Had a great couple days with David. Very good, practical farrier with good ways of looking at the hoof and getting the job done. We had an interesting case show up, a seven year pony who at two had its extensor tendon(RH) severed. Had a very different gait. David made a couple really good heartbar concave shoes for the hind end. Also had another show up he did a lateral support (LH). At one point he asked if everyone could understand him, with his strong accent. I replied, no problem. I got the "finger" from several of the Danish guys who were having to listen real hard to understand.
Yes, I had to listen, but he also knows it and tries to speak clearly and good so understand is no problem. He's great with a hammer and forge. Got to see a different way to pull clips. Am going to give it a try tomorrow.
Every one I've seen, after you get your material, make a couple blows to set the width of the clip, you then draw the clip by slightly pulling your hammer towards yourself as you strike the metal. David's striking method was opposite. He more or less was striking straight down or pushing slightly into it. Clips were great.
I hit straight down when pulling clips, then follow the "wave" with the edge of the hamer. Seems to work better than pulling the hammer toward the point of the clip. YMMV.
Yea, and I guess that's what made it a great weekend. I didn't have to translate what he did. I'm left handed also.
Yes I did. The first couple were a little off. David gave me a couple tips about getting my body positioned - taking one step to the right, which I did. Amazing how one little step effected my clips. I had always been trying to adjust my arm swing or placement of my work on the anvil, but the step really did it.
Smitty, here's a couple clips using David's method. Got to learn to crawl before you can walk. I'll get the better shape, but the best thing for me is now I get my clips more square with the shoe right off the start. Better shape will come by using his method more.
