I am dwelling on the idea of coming up with a "hybrid" hammer. The idea that I'm thinking of has to do with the concept of a treadle hammer with a gear-rationed operation. Basically a fast treadle hammer with less work.

Simply put:
Treadle Hammer-> 1 foot stomp = 1 action (hammer hit).
"Hybrid Hammer"-> 1 foot stomp = 5 actions (hammer hits).
Both with the actions happening in the same amount of time.

I figure it would be geared in such a way that the foot pedal is connected to a "crank shaft" thats attached to a geared wheel (almost like a flywheel concept) which is connected by chain to a similarly geared sprocket that has a "cam" sticking out of it and has a "connecting rod" "push-arm" to a weighted hammer.

Sort of encompassing this hammer: YouTube - Helve Hammer by Tom Verity
With this operation: YouTube - Blacksmithing in L

I think it sounds pretty interesting! Take lots of pictures :)

You could certainly build a treadle hammer that would strike five blows with each "foot stomp". What you cannot do is get five blows that deliver the same power as the one blow hammer without increasing the amount of force you put into each "foot stomp".

If equal force and speed are applied to each stomp on both of these hammers the blows on the hybrid would end up having less than 20% of the power of the one blow hammer.

No Free Lunch Build yourself a treadle hammer and/or a power hammer.

A Blacker hammer had the option of being powered or foot operated. You might want to look at a version of that design.

I posted a couple pics in the gallery of an old hybrid hammer I'm fixing up as time allows. The design of it isn't perfect, it appears there could be some spectacular crashes if you don't unhook the connecting rod from the drive wheel when converting to foot power, and turn the motor on by mistake.. Don't know if you can get any ideas from it, but it's an interesting concept.
I tried adding the pictures to this post, but the manage attachments button doesn't seem to work.. the pics are in the gallery however.