Building a Blacksmithing Air Hammer

Keeping with my regular pace of only a few new posts per year ... This project started nearly two years ago at Arizona State University with graduate student, Leon Nash. Erik Bogner, Leon,and myself attended a "power-hammer" demo hosted by Ron Kinyon with the support of the Arizona Artist Blacksmith Association. Now being finished, there are some things I'd like to try differently the next time around; also, the hammer's current position is horizontal on a flatbed until I can get it installed in its new smithy-home. We are a few weeks off from that, but it'll be worth the wait. New home being Millersville, PA. Here are a few images of the hammer. Also, the whole building process was photo-documented and can be viewed more thoroughly, here: www.flickr.com/photos/teddmcdonah/sets/72157626270160104/with/6894396355/

The image of the foot control is an "in-progress" photo. There are items in the photo that are not a part of the design, but rather "place holders" and/or prop-ups. Both the hammer design and the foot pedal design are credited to Ron Kinyon. I took a few liberties in some minor spec. changes. The foot pedal is designed and intended as a remote-style control, so when working longer pieces, the hammer-operator is not tied to being right next to the hammer.