall at least one person (here??) who had claimed they'd 
had one and that it had failed in some significant manner and then the 
usual "I would never have another" sort of talk.

> I do know probably 30 to 50 people who have Chinese hammers who like 
> them, and have not had problems- but I have not been able to track down 
> any of the people who got the lemons.
> I have no doubt there were some lemons, but I just hear third hand stories.

	Same here.  I do clearly recall, however, a thread here on the 
Strikers... or whoever's name is on the Nazel clones... that they were 
good hammers but were not as precise as a Nazel.  Well, given what one 
pays for it, I suppose that is only to be expected.
> 
> I do know that Anyang, in particular, is VERY responsive. The president 
> of the company (who speaks no english) and his  chief engineer both came 
> to the 2006 Abana conference in Seattle, to talk to blacksmiths.
> The late Bob Graham, who was the US Anyang distributor til he passed 
> away, told me that he would email China with a problem or suggestion, 
> and often get a new part fed-exed to him within a week, custom made to 
> put on his test hammers, to try out.
> I think that James Cosgrove, who imports the Striker hammers, has had a 
> similar relationship with the factory he works with. They will customize 
> hammers, listen to their customers, and change accordingly.

	Well, don't forget that there is a lot of enmity towards the Chinese 
these days for having stolen "our" jobs.
> 
> I know my Anyang had a couple of poorly tapped holes, which I repaired, 
> and had substandard chinese motor starter and oiling system- both of 
> which I have replaced or upgraded- but the basic castings and machining 
> are very solid and strong.
> 
> There is no doubt I would prefer a Nazel. But a 70's Nazel is a new 
> machine, and the smaller ones are old, tired, and expensive. 
> Chambersburg quoted a price of $125,000, in the early 80's right before 
> they went under, for a 150lb hammer.

	Larry Foster of Chambersburg quoted me $250K for a 250 utility.  The 
"safety cap" alone was $30K.  I already had one so I neenered.  I think 
They went under in 2000.  Larry and I were conversing as late as 98 or 
99.  I got a set of foundation plans for the 250.  Over-engineered is 
right - I just found them in the bus after all these years.
> 
> So a chinese hammer offers a lot of bang for the buck, especially if you 
> are out west.

	West ain't so good for tooling like this, I have to say, but the east 
is also becomming less well endowed.  Lots of fabulous tooling went to 
the melter.  A damned shame too, I might add.