Heck, if you're looking for cheap gas engines, all you have to do is buy a used riding mower. A guy locally will get them running, then sell them for usually about $350. Most riding mowers have well over 13hp. Plus you have the extra parts (like the transaxle and wheels/tires) to keep on hand for other projects.
I'm sitting here thinking.. Yeah.. Those transaxles are handy, I've got one as a gear box on the sand muller over here....
Haven't used it in years (casting sucks)..
Then *DOH*..
If that had rocks in it, it wouldn't be a muller anymore.. It'd be an Arastra. (sp?).... What an idiot. I've got 3/4 yard of cemented caliche sitting out
here, and its got good gold in it, it just takes FOREVER to break apart in my little half assed home made cement mixer.. I'll be shoveling that
sucker out this week and putting her to good use.
Sorry for getting off topic... But I'm sitting here feeling like a dumb ass. I had the perfect tool all along.
If you were to go with hammers but want maximum wear, you might look into using steel hammers with a plate of Titanium, or even carbide, for wear. Small flat pieces shouldn't cost that much compared to how long they'll last. Carbide is hard enough that you'll have to get something thick enough to absorb the impacts without cracking/breaking.
I've thought a lot about this.. And it makes me wish I paid more attention in college... Looking for impact resistance and wear resistance.. 2 things that don't necessarily go hand in hand.
One thing I have found out.. Work hardening materials used for impacts can put a bunch of crap in your dirt... I've got a little hand banging rock crusher and I use a stainless (304) rod as my hammer.. It works
great, except that it work hardens, and flakes off, sometimes it turns to a straw color, sometimes not, but I end up with a decent bit of it in my pan..
Carbide can be had in quite a few different flavors, I'd wager a guess that the softer the better for the impact resistance.. I really don't know how "soft" (I put that in quotes since "soft" carbide
is still going to be really fricken hard compared to just about anything else on the planet) you can get carbide..
Ti.. EXPENSIVE, and it work hardens, which means it will probably flake...
Pretty much no matter what you use for a hammer, its going to be a compromise.. I'd think the best thing is to treat them as consumables and make them as cheap and easy to
replace as possible, while also trying to balance wear and impact resistance... Easy to say, not so easy to do.. I'd guess something in the tool steel family would be the best
all around compromise.. Common and relatively cheap... The armor plate/wear resistant oddball stuff probably would work well too (many flavors of that stuff out there) though
not as common or easy to find..
