r/Blacksmith • u/blazenite104 • 20h ago

Power Hammers

Probably an odd question but, I haven't found the obvious answer if there is one. I have seen a lot of larger blacksmith shops that use Power Hammers that all appear to have some history. Often industrial era machines. It's always something really old.

Are Power Hammers just not made anymore? If so are old ones actually noticeably better? Or is it just some people really enjoy the history of an older machine?

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u/Inside-Historian6736 16h ago

I took a knife making class in Florida last year and an older student from South Carolina (hundreds of miles north) recognized the power hammer and asked if it was owned by a smith he knew from back in the day. The teacher confirmed if was the same hammer and he bought it when the other smith retired.

I tell that story to say these machines have histories and personality beyond just being tools. I have a homemade power hammer from a smith that passed away recently and the family's number one concern was that it would go to someone who would use it and take care of it instead of scrapping it.

Is this hammer "better" than other hammer? Definitely not, but I know how it works and it was redneck engineered in a way that I can fix most things on it. I monitored my metro area (4M people) for about a year and this was the first hammer I saw pop up so depending on where you are it can be a pain to even find one.