After research and checking steel and equipment prices I have deceided to buy a hammer instead of building one.
For me and my shop area the KA75 seems to fit the best. Are there any past or present users that care to weigh in on this choice? I am also open to any other ideas.
Thank you

Good choice if it works for your needs....I gotta reciprocate. Saying one hammer is best or better over another on this site or others kinda opens up a can of worms that I wouldn't dare spill here.... ...Building one is a challenge and not a bad idea if your fab skills are up to snuff...

The best advise I can give you is to try one out if possible. Bob may be able to direct you to someone in your area who has one who can let you try it out. I am sure there are NWBA members who have them, maybe you could try asking on the NWBA forum if there is someone who has one in your area who would let you try it.

I think you made a good choice to buy a hammer over building one. I think building a hammer would take up way more time than one would estimate. (It would for me at least) You would spend much time researching and tracking down all the parts. Then add on the time to cut, grind, assemble parts.
I would look at the Say-Mak self contained hammer, it would take up more floor space but you do not need a compressor to run it
Contact Neal Steelworks (503) 440-1073

Do you need reciprocation? Can you tap your foot say 150 times a minute? Do you already own the air source?

The KA is *perfect* for some uses and not so good for others. Hard for us to say if it's the solution to your problems.

The only person I know of with a KA also has mechanical and air powerhammers and a rolling mill and uses each one for what it does best. (and is building a whopping big press...)

I want to thank all those that contributed the helpful comments. I was looking for input from someone that actually had one.

Why not just call Bob Bergman....he will tell you exactly what it does and if it will be what you need for what you want to do.

I use a KA75 every day at school. Ours is bolted right to the ground. It is vary handy for tooling. BUT the tooling needs to be made for the KA75. Much of the commercial tooling with wooden handles is way to tall. I make most of our tooling by welding little steel handles onto bits of tool steel. For instance the hot cutter i use under the hammer is only 2" tall. Having a regular hot cut that you would use at the anvil with a striker may be 6" tall. Short tools allow for a longer stroke of the hammer head, longer stroke equals harder hit. I would say the hammer is good for bar up to about 1 1/4 or maybe 1 1/2 but that's certainly its max.
Great for tooling, pretty lousy are heavy drawing of stock
If you already had something like a Little Giant 25 or 50 I think the KA75 would be a great second hammer, the little giant for general drawing down and the KA for tooling. If you have no hammer at all maybe something like a self contained air hammer would be better. I have used the sahinler hammer. It hits very hard and has a pretty long stroke. I would guess the say mark is just a good.

Why not contact John Larson, the fellow that makes the KA hammers. He is THE SOURCE for information on the hammer.

Glenn,
Not to be picky but John makes the Iron Kiss Hammers . The KA"s are made by Bob Bergman, who took them over from the original builder whom I believe was Grant Sarver.

You are in Oregon and Grant Sarver is in Takoma. Why not take a spin over to talk to him. Not only did he invent the KA 75, he has an Iron Kiss 75. His buddy Larry Lonegran, aka Monster Metal, is about 40 miles away from Grant and has much, much experience with power hammers including the KA 75. These are the best guys for you to make contact with.

John makes the Iron Kiss Hammers . The KA"s are made by Bob Bergman, the original builder I believe was Grant Sarver.

Oops,
My intentions was to suggest going to the source.

For my 2 cents worth Idd buy a Say Mak ,I have used this hammer often my friend has one here. I also have used striker - anayag -
all 3 size.s -LG #50 + #100 & a champion #65 -- I have a #33 yang + the champion #65 that not together yet -- my vote still is
say mak nice hammer

You are only about 45 minutes from Martin Gabbertt in Eugene. He has a KA and I'm sure would be glad to show you how it works so you can see one first hand. Martin is a very friendly fellow. Tell him Eric Sprado the fiddler/blacksmith said Hi.

Links to bunches of posts with info about the KA.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/6975-ka75/

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/6116-info-on-the-ka-hammer/

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/7727-ka-75-what-up/

I have a KA75 and a Big Blu 110. I use both of them. The KA75 is great for working with tooling. The only complaint I have had with it is the cheap airline they use on it. Once I replaced ALL of it I had no more problems. By the way it takes more air to run the KA than it does to run the Big Blu. If I was looking for a hammer to do a lot of drawing out and general forging I would look for a reciprocating hammer. If I was looking to imitate the work performed by a striker I'd get the KA75.

My 2 cents,

John