Operating Principles of the Nazel Self-Contained Air Hammer, written and published by Mark S. Krause, Oakland, Calif., 2010. 8½ x 11 paperback, 34 pages.

The accompanying images have been deliberately blurred. All images were drawn by Mark himself. Note that the air flow diagrams include color arrows and paths. The text is in Mark’s very own hand block writing.

 

Mark Krause is a master machinist who has been repairing and rebuilding power hammer for blacksmiths all over North America for over two decades. The first hammer he ever worked on had no manuals, plans, directions or documentation of any kind to help. But he had been fabricating and repairing all types of machines and equipment since he was a kid, so he simply took the hammer apart, making his own drawings of the parts and their placement in relation to each other. He took great delight in figuring out how the hammer operated. Then he repaired the parts requiring attention, and reassembled the hammer. The blacksmith swore it was hammering better than it ever had before.

 

Krause’s reputation spread literally across the continent solely by word of mouth. He became known as “the hammer whisperer.” Hundreds of blacksmiths around the United States and Canada have summoned Mark Krause to their shops to repair, rebuild, and restore all makes of power hammers. But Krause developed a special interest in and fondness for Nazels.

 

So this little book is the result of a two-decade intense interest and interaction with Nazel air hammers. Krause wrote the text himself, hand-lettered the book himself in his neat, draughtsman freehand, and drew and captioned all the pictures.

 

So here is one of the most unique and special books on Nazel power hammers on the planet, bar none.