I found a piece of copper rod about 20mm diameter... Having heard that pit ponies were shod in copper years ago, I thought I'd have a crack at making one. Anybody done so and has some tips for working on copper?
minimum heat if any at all , works easily , i would turn the bar whilst it is in its round section then forge into the required section
i ve found that copper work hardens and that every 8 to 10 hits requires bringing it up to a glow and letting it return to dull before hitting it again. ray
when the copper starts to "feel" hard under the hammer, reheat to dull red and quench in water(annealing); you can then work it cold or reheat to dull red. Without periodic annealing (water quench) you will develop internal cracks
Thanks guys. Tried annealling and hitting it cold... my elbow said, like... no way dude. So just heated to a glow an bashed it till it felt hard... it gave me quite a bit of time out of the fire really, more than steel. Anyway this is what I came up with, section finished 1" x 3/8" shoe 5 3/4" wide. Polished a bit to show the metal (and really highlight the faults) A piece of the original stock on the anvil.
One of the old guys that shod the pony mules used in the local coal mine, told me that after forging the shoes; he w/striker would "pack" those shoes with a 1 1/2"x 1 1/2" flatter; basically work hardening them for better wear. Capewell sold speciality copper nails, just for the mining industry. He said that if the feet were dried out they would drive a steel nail first, pull it and replace with the copper nail; leaving any steel nails in would get you fired (probably an @ss kicking from the miners too); with the risk of methane/coal dust explosion. After the mules were in the mine for a while the feet were moist enough to use the copper nails exclusively. The Corunna mine produced a high grade low sulphur/low ash, coal first used by blacksmiths who switch from charcoal but then it was mainly used in steam locomotives and really ramped up production for the war effort and closed down after WW2 plus the introduction of diesel/electric locomotives
It was interesting to work with, could get quite used to it if there was ever any reason to use it... maybe some artistic stuff.
I have shoes they used in the pits let me look up my photos if I cant find I will take pics of them in the forge tomoro
Wow, English farriers stuck using unshapeable factory made cast copper shoes and Michigan shoers forging handmades for pit ponies. Makes my head hurt just thinking about it; there was something wrong with the Universe back then
