I've owned/used a Say-Mak Air Hammer since 2006. I've had the opprotunity to use just about every size and type of air hammer out there at one time or another.
I'd love to have something like a 3B Nazel, but power requirements, and sheer size put something like that out of the question.
After running Little Giant hammers in my shop for 20+ years, I was tapped to do a Tomahawk making demo at an ABS Hammer-In, back in 2003. In my shop, with my Little Giant 25 + 50, it would take me all day to produce 6 hawks.....after about 1/2 hour of practice, I produced 4, in my 1 hour demo on the Say-Mak hammer!
I started looking at the various air hammers, and learned a great deal about them.... Personally, I do not like those that require an external compressor. I used/tried just about all of those that require an external compressor, and was disappointed that nothing short of a 7.5hp/two stage compressor will keep up with the air requirements (although most of them state that a 5hp is sufficient, don't believe it!). The majority I used were connected to 5hp single or double stage compressors, and as soon as you stepped on the treadle, the compressor would kick on, and run until 3-5 mins after use of the hammer was stopped. In most cases, the hammers would slow down, and the blows would lighten while using the hammer due to lack of air....not acceptable to me. The one XXX XXXX hammer that did have a 7.5hp/2 stage attached to it performed OK, but even it slowed downed/lighten up towards the end of longer forging cycles, such as working on a Damascus billet.
That's when I decided to only look at hammers that did not require an external compressor....... long story short, I went with the Say-Mak, sold by the Ozark School of Blacksmithing. At the time Tom Clark was still with us, and after several phone conversations with Tom, I ordered a 110lb version. Tom delivered it personally, set it up in the shop for me, and even spent an entire days tearing the hammer down and putting it back together so I would understand everything about it.
Having tried the Kuhn, Stiker, Anyang, and several other lesser known hammers, my advice is to purchase a hammer that does not require an external compressor. I personally think the Say-Mak is the best thought out/built of the lot, but any of them would make a serviceable hammer for what we do. The quality, control, and just about everything else associated with owning and using the hammers are superior in comparison to those that require external compressors.
I'm not intending to bash them, but those hammers that require an external compressor are simply not even in the same league as those hammers mentioned in the previous paragraph.....and by the time you spend the money for one of the external compressor hammers, and the type of compressor it needs, your into it for generally the same $$$$ it would cost to get a much better tool, that only requires you to plug it into the appropriate power supply. (The Say-Mak I own runs on a 220V/30amp circuit)
