Tejun I noticed your chaps has a good bit of wear on them ..how long have you Shoeing ??.... And is that your first forge or just new to you
New to me, I owned one before. I took a break from shoeing to be a fisherman on the pacific, being raised a shoer always had me looking elsewhere for income. Which I did for a good four years hence my coastal location. But then I decided horse shoeing was better than fishing for obvious reasons. Time spent working, danger levels, working for dick head captains and fishing is way stinker. 2.5-3 years ago I bought all the cold shoeing stuff and started again.And now I have stepped it up a notch because the people of Coos County are treating me very well.
General shoe shape is not bad, but is too generic - not shaped like either a front or hind. Nail holes and fullering make it unnailable. For at least a while in shoe making, mark your nail holes and crease before fullering and punching (and also mark the center of the toe). Use a set of dividers to mark the centerline of the stock and crease along that, then use angle on your forepunch to make the front nails a bit courser than the rear. The front nail holes should then be on a line even with the inside of the web at the toe, Back nails at the wide part of the shoe.
On bar stock, 3/4 x 5/16 is a nice size for the average saddle horse but could be hard to get and pricy, 3/4 by 1/4 is a bit light for my taste. 3/4 by 3/8 is good, but deserves an e-head nail.
That's a good point on the availability thing Jack. Here I have to have 3/4 x 5/16 special ordered. Even with doing that it still costs a little less than the 3/8 does, but is more of a hassle to get.
To Tejun, its great that you are stepping forward and posting in a very intimidating profession. It would seem that you are hungry for knowledge and support from fellow farriers! If more farriers had the guts to do this, this might become an educational web site and not just dominated by a few guys that are great in the forge and a few that are slick with words and seem to have a deep need to be confrontational! Many like you have came here over the years only to be "educated by means of humiliation" and then gone! Wear what ever hat you like! Learn to shoe horses well, and keep them sound when it is within your paremeters!
I leave any helpful comments to the guys that make beautiful shoes as I'm not that guy..but will say I strugle with hammering in heel checks and often get bird the bird mouth looking thing at ends of shoes ..maybe someone can help us both on that..
I'll be making shoes on Tuesday for a big warmblood with you Tejun. You can see how it's done right, take pictures, and get me in all kinds of trouble on here.
I do a lot of work in Brookings and Gold Beach, south of where Tejun's at. You live in some nice country out there. Couple of years back my wife and I rode the bike through there on our way to Kamiah, Idaho, where I spent my summers growing up on my Grandfather's ranch above there. Halfway was one of the coolest stops along the way, but Joseph had better food.
Looks about like my first attemts .lol dosent look much different then my last set.if you can find someone near by that can teach , do it lerning to build shoes by your self is a long row to ho and hard on the arm beleave me .nice firsts though keep at it
Tejun there is nothing like making them on the spot for the horse it test your skills even more when you havent seen the horse before
Im sure it is clear I won't be 'testing my skills' hahaha I will be 'developing' some, since at the moment they are non existent har har har
You're definitely right about Halfway and Joseph. I used to have a few horses in Halfway but have since stopped going there. I still have about 50 or so head around Joseph and I always look forward to days when I go work up there.
For now, you might consider getting stock that will fit your tongs. I only see one pair in your picture. Regards
