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I Forge Iron

Thinking over my options.


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I've been looking at power hammers for a couple years. I've thought about building my own, and I most likely will. However I'm hoping I'll drive by some old farm house and see an old hammer sitting behind a barn. 

So my question is; what's the lowest price y'all paid for an old "fix-er-upper".

 

I have access to machining equipment, so I'm not worried about getting parts made. 

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$75 for a 25# LG that took 1 day of work to get back hammering. Shawnee Oklahoma around 1983.

$250 for a no name 50# fullering hammer in working condition rural OK 1980's

$700 for a 60# Champion under power 1990 central Ohio

$600 for a 60# champion in rough condition 2010 central NM

(and a friend found a 250# LG for $450 in good condition, Arkansas 1980's)

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Hammer Person,

Concerning,  your reply of "Not sure, but I'll be careful to rotate him a quarter of a turn each time. "  in response to Mr. Dwarf's query, namely "what are you going to feed him too? "

You ARE most cruel!

I have just reported you to the A.S.P.C.A.

So there!  ,

SLAG.

"Public citizen # 1"

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In today's market who knows, but before cable shows $750 for a rusty pile of junk was not out of line. I will say this in my opinion, to get the same amount of work done with a new home built hammer you will have to put some steel in it. They makes lots of noise but don't move metal like the commercial jobs did. But when they weigh less than one third of the old cast iron equivalents its not all that surprising. Something to figure into you cost comparisons.

 

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5 hours ago, marcusb said:

In today's market who knows, but before cable shows $750 for a rusty pile of junk was not out of line. I will say this in my opinion, to get the same amount of work done with a new home built hammer you will have to put some steel in it. They makes lots of noise but don't move metal like the commercial jobs did. But when they weigh less than one third of the old cast iron equivalents its not all that surprising. Something to figure into you cost comparisons.

 

I'm aware home built doesn't stack up to the real thing, I figure i'd work with what I have for the time being until I find something decent.

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I found a Murray 25lb hammer in excellent condition behind an auto shop in Corona NM. about 2 months ago. It turns out that auto  shop was the site of the original blacksmithing shop for the town.The owner was the son of the blacksmith and several folks had tired to buy the hammer but he had refused. I asked if he wanted to sell it and he said "make me an offer I can't refuse"

I offered him $1000 and he simply said its yours. I put a 1hp motor on it and bought a new tension spring and a set of dies from Roger Rice at little giant and have a little more than $1500 in it. Since Moloch and Murray hammers were significant upgrades to the original Little giant hammers they are pretty nearly bullet proof.

Murco power hammer 001.JPG

Murco power hammer 003.JPG

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Back when rocks were still soft and you could get a Mammoth burger with extra Mammoth for a good piece of flint; I remember going to a Quad-State where there were a *dozen* power hammers or sale *ONSITE*.  Cost of getting them to there has decreased the numbers but I've seen a couple every time I've been there. (And had a friend use TPAAAT and find one he had to go offsite to buy...)

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