The Phoenix is built by Tom Troszak and is based upon the same basic design principles as the Bullhammer, which Tom also built but is no longer in production.
There is a long story about what happened to the former company, and several versions I'm sure as well, but I don't know enough to make any statements about it here. Suffice it to say there was some "drama", and opinions on the company, its management, and its products vary greatly. Take whatever you hear with a grain of salt...
Anyway, Phoenix hammers offer wonderful control, but they are quite expensive. Some people will tell you they're the best air hammer made (excellent ram to anvil weight ratio, wonderful control, lots of power, etc.) but others say they aren't nearly worth the cost. There are stories out there about people who have run the hammers continuously for years on end without problem, and there are stories about people who have had them break more than once on only limited use. As with anything, there are always stories...
One thing worth noting about the Phoenix, however, is that dies are very expensive ($1000 for a set) so if the user needs a lot of dies, it's going to add a very large cost to his hammer, or he'll have to spend the time to make them himself.
For what it's worth (not much, I know), I have also heard lots of great first-hand reports of happy and successful owners of the Sayha and the Big Blu hammers. Blu, by the way, just came out with a bigger, improved model (with a 155lb (70kg) ram) that your friend might be interested in learning more about as well. Further, the folks at Big Blu are extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. I bought my air compressor from them and they were always more than willing to answer my questions about fittings, hoses, filters, etc.
The compressor I bought, by the way, was for a Bullhammer.
Yep, I own one. I just got it recently and bought it second-hand for less than half of what it cost new, and I'm still in the process of getting everything set up, adjusted, broken-in, etc. Hopefully it will serve me well.
Anyway, good luck to your friend. Suggest to him that he call Tom Troszak directly and recommend that he talk to Tom's competition as well. There's hardly any published information available about air hammers and it would be imprudent to spend that much money without doing some independent research. Word-of-mouth will only give you some random, biased opinions and could very easily lead you astray. Talk directly to the producers, some of their customers, and, if possible, track down a nearby machine and ask the owner if you can try it out sometime.
http://www.phoenixhammer.com/ 828-713-7828
http://bigbluhammer.com/ 828-437-5348
