It's been 40 years since I ran a jackhammer

[wwillson]

Electric jack hammers are fun to use and the results are very satisfying. I have often thought of buying one, but it is pretty rare that a reason to use one comes up. So I rent.

Renting them is dirt cheap compared to buying. I think I paid $75 for 4 hours. The Makita breaker I rented is about $2,800 new.

 

[2005jettatdi]

Renting them is dirt cheap compared to buying. I think I paid $75 for 4 hours. The Makita breaker I rented is about $2,800 new.

Back then, China Freight had one on sale for about $ 400. No, it was not a Makita or DeWalt, but is would have been good enough for my purposes.

 

[walterjay]

I ran a few of those old heavy pneumatic hammers hooked to a large compressor. They beat me up........and I was young and strong back then.

 

[Astro14]

Renting them is dirt cheap compared to buying. I think I paid $75 for 4 hours. The Makita breaker I rented is about $2,800 new.

I went for the middle ground. 18V Milwaukee Demolition Hammer for a project* that nobody wanted to do.

The tool wasn’t cheap, but it cost less than the bids I was getting on the job. Even those that bid the job decided to ghost me on it.

I had to replace a couple of fence posts that had rotted. Because of the location of the retaining wall, I had about 10 inches of working room and because I wasn’t doing the whole fence, I had to use the same location. I had the drill bit, but the regular chisel worked better. The mass of this hammer is considerable, and it went right through the concrete post hole filler.

So very satisfying to use. A genuine beast.

 

[alarmguy]

That's funny.
About 40 years ago I rented an electric jackhammer to cut a portion of the driveway and run a drain line from the relocated washer to the outside sewer line. I guess maybe I did something wrong by pushing down too hard instead of letting the jackhammer do its job. The handgrips had built in spring action I guess for a reason. By applying constant pressure on the handles instead of letting the hammer and springs do their job I swear I messed up the nerves in my hands for a long time. Tingling in my hands, some to think of it, since I havent thought about it. I no longer have that tingle.