Power hammers

[yesteryearforge]

Looking for some comparisons between some of the available hammers that are around that can be purchased new
Such as
STRIKER
ANY YANG
KUHN
SAHLINER
SAY MAK
BIG BLUE
IRON KISS
KA
And or others that could or would be used in a general one or two man operation of general blacksmithing.

Mike Tanner

[Jose Gomez]

I have 2 Little Giants, A KA-75, and a Big Blu Max 155 and they are all outstanding machines for their intended purpose. I have also used a say-mak, a Spencer style tire hammer, a Rusty type, and a few assorted "nightmare" hammers. A few things that I considered when shopping for my hammers was floor space and noise level. The large self contained hammers take up a ton of floor space and can be quite noisy even not being used, and many can exhaust oil into the room. By comparison, the utility style hammers (Big-Blu, Iron Kiss, and Phoenix) typically take up a significantly smaller amount of work space, and sit silently until you throttle them up. The major drawback to utility hammers is the cost of having to purchase a compressor large enough to push the hammer. But the compressor being separate is also a plus to me because you can put it in a shed outside of the shop there by doing 2 things. First it saves the work space inside, and second it puts the noisiest part of the equation outside of the shop where you don’t have to listen to it run constantly. The KA-75 is an amazing little powerhouse but you have to think of it more as a pneumatic treadle hammer. It basically performs all of the tasks that a striker would, but it hits much harder. I thought that I would sell mine off when I got my Big Blu but no way!! Nothing works like the KA. It delivers single blows that range from a love tap, to hits that make your teeth rattle, and the dies are huge by comparison to my other hammers. All of this makes the KA my go to machine for using most power hammer hand tooling. Throw in a set of insert dies and the KA is a texturing dream, I use mine to texture stock for vines and also to pound patterns into Damascus billets regularly. But the KA dose not measure up to the Big Blue for moving metal. The Big Blu can easily put a 1 1/2 foot taper on a 1" bar In 1 heat with plenty of time to spare, or knock a 2”x2”x6” billet down to knife size without having to go back to the forge. Your choice will really depend on what you want to do with the hammer, so if you can give us a better idea of what your thoughts and potential shop limitations are we can narrow it down to the very best machine for your purpose.

[Jose Gomez]

You might also try to move this thread to, or re ask the question in the powerhammer forum (A few more powerhammer junkies might throw in some coments that way)

[mike-hr]

I've run a 50kg SayMak for maybe 40 hrs total at a buddies shop, you turn it on and it runs all day, hits hard, excellent control. Has a real nice oiler.

I've got a few hrs on Anyang 88 and a few more on the 33. They work good when they want to. Trouble with getting the oiler to work good, we went over that in a previous post. Some need more warm up time than convienient, and the head assembly gets too hot to touch after a couple hours.

I recently got to watch the hammer techniques series by Amit Bar-Lev. (sp?) He's an accomplished smith, and did a dvd set working on the Big Blue hammer. I don't want to get anyone angry, but I could see his frustration with working large stock. He was making a cone hardy, and pulled a set of fish lips off the end that were at least an inch long. I started watching the hammer more, and it just pecked away, not much harder than a 25 LG. I would have to assume that the hammer was tuned to full potential as it was also an advertisement for the Blue, but I would want to run one for a day to be sold on it.

[Chris Pook]

If you want power, the self contained air hammers IMHO are where you want to look.

The size of the bore/cylinders and the amount of air they move, a smaller air cylinder hammer and compressor can't compete.

I've used a small anyang and it definitely needed some work out of the box to make it work. but this was a few years ago and from the ads I've seen they look like they are trying to address some of the issues it had.

I've been wanting a small one for awhile. Have been thinking of selling a 100lb little giant to get another airhammer, but the mechanical hammer is nice for some work and just keeps going. I just really like not having to reset the head heights on the airhammers while working.

Any reason you don't want an older hammer like a nazel? Mine needed some new o rings and little tlc but it'll run for days straight never missing a beat and will move more metal quicker than I can think about doing it.

[yesteryearforge]

I have a 25lb little giant but was really hoping someone would chime in with their experience with a STRIKER / KUHN or a SAY MAK as i'm torn between the three.

Mike Tanner

[markh]

The 11" stroke of the Phoenix is great. The power is great. But, I feel that the Big Blues are smoother and can work fine points easier. I've never heard anything but great reviews on Tom Clark's. The larger hammer will beat the xxxx out of thick(2"-4") material. Striker's hammer line is nice because you can get a ram, pretty much, as big as you'll ever need. They range from 33 lb up to 2000 or so. Tom Trosack of Phoenix Forging Hammers will build hammers with above average ram sizes(300-1000 lbers). However you will pay alot because Tom is a perfectionist and refuses to cut any corners.

[John N]

The Stiker & Anyang are basically the same hammer, just made in 2 different factories. Both are copies of the Beche as far as I can tell.

I would like to verify the often made claims that the Striker hammer is superior to the Anyang, and where the supposed extra weight in the machine is. I had a good chuckle that a german WW2 design of hammer, made in China was granted American 'OEM' design status

It certainly has a more western name, which some folks find comforting

Alot of folks rate John Larsons 'Ironkiss' very highly.

The Anyang / Striker hammer are very compact (small footprint) compared to the fabricated frame hammers from Turkey.

[GOATMAN]

checkout the forum @ "farwestforge.com" to see the opinions of "Iron Kiss" users, and many posts from Professor Larson himself. Personaly, I'm not a PH guy yet, so I don't know from experience, but I see alot of praise for these hammers. If I could get a new PH, it's what I'd buy.

[Jymm Hoffman]

I can not say enough good about my Say Ha 50 kg, now Say Mak, I bought from Tom Clark. I had a helper for 8 weeks last summer and needed a second machine. I liked the first one well enough (after using it hard for 5 years,) that I bought a second one, the 60 kg. I love both of the machines and find them a real pleasure to use. Very low maintenance, easy to change dies. I had a 100 lb. Bradley Upright Compact for 10 years prior to buying the first air hammer. I do not regret the move. The service from Tom is also great. The machines are ready to run as soon as they are off the truck and on the floor. I have had some opportunities run other machines (not all, but some on your list) and have been very unimpressed with them after using the Say Ha/Say Mak. I think Tom's machines are the best machine with the best service for the money. I know a couple of people that regret buying other machines, which will remain nameless. I do not get any monetary or personal benefit promoting Tom's hammers. I am a full time smith, my only income is from my business and I rely very much on these machines to run for hours on end, some days sitting idle while I do a lot of hand work. They are ready for constant heavy use, or occasional light use.