Prices?

[Wesley Chambers]

I was wondering if anyone could spare some time to put together a small price guide for those of us uneducated in power hammers. As my lady and I are just buying our first home I am totally broke heh but I would like to have an idea of how much I should look at saving for a used hammer. I gather anywhere from 1500-4000 and up but to have an idea on makes and prices. Something like a Good/Fair/Poor condition for Anyang/LGiants/Blu/Bradley... I duno the general used hammer market? something to give me a better idea of fair market value when I begin my hunt!

Thanks for your time!

[Mainely,Bob]

Hate to be a buzz kill Wes but that`s a pretty tall order.Seems to me prices would be all over the map depending on if you`re talking about mechanical or pneumatic,utility or self contained,general size,condition,factory or home built and last of all location.

As an example,Larry gets $4 per pound all day long for anvils but I can buy them for $1 or less here by me.
Would it be possible to put the shotgun down and narrow your search some so we can better our chances of hitting the target for you?
How far are you willing to travel or ship from might be a good place to start.

[Wesley Chambers]

I was worried this might be the case, my lack of PHammer knowledge proceeds me~

I would say I'm after a mechanical anywhere from 25-50# or more depending on price, not sure what you mean by utility or self contained and as far a location I drove 800mile round trip to pickup my 340# Trenton, long as my 2500HD Silverado can haul it Ill go! ( this is all hypothetical as I am still broke ) But I do appreciate anything you can teach me.

[Fosterob]

A 50 lb little giant in what looked like good working condition sold at auction 2 weeks ago for $725 plus 15% premium and sales tax 8.25%. California.
Rob

[Wesley Chambers]

That hurts to read I fear my luck is not this good, and prices I see tend to be triple that~

[Mainely,Bob]

That hurts to read I fear my luck is not this good, and prices I see tend to be triple that~

Wes,the problem may be that you`re looking in all the usual places and contending with all the usual competition.Try applying Thom Power`s rules for finding an anvil to your power hammer quest and you may find the hammer of your dreams in a place where you(and everybody else)would least expect to find it.

How are you at welding?Have you thought about building your own tire hammer or Kinyon type pneumatic?Once a young,determined fella like yourself gets rolling with something like that it`ll be no time at all before you`re putting in a call to John to order a new Iron Kiss hammer and then the sky`s the limit.
Buying a decent welder may be the next purchase you may want to consider if you don`t already have one.Once folks knew I had one at the house small jobs rolled in (mostly on Sunday)and my income improved considerably.

[CurlyGeorge]

Wesley, I second the tire hammer build to start with. I built one last winter. I did a lot of scrounging for parts, but ended up with a nice working hammer for right around $50. I'm a hobbyist, so that works great for me. It will do you until you get some work moving and can save up for one of the commercial hammers. It was a lot of fun to build, too, and to work with. :D

[monstermetal]

I think I am pretty well qualified to talk about hammer prices... I have sold around 20 in the last couple years ranging from $600 to $14,000.... And what I can tell you is there is no hard fast rule... Where you are, what you know... what the other person knows... how broke they are.. and a zillion other things all come into an effect... Save as much as you can so you can be ready when the deal comes along... If you look and are prepared when the deal arises you'll get a good hammer at a good price...

[Wesley Chambers]

I think my only fear with the tire hammer option is that I tend to over engineer some of my projects to a point that it would either not get done at all or explode on completion! But I think your right this may be my quick fix~

If you look and are prepared when the deal arises you'll get a good hammer at a good price...

Nail on the head with that one, I always seem to go broke a few days before I find a good deal! I bought a new truck once and a week later three estate auctions popped up with 200+ lb anvils and a computer store held a going out of business sale, I was so depressed hahah I missed out on so much junk

But thanks for the advice all!

[Wesley Chambers]

Found a nice Tire Hammer vid on the tubes, older vid but new to me and finally a clean video!

[Spears]

Hello Wes,

I was in the same boat one year ago. I ended up building an air hammer and buying a large air compressor and I am happy with the way it all turned out. I documented (with pictures) everything I did on the Metal Artists forum. Only because Iforgeiron already had few of the same documents already. All of the air and tire hammer builds documented here and there are free and very helpful. These forums really help people decide on whether to accept the headache of building equipment versus purchasing. If you have the ability to fabricate heavy structural steel and you have some places to find materials for cheap, then by far it is too economical to build one. If you can get your hands on a few thousand and perhaps save a few more, skip the headache and torture and plug in a new one! I searched the world over and a “good deal” on used equipment of this nature is virtually non-existent. When it comes to power hammers, this is what needs to be remembered: You can find them “for sale”, but not “on sale”. Good luck. Spears.

[Wesley Chambers]

Good advice Spears, I think at the moment I'm lucky enough to have neither the money nor the space for a hammer and as such I am forced to apply patients to my situation. I hope that by the time my lady and I are looking for our second home it will be one with some land and space for a more powerful ( and louder hammer ) Till then its back to window shopping and reseach~