wd&mlteach Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I have been contemplating building a power hammer, because I can and want to. I have searched and read through an amazing amount of posts here and elsewhere trying to glean as much information on which style to build. Taking into consideration, what I have learned, what I want to do, and my space limitations, a tire hammer appears to be my best option. I contacted Clay and I plan on ordering a set of his plans. Before I do, I would like to ask those of you that do have one of these hammers, how do you like them? How are they holding up? How often do you use your hammer? What if anything breaks or needs repaired? And, do you have any recommendations for modification/material changes? I have run across a lot of threads on the build of these hammers but not much is out there on longevity after use. Maybe, that stuff is covered in the plans and I am just jumping the gun or maybe they just have not started breaking yet. By-the-way what is the best way to cut a 6.5 diameter 8' steel round bar down to 36" when the bar stock is located in the middle of a farmer's field? A friend and I spent three hours on our knees with a Stihl Cutoff saw yesterday cutting through a piece that diameter. After the first hour I kept trying to come up with a better idea. The best we could do was to roll it when the saw started to get heavy. When we were done that piece did not show any signs of bluing and had a mirror shine. It sure is pretty and commandingly heavy. Best of all it only cost me $35. 20 to the farmer and 15 to buy us lunch, what a blessing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLMartin Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Yikes, next time load it in a truck / trailer and bring it to a steel shop with a large bandsaw. But that is super cheep steel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I hosted a workshop where we built 16 tire hammers, The build is featured in the current issue of the Hot Iron News ( NWBA newsletter) I think its a great machine and very user friendly and easy to maintain. If you have any specific questions there are lots of folks with them that can offer advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Unless it's hardened you can cut 6" rd. much faster than 3 hrs with a hacksaw. I can cut 2" sq. in under 10mins. with a hacksaw. Well I could, I ain't 35 anymore. <grin> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 Martin, I have a bandsaw but at eight feet long there was no way that my saw would support it. And I would need a towmotor to move it around, don't have one of those yet. Monstermetal wow what an archive! I have been reading that back issues ever since I found your post. That is some great stuff there. However, I am not going to join the association so it looks like I will have to wait until your article makes it online. Unless you want to pm me a scan, ;) Frosty, I kept thinking the same thing but that stuff was hard. I do not know what they were but they were big, heavy and hard. The farmer told me if I could tell him what they were from, I could have them. The best answer I could come up with was that they were from a machine shop. I pointed out the machine marks and drill holes. But I have no idea what they were used for on a farm, which what he wa looking for as an answer. The farmer speculated that they might be part of truck scale that was on the property before he was around. He said that was over 60 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I don't own a tire hammer, but I have used one several times and they are great machines!!!! I am/ have been (as some of yall know) been building a tire hammer (no it's not finished yet :( ), and some of the plans are a little hard to understand if you haven't been around a tire hammer. I would suggest trying to find someone in your area that has one, and go look at it, compare parts with the plans, and take photo's, a LOT of photo's. It will make the building a lot easier. Good luck on the build!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 A lot of heavy objects on a farm just turn out to be weights used to give tractor pulled tooling a bit more bite or to hold the tractory down---seen several anvils used for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris P Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Nice score on the steel.. I can't speak to the power hammer questions, but I'd love to hear the answers as I'm planning on building one myself. FWIW, I'd say the best way to cut the steel would have been a mobile oxy/acetylene outfit... If it is hardened its just going to dull out a normal band saw or hack saw blade... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Other than an O/A torch , a gas powered chop saw should get through that in a lot less than 3 hrs with the proper wheel(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I have used a few tire hammers over the years it was my second choice to finding an old one (which I did). The plans are very easy to understand. The good thing about building the hammer your self. is if any thing goes wrong it is easy to fix. Clay did a Demo here a few years ago it is a well thought out tool. The only problems I have ever heard of was the mounting plate on the motor separating from the motor casing (factory weld braking). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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