[TheForge] back on topic PHs, well, mostly

[ries]

I dunno-
I have had my Chinese Anyang about ten years now.
I replaced the motor starter with a Square D before I ever turned it on, but aside from that, it has never had a thing go wrong.
I probably know 40 guys and girls with chinese hammers- and have never heard of one that doesnt forge iron whenever its turned on.
Around here, we had imported a container full a good 15 years ago, before there were US distributors, and as far as I know, those hammers, which range from 40 kg to about 150kg, are all still running, mostly in full time shops, not hobby shops. 

That first batch was Wolf hammers, which I believe are a third chinese factory.
ON this link is a picture of Dave Lisch using the little one, about a 165lb hammer, while the big one is in the background.
http://davidlisch.com/index.html
Dave uses these hammers daily, teaches classes on them, and believe me, they are a LOOONG way from "crap, junk, or utter garbage".

I have run 88lb and 165lb hammers from Shanxi and Anyang, and they have all been good, reliable, controllable hammers. 
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of guys I know with Nazels or Chambersburgs that small- most of my friends with big american self contained hammers have 250 to 700lb machines, some of which weigh as much as 40,000lbs, and require much more money and work in terms of footings, power, and expense in tooling and refurb costs. These are hammers that would cost $250,000 and up these days, and even getting a 45 hp low rpm motor rewound can cost a fortune. 
Big old american hammers are great- especially if you are independently wealthy, or, if you have a shop that generates a hundred grand or two a year in work for em.
But a small shop just cant justify the expense and upkeep of something like a Nazel 3b these days, while a 165lb chinese hammer can be run without a special footing, on a phase converter, just about anywhere.

Different tools, different needs.

I have run turkish self containeds, and actual Kuhn hammers from Germany, and I would not trade my chinese hammer for either one.

There may have been some lemons, back in the day, among the first chinese hammers brought over, 15 years or so ago- but nowadays, they are reliable.
I met the CEO of Anyang, at the Seattle NWBA conference- he, and one of his engineers had flown over from China just for that, to meet american blacksmiths, and talk to them about the hammers. The rep at that time in the USA, Bob Graham, who has since passed away, told me that when an american blacksmith complained to him about a problem with the hammer, he would email china, and, often, would get a new, improved part fed-exed to him within a week, and then all subsequent production would feature that improvement. I cannot think of an american company that would be that responsive- which is one of the reasons the chinese are eating our lunch.


As for centralized government- Booshwah.
These hammers are made in a very capitalist environment, and they dont make em just to keep workers busy- they SELL these babies, all over the world. There is a steady market for these in many countries- the current owner of Massey, John Nicholson, who rebuilds and sells venerable old english hammers up into the 5000lb range, is also the UK agent for Anyang, and he sells plenty of Anyangs in Blighty.
http://www.anyang.co.uk/products.htm

I think it would be wonderful if you could buy a new AMERICAN hammer as good as these chinese ones- but nobody here even tries to make a self contained like that. 
And I would imagine our price would probably be in the range of 4 times what they charge.

I am not defending the Chinese government, or the trade imbalance- but the hammers themselves are not junk.

ries



On Dec 20, 2010, at 12:38 PM, Andrew Vida wrote:



peter fels & phoebe palmer wrote:

> There are rumors of huge warehouses full of hammers churned out under 
> Mao's directive,
> by state factories, that simply never quit, after their role in China's 
> industrialization was satisfied.

Ahhh... the beauty and efficiency of centralized government.  Hearkens 
me back to the good old days of Soviet rust factories... <sigh>

Seriously, those hammers appear to be built like crap.  I've seen at 
least one up close.  Junk. Utter garbage.  Someone mentioned once that 
they are better now.  I sure hope so.


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Ries Niemi
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http://www.riesniemi.com/