I dont know if last post worked, sorry if i duplicate...

 

I am looking for some reviews or comments on the Blu max 110 power hammer. I have an opportunity to buy a used one wich worked about 20 hours and was wondering about the quality of the whole thing.

 

I want to have a power hammer for the long run and already had some issues with the hand hammers of this compagny.

 

Any advice would be great! If someone has one, would be nice to get info about how it's doing.

 

Thank you

 

François

I personally find them underpowered for their size. though I would say the're really nice to deal with over the phone, so no faults there, I just have a few issues with their design. Are you located in the states?

                                                 Take care, Matt

I had an issue with one of their hand hammers a few years back the replacement was perfect. I have not used one of their hammers for more than a few minutes. They seem to work fine but use a lot of air.

I have a 155 and would have nothing else.  I have had no problems with it.  I regularly forge 1.5" stock and move the metal to the core.  I have never needed service on it but have had it updated whenever they are available.  I would have no reservations about buying the 110#  Blu Max.

 

Call Josh at Big Blu and discuss it with him.  He will give you any information about that particular hammer.

For me if you like to do flat die type stuff the guide system is a little loose.   I will say when I said something about it to Josh he said they were designed mostly for drawing type work.  With that in mind they do what they are designed to do well.   If you like to work with more than 1 piece of stock in the fire be sure to get a big compressor and air tank.

After hearing a lot of deragatory opinions of the Blu hammers initially and only seeing some very early models I purchased an Iron Kiss hammer even though Blu is right down the road from me.  Then, after having actually used a couple current blu hammers and meeting all the folks at Blu I have changed my assessment and would not shy away from owning one if it served my purpose. This is especially true if you can get a deal on a current(ish) used one.  I believe the folks there are first class and will stand behind and support those hammers for some time to come.  

 

That said per I still think My IK 75 moves more metal than @ 110 Blu. I speculate this is due to anvil construction.

If you have the money a self contained modern air hammer is the best out there. Wonderful control, very hard hitting. Something like a Turkish Israeli or German hammer would be best

If you have the money a self contained modern air hammer is the best out there. Wonderful control, very hard hitting. Something like a Turkish Israeli or German hammer would be best

Whoa? This is a very broad statement, I own a relatively new(1926 :D ) Belgian de moor and John Emerging owns a very new(70's I think) one, while not cheap(these can be found for about 7500euro plus handling and shipping) these old style self contained hammers are hard to beat. Some of the bigger nazel hammers are awesome so imho please note that newer is not necessarily better.

1926 self contained is modern

Hence ''relatively new''

I spent several days in a power hammer class using a big blue 110. It did perform  well and worked as it was designed. Where we ran into trouble was with die width when making spring swages. The dies we had were pretty narrow and the stock for the swage spread beyond the width of the die. Dean Curfman, who was running the Big Blue operation back then, stopped by one night after class and he made the same comments Josh did (see earlier post). The hammer was not designed to replace an industrial style hammer so it is really unfair to compare them with a Nazel, Chambursburg, or large mechanical hammer. However, within their design limits they work very well. This is best illustrated in the video Free Form Forging featuring Uri Hofi. If you can, watch this video before committing to the hammer. If your needs are more along the industrial style of work with a large amount of tooling then I'd suggest an Iron Kiss, large mechanical  or self contained unit.

 

Patrick

Big Blu now has oversized flat dies.