notownkid

as you said it would depend a lot on the size of the horse and size of the shoe and also the condition of the hoof. There are different size nails. So all that said MOST shoes I've used or had attached to many different size horses over 55+ yrs had 7 nails, mostly because I was taught that way and all my Farriers were from the same family, 3 on the inside and 4 on the outside. Some of our really big draft horses had 7-9 nails. Oxen 3 usually. We had some pulling ponies that had 6. I watched a farrier a couple yrs. ago at a NE Blacksmith event make a shoe from bar stock and he only put 7 holes in it and as he mainly makes each shoe he places the holes where the horse needs them instead of where the factory makes them. Sounded reasonable to me. Like us going to buy a pair of boots it is best to get the ones that fit instead ones the boots salesperson said should fit.

Many yrs. ago my dad's partner blew his nose at a Horse Auction and bought a race horse! after a couple hrs and a number of phone calls my Dad sold the horse for most of what it had cost. Partner lost a couple $100 but learned a valuable lesson. As my Dad said "cost money to go to school"

Wow here is sending all the luck & prayers I can gather up for all of you folks.

Welcome 360, First off clean up your language on the site or the administrators will do it for you. This is a FAMILY Sight and clean for kids or local ministers to read. Put in your location as there just might be people in your area that can help you. In my humble opinion No to the wheel, not heavy enough in the material department Maybe on the brake rotor if nothing better comes along. I would suggest a brake drum off a 3/4 to 1ton pickup, lots of steel and room. Do a direct hunt for these not a hit or miss salvage yard hunt. Watch your area for a repair shop with lots of these trucks in their yard, stop and ask if they do brake work. Have a picture of what you are trying to do they just might give you a hand. Stop at a parts store Like NAPA and ask what shops buy these from them and then go talk to the shop. show the Parts store guys a picture esp. if there are older guys on the counter they have lots of experience and ideas and generally willing to share. I was one of them for 15 yrs. Good luck.

I have about 20 sets of muffs from HF all over the farm hanging on all steering wheels of equip, in all the shops in the trucks. I have better quality muffs in my shooting bag but have to use foam ear plugs to shoot trap as the muffs keep hitting my stock. When shooting my biggest Mags rifles I have plugs plus muffs. Have shot for 55 yrs and at the beginning we never knew to use protection so I have hearing damage, Army didn't help that much either.

Had a buddy weed whacking a few yrs. ago along an edge of a field in shorts and while working felt something hit his shin, when he looked there was a small scratch, little red spot on the leg. He didn't think about it till 3-4 days later when he couldn't walk on it and puss was leaking out. They took a 1" piece of rusty barbed wire out from between the 2 bones. It took weeks to get all the infection out of the leg a couple additional operations and a lot of off time. Only lucky thing was it was workman's comp. I have never whacked since without wearing my loggers chaps along with my logger's helmet. Just not worth getting hurt.

I love the Roller shoe will make one for my shop and see what is said, I have a lot of horse people in and out during the summer months. I'll come up with a story or two for them.

If you are happy with it then the price is JUST RIGHT, don't worry about IF you paid too much for it as that ship has sailed and you own it now enjoy it. Odd weight 82-84lbs or mine at 213 marked, actual ?? I'm not lifting it to weigh. Doubt many came in at even weights the way they were made. As others have said use it for a while and see how you do with it, can always put it back on the market.

P T Barnum said it best about fools and money.

We had some Race Horses that could have used them to get around the track they sure didn't seem to run fast enough.

Now that is a major step in the right direction,

When moving a farm recently I found a few boxes of caulks both round and treaded sharp & blunt. As A young person we used them on our horses that we logged and sugared with, worked good on ice and packed snow but tore up the stall floors, we pulled them as soon as we could in the spring. We also made real sure not to get stepped on by them in the barn. We liked the treaded ones as we could take them out if they weren't going to be used for a time. Usually had a hard time getting them back in with the treads full of "stuff".

