Mike C

Maybe I can break the tie, I agree with Frank Turley, I use the horn and virtually all of the face and edges, depending on what I am making. I'm only a farrier though, what do I know?

That is a great pic, welcome to the group.

I do understand, I was the one with the ego when I started learning 20+ years ago. What a pain in the a$$ I was.....

I do have that book, it is a good one. I made a pitchfork bit with a halfbreed spade bud curved it the wrong way and didn't realize it until I finished it. Hat a disappointment. The pin for the roller, I welded in so I couldn't re-heat it. Pitchforks are fairly high carbon, I didn't know that.

Frank, I am open to new (or old) ideas. The silver solder I'm using ran at just below 550o. I am going to use a higher temp silver solder as well as your method. I will still use my kitchen oven as that is as close to an exact heat as I can get. The goal is as perfect as an even heat as I can get. I still want to learn how to mortice and tenon the band to the shank but I need to make a monkey tool. Oh the projects. Maybe I should stick to one thing to perfect what I already do....

I'm not sure what Birchwood Casey cold blueing looks like but I'm trying to avoid the gun metal look. Garcia spurs have a very "blue" look. This is whay I am trying to achieve. A difference is that they inlay silver, I am silver soldering the brass. I'm not that advanced in my spurmaking. Working spurs usually end up with silver and rust, the 4140 of the sucker rod will not rust as bad or as fast. Thamnks for the information.

I have the DVD, it's a good one.

Howdy all, I havent been on in a while as the shop is too hot to work in in the summer where I live. Here are my latest spurs, one piece made from 5/8 sucker rod. Jigs sure make life easier. I did try to blue them in my kitchen oven and succeeded in making the brass gee-gaws fall off or move. I would like the color but am not sure what temperature or time to put them in. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

I am right handed with a left pointing horn. From a farrier point of view, wiht the tongs and horseshoe in the left hand and hammer in the right, it is more comfortable to turn the shoe branches around the horn at an angle to get a rounder circumfrence on the shape as well as the hammer hand over the face of the anvil. I couldn't imagine trying to turn the shoe branches of a handmade with the horn pointing right, I'd have to move my entire body, side stepping to get ther with the hammer swing not matching the natural movement. I would think the handedness of the smith would determine the direction of the horn. There are also times when I need the lenght of the anvil with the horn pointing away but generally I have little need to move much. It's interesting to see what is comfortable with one is not with the other. I've never seen a farrier use anything other than right handed-left horn, left handed-right horn. Perhaps it's unique to making or shaping horseshoes.

Yes I did see them. His damascus spurs on his web site are amazing enough. I spoke with another blacksmith last night regarding making a monkey tool for the tenon/mortice joint for building the californio style like the Garcia spurs are/were made. I haven't tried that yet. I am like you, I do it on the weekends, as well as rawhide braiding, horseshoeing, and way too many extracarriculars that my wife complains about. I met a spur maker in a couple weeks ago that puts over 200 hours into one pair, lots of carved silver work. The most time I've taken on a pair is about 8 hours. I think rules for this contest should be established regarding tools used. This is a blacksmithing forum, therefore limit the tools, just my not so humble opinion. Meaning, eilinate the water and plasma cutters.

That's no S#!T, it would be fun, I'm thinking a brief narrative of the construction as well, giving a judge an idea of great work-minimal tools versus all the power tools and minimal work.

I do it prior to shaping the bands. The bands at this point are flat, perpendicular to the shank. I also do all of my drilling for buttons at this point as well and any other forging on the bands I may want (hole punched and drifted or whatever).

I agree, when I fold them and open the bands perpendicular to the shank, I run a bead with a wire feed to fill the seam then grind the whole thing smoothe or at least so it will not damage the heels of boots. I also stamp it with my mark. Cheers