Re: Homemade diesel hammer???

Sep 14, 2026 Last reply: 1 hour ago 2 Replies


> I was at a construction site with my 4 year old son. It was like a


>> heaven for him, both heavy duty construction and railroad in one
>> place. But I digress.
>>
>> What I saw there, very amazing to see up close, was a diesel
>> hammer. Type "diesel hammer" in youtube to see what it is like or see >> this
>>
>>
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>>
>> I actually took a video of it yesterday, up close, it was a much
>> closer look than what I saw on youtube. If anyone is interested, I can >> post it.
>>
>> Anyway, today I thought, what if I make a smaller version of a diesel
>> hammer, to be used for blacksmithing purposes. This may not be
>> neighbor friendly, but if it could be made to work (say 50 lbs
>> hammer), it would be awesome and would not require a heavy duty
>> compressor or electric supply.
>>
>> i
>
> Pardon if this has already been covered in the previous discussion, I
> only spot checked and didn't see any mention of 19th century blacksmith- > ing books.
>
> This is covered in some, or many 19th century and earlier blacksmithing
> books.  The only one I've personally read is somewhere on archive.org,
> and I'm not inclined to look it up right now.
>
> Those books cover steam powered blacksmithing tools, but the principle
> remains the same.  No, they don't cover how to make the steam engine,
> but how to use them, and show pictures enough that a recreationist can
> follow.  They do demonstrate hand or gravity powered tools made from > scratch.
>
> Anyway, I recall a diagram and directions on creating a piston hammer
> like above, using counter weights and pulleys.  Should be easy to adj-
> ust with a diesel powered wheel.  Or steam, or electric, if you prefer.
> It's your wheel after all.
>
>
> Best wishes, and happy blacksmithing!

You do realize you're responding to a post that is 16 years old ? Iggy's son is probably in college by now , and knowing him (Iggy) he's probably built one and upgraded it several times since 2010 .

As Snag pointed out, discussion, if any, occurred 15 years ago.

Probably not. I've never used a steam hammer but I've used a modern air hammer and restored a ca. 100 y.o. 300# air hammer.

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What's in the video is a pile driver, appears to be a drop hammer, viz. you get a blow controlled only by the height of the drop. There's a lovely video of using this kind of hammer at Wilop Forge in China:

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But hammers for forging pieces that a single person or even two or three people can handle offers more control over the force of the blows. This involves a bunch of alternate borings, reed valves and probably engineering details I don't know about inside the hammer mechanism.

Yes, that was a mistake in sort order. I had neglected to set the defaults sort order of new posts to ascending, subscribed to the group because someone cross posted, and started reading at the bottom of my screen, so to speak.

I'm fairly certain Iggy doesn't mind.

As a way of self introduction, consider myself an armchair blacksmith. I've read a few books, but it'll be a few years before I start on my own smithy.

Thank you for the video. Rather than argue about what is, or isn't, in a book from the 19th century, I'll just reply with pictures next time I read it. It'll hopefully be less than fifteen years from now.

Happy blacksmithing!

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