I think everyone has said what you need to know, the 2 things you need to learn and excel at 1. all aspects of business, financial, sales, management, laws esp. tax laws, where the money is coming from. 2 all aspects of Blacksmithing, when you hang the sign the time for learning the above subjects has ended you have to produce on a professional level. Customers will expect it from day 1. More Craft businesses fail from lack of business knowledge than anything else. But don't give up the idea just WORK at it from both directions. Good Luck.

Shop looks Very nice, can I have the winch off the Kubota tractor on the trailer? Could use that this summer& Fall on a project.

Ditto Dale

nice stuff Frank, hopefully I'll get my collection sorted out after moving and consolidated and get some photos. Need to plan a new home for them as well at some point.

Third party stretch? Maybe but look at the times lawyers are still trying to sue gun manufacturers in the US for making a product used in crimes. Not much of a stretch called "deep pockets" in the legal field. I didn't say they could always make it stick but your defense costs will BREAK a little guy and people like Stanley have in house attorneys. Large manufactures set aside $X from every unit for liability costs and that is aside from testing costs. Unlikely to see a $75 knife in a crime, don't bet on it, I was attacked a while back with a $100 double bitted axe, I was faster than he was. But the liability issue will remain as will the zoning, business tax issues. Personally I don't care go for it experience is the best teacher you will ever have.

Welcome, you have come to the right place for information and contact with other blacksmiths. If you haven't take a lot of "spare" time and read the posts here top quality stuff. Might consider getting in the chat room sometime people from all over the world in there at times. Make contact with other local Blacksmiths though here would also be instructive. Wish you well with the swage block as they are scare here in the states or highly $$.

Liability is the key word here. You are "fairly confident" in your work but not 100+%. Product tested by UU? (Of course Not $$) Can you get Liability Ins. (don't let a knife leave home without it) and does your zoning allow for selling your product as this now makes you a Business. Businesses need registering esp. with the state sales tax folks. All sorts of people out there looking to throw a wrench into your gears. Most ridiculous Law Suits show up all the time and after being on the receiving end of a number of them even when only being a third party It can be expensive. as Marc1 said make a gate. Not a bad idea seldom used in a crime which a knife could be and then it's your fault because you made it and sold it, on and on it goes. Good luck make your knives and enjoy them.

You did good, clean them up, get them working, put them on a rack where they can be seen. After a yr. or two you will know the ones you want to use and keep the rest they can be trading material or stay on the rack for a future use someday out of the blue. either way impressive for visitors to see in your shop. None are scrap! Tools and scrap should never be used in the same sentence nor paragraph.

its fairly heavy, two hands full for me. They would have a ball if they x rayed your bag and this lump showed up. Now we could cut it into smaller pieces and take it on several trips and then "weld' them together.

I had some tongs arrive at my home this morning so they didn't follow me home they found a home anyways. A former School buddy 1st through 12 grade 1952-1964 saw these being thrown out at the HS in town and grabbed them stuffed them in his truck and told the people "I know someone who can use these". Cost me a cup of coffee and we had a half hr. chat catching up. I'll bet 2/3s of what I have in the shop came to me from other people seeing them or finding them or having them they didn't know what to do with. Tell everyone you know your looking for blacksmith or anything for that matter tools. Best to have 25 sets of eyes looking for them than just yours. I have 2 pictures but one will not up load tonight.

I know this subject was over a yr. ago BUT when moving this past fall I ran across a bucket of "horse stuff" so I dumped it on a table and got these pictures just to show random styles and sizes the top one is leather rapped and of course the hackamore on the right. They just surfaced today while downloading other pictures. like many things I just can not throw out a bit goes against my grain presume that is why it took 18 months to move all my stuff other than household items.

Here are a couple pictures of "Portable Hardy Hole" unit that JHCC mentioned on here, that I won at a New England Blacksmith meet last fall. The second picture shows the attaching unit but it is not 100% in place but I think you can figure it out. It was 0 f when I went to the show to take the pictures and I didn't linger long. These are for sale through NEBs don't know the price but PM me if interested and I'll give you a name & number of someone who can, these are shippable. I don't think they have made the web sight yet of New England Blacksmiths.

my deepest condolences to Lisa and the boys on their lose of Roger on the prayer list for sure. Will go to the shop and ring the anvil.