seldom (dick renker)

just like blacksmiths, ask 10 smith the same question and get 15 different answers, all correct.

for when things get wonky

when i was young and foolish after i got out of the service i worked in a machine shop that cut gears that big and bigger. during ww2 they made a lot of reduction gears for the navy.

sounds like a fair deal if threads etc are ok. however depnds on how desparate you are for a vise. check out estate auctions, sale flea markets, etc. i got a 5 inch at and auction for 25 bucks in good shape

nodebt, talk to some farriers around your area. often times they will give you their used shoes so they dont have to mess with them. that how i get mine.

i use a little jewelry hammer for detailing some of my work. it has cross hatching and lines

those clinchers will take a bit of work to get them into bs tongs. might be better to save them for tradin and just make a pair from scratch.

nice job. look to be new shoes instead of used. much of the stuff i do i use old used shoes, adds a certain amount of charactor. i do use new shoes when working to a dimension.

My understanding for this was to be mainly used for horses that had a problem with the hoof wall that made for difficult or impossible nailing. But like most fixes it was discovered to be a real cash cow tho expensive to get the parts. probably took more thought out of the equation as well.

yes it certainly has changed. back in the 70's when a horse lived to 20 or so it was real old. just last week we put down one of our family members that was just a few days shy of 34. my farrier tells me he still does horses that are in their 40's/. so like us the care is getting better in some cases. but it is very true that there are more people with horses that have more money than brains. not too many "horsemen" around.

notownkid, thats one of the newer methods for feet that are a mess and cant get good nailing though i never had to resort to that. heck it wasnt even thought of when i was shoeing. i went to a seminar last year and the demonstrator did a lot of sanding on the hoof wall to polish it. i made the comment that if i did that i would have been told not to come back. several other older guys agreed with me.

dead skunk in the middle of the road

tractor supply handles those rubber mats. use a pair of vise grips to move them. they make great handles. ask me how i know

you will never regret the grinding wheel. they are the best

great stories, frank and notownkid. as tubalcain2 said usually 8 but often times less depending