Fosterob

Thank you all,especially Larry, for confirming that these are a little overpriced for the small shop blacksmith. Most of what he has are multiple ways to re-point jackhammer bits which is one of the main jobs he used the hammer for. It would have been nice to get repairable hammers at a fair price being only 3 1/2 hrs away but I will continue to keep my eyes and ears open, nazel made a lot of hammers and these are not the last ones in the world. I wish him luck and hope that his deal goes through and the machines get fixed and put back into use. Rob

Very nice work, it is hard to see the scale of it the pics until you read the sizes of stock. Thank you for posting Rob

Hi all, I have been looking around for nazel hammers for a while and a few months ago found these in Oakland Ca. They are a 2b which the guy said has been stored outside for almost 10 years. The bad thing about it is the muffler is broken off and the ram is completely full of orange rusty water. (think of the old bucket of nails left outside for years). Everything is frozen solid, all linkages and valves etc. The ram had deep pits in it. I was told it ran when he got it. The oiler is also full of dried oil sludge/water but may be salvageable. Other than that it is in good shape. The 4b is inside and I was told running until it started making bad knocking in the connecting rod piston area and he started to take it apart. Probably easier to fix than the 2b. These problems could of course be overcome with time and money and the desire to keep old machines alive. Everything seems do-able until he says $30,000 for the two dead machines. Thirty thousand ?! Maybe in top running condition. If I remember correctly $18,000 for 2b and $12,000 4b I thought that I would share since they are waaay out of my price range. Enjoy. Rob

I was not seriously considering another type of hammer but more using their cost on a comparison basis. I too am the more tools is better camp and prefer american iron whenever possible/practical Rob

Nice video, In fact all those video you have are nice to watch, Thank you for posting them Rob

Thank you all for the good info. I am mostly concerned with hammer value itself. After reading these posts it seems that a good running 4b should be $8,000-10,000 with dies and needs no work, just set it on its foundation plug it in and run it. If the same machine needs for example $3,000 to bring it up to good running condition then should I expect to pay $3,000 less for it? Is 8-10k to high in this market? Should it be 6-8k in good running condition with no issues? As Ric said most of these machines are coming out of industry so I am hopeful this is driving the price down from a few years ago. On the smaller 3b an 2b machines fair values seemed a bit more than 4b but the total cost of the hammer including trucking setup etc... about the same. More money for hammer and less on set up & transportation I now expect the set up costs of this size machine to be close to the same as each other, trucking, rigging, concrete, electrical, etc... Monster: Do you have postings on repairing your 3b or can you briefly describe what needed to be done, Was it bore the cylinders? Something else Grant's post reminded me of is the price of machines help set the price of older machines, not many people will pay much more for an old machine than a new one costs (anyang) I should look into new costs of those. I remember at the last CBA conference an Anyang 165 with a lot of tooling was less than $8,000 and I do not think anyone bought it. Rob

Hi all, I am thinking about a nazel hammer 2b 3b or 4b and was hoping to get some feedback on what they are selling for in this economy? I know of two #4 machines that recently sold for about $6000 each. are the smaller machine worth more? Is it possible to find a machine that needs more money in repairs than it is worth or are they worth more than most repairs? I remember seeing one that was totally full of water (at least 10 yrs) and had bad orange rust growing in it because the muffler was gone, ram was badly pitted and all moving parts frozen solid. All macines can be fixed but what to stay away from? Thank you Rob

congats on your new arrival, looks good, to bad about the oiler, good luck and thank you for keeping us all updated Rob

Thank you Stuart and Glenn, that is a great story and I am looking forward to more. Rob

I made a similar tool holder on a swinging arm that is at the same height as the top of anvil to be able to support longer pieces when needed. yours looks good, congrats on a sweet anvil. Rob

Those look very helpfull and I hope you can post some more when you can, Thank you. I am having trouble viewing the whole pic at once, can anyone tell me how to re-size to make it all visible? Rob

That looks good, I saw that on ebay and it looked like a nice machine, I am curious about how much its actual weight is? Congrats on your new machine, let us know how it runs. Rob

I just spoke with an aircraft mechanic friend of mine and he said it is called FRH in the label for Fire Resistant Hydraulic.

I have not had a chance to try it yet but I hear that hydraulic fluid from airplanes does not burn. May eliminate flame up? Thoughts? Experience? Rob

Very nice looking piece, what is the material & finish that you used? Rob

If you do use sand make sure to use DRY sand as stated above or when you heat it you will have a problem with steam. It will work great for bending sharp bends in pipe or tube. good luck , Rob

It must be a very small plant, but that hook does look nice. Good work.

Sorry for mis-information guys, not that long ago I spoke with the striker guy about his platen tables. I did not like them because the edges were un-machined raw casting but they were very thick and heavy.

Yes, he is in California, Sacramento area if I remember, should be ph# on his site.

That looks good, can you post some details of how you did it?

Wow That looks nice especially in 2hrs. :)

nice looking forge and you did a good job making that poker also, congrats, you're going in the right direction.

Can you post any pictures?

Very nice indeed, I like the rasp texture that you left on.

If you do decide to mill the face make sure to mill the base parallel to the top first with a clean up cut. Most anvils are not close to parallel for machining purposes and you do not want cut a wedge of the top.