Advisability of buying a used pneumatic hammer

["John VanCamp" <jvcstnwrks@zzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi Tim, welcome to the list.  To answer you question : do air hammers age
well or not, if they are taken care of, yes indeed. Not at all familiar with
Wenzco, and the prices they have, however, a brand new Trow and Holden
hammer will  set you back less than $300.00.  I have bought a few used
hammers on ebay for good prices, and have been pleased. In fact two of them
could be classified as antiques in that the are at least 70 years old, and
they still work fine. I use one of them often for letter carving.  If you
are going to be working in hard stone, especially granite then you probably
want a long stroke ( type D or Dallett),  and a one inch will prove to be
more effective at pushing a chisel through hard stone, in terms of stock
removal.

My experience with a 1 inch long stroke is that it is a great hammer for
roughing in, but I do not have much luck controlling it for finish or detail
work.  So after rough in. I'll grab a 1 inch or 3/4 inch short stroke (type
B) If you are working more with marble, the short strokes are better as they
will not bruse the stone as deeply.  this is not an issue in granite
carving, but surely is in marble.  Whatever you decide, give yourself enough
time to learn how to use the tool. Once you do, I promise you that your hand
chisels will only come out for that special fine detail.

Good luck to you,
John VanCamp / JVC Stoneworks