Ranchmanben

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that farrier was the renowned Jay Sharp.

I had actually assumed you’d started from flat stock. From thinner, meaning lighter, material I thick that would make a desirable Christmas tree topper.

I don’t know what the original looked like but I think that’s outstanding! Would you mind showing a picture of the back side, need to know how to copy it. Spent way too much time and effort for something that’s going to get hit by the sprinkler everyday. This was a request from my boss to make it easier for his wife, with an above the knee amputation, to get up a tall step. The one stair staircase

George Geist - I’ve never been a “professional” farrier. I’ve shod horses for people who know that I’m a ranch/necessity shoer. When I did go to shoe a horse, largely for friends or fellas I day worked with, they’d question me about what brand of shoe I was nailing on instead of a kerkart or why I nailed my shoes with capewell instead of liberty. I told them I’m cheap so you’re getting what I nail on. Never had a complaint about my shoeing but I did have a couple of people buy the name brand shoes they preferred for me. I’ve never had a problem with a St. Croix shoe from the feed store. This all boils down to consumer desire. For the most part, I only shod working ranch horses, horse people want what they want. I’ve never seen a more picky crowd of people. So if you, as a farrier, don’t conform to what they expect, you’re out. These are largely observations and not from personal experience. On the tools side side of this discussion. Farriers want and need to look classy and professional when they show up to someone’s backyard to trim Fantasia, Midnight or whatever cheesy name these people come up with. Its hard to shake a first impression. If two guys show up, do the same job equally well for the same price it’s basically going to boil down presentation. Hope this makes sense, I’m tired.

For the most part I fixed a water line today. Got that done only to discover that a well had quit working. Literally three minutes after that fabulous discovery the boss call and tells me he’s got livestock in bound to that pasture. The one good thing is they don’t show up for a few days so I’ve got tomorrow to trouble shoot and determine wether or not I can fix it or have to call in a pro. Anyways, took some time to blow off some steam and work on refining my Habermann/farrier bolt tongs.

You’re killing me with that larger one! Great find.

WAY better than my third, forth or eight pair of tongs. Keep up the good work.

That’s killer! Extremely well done. That Damascus looks great too, I’ve never been able to get that much contrast from cable.

Great haul Mark! I particularly like that length of cable or maybe twisted rod would be a better description. Your scrap yard is far better than mine. They only let you pick through to organized, nicely stacked stuff. All the small random bits, like hammer heads and axe heads are elsewhere. Seems like they’re far more interested in selling new steel.

Howdy Neil, I don’t think it makes the weaker at all. I’d think that the curve, Fuller, behind the rivet would be stronger than the sharp inside corner found on most tongs. Inside corners are far more likely to crack. In addition to that, it does look nice. People like things that look nice. It’s really not a complicated process but it does take quite a bit of practice to get right if you having got a striker. I