Thoughts on an Anyang 88?

[brianstucker]

I've been blacksmithing long enough to know if I want to get anything serious done I'm gonna need a Power Hammer.  Any Anyang owners here? Would like some pro's and con's. Thank You.

[CMS3900]

I have a 33 HS, and I love it. James Johnson is a great person to deal with, and promptly returns emails and phone calls. I even emailed him in the middle of the night one time, thinking he would answer the next day, and he emailed me back almost within the hour. The machine arrived in a nice steel framed, wood covered crate, and after basic setup was hammering in no time. The only issue I have had was that the tup would not retract, which was fixed by running a lighter oil in the machine. James and Bruce Beamish have worked with the factory to fix a lot of issues the machines have had in the past.  The top die key no longer retracts into the machine, possibly causing a loose key to beat the machine up as the older Anyangs could, as well as Strikers and other Import hammers possibly could have. The HS (heavy series) hammers also have more stroke for top tooling. James runs all the hammers before he ships them in order to assure the customers hammer will work flawlessly out of the box. I went through mine anyway with a fine toothed comb before starting it, lubing all the points in the manual only to find he had already done so.  I haven't run many hammers but I really like the control the Anyang has. I have a few mechanical hammers in my shop I am in the process of rebuilding, and selling them to put money toward a 165 HS Anyang has definitely been in the back of my mind after using the 33. The only con I can think of is price compared to a *used* comparable weight mechanical hammer, but my thoughts were when I purchase the Anyang was that it was turn key, new, and had a warranty, which offset the additional cost. On the flip side, if I had found a similar weight mechanical hammer that was 100% rebuilt, tuned in, and turn key it would be in the same price range.

--Morgan