The first thing you’ll have to decide is which style of power hammer you will build. There are as many designs as there are folks who build hammers, but they fall into two basic categories: helve hammers and linkage hammers.
At the basic level, a helve hammer has an arm that moves up and down on a fulcrum to move the hammer head up and down. A linkage hammer uses a wheel, tire or disk that rotates and uses the rotation to move the hammer head up and down. The Little Giant power hammer design uses a linkage, as does the commonly homebuilt tire hammer. I chose to build an Appalachian-style spring helve hammer because I had access to a) was better suited to the helve hammer.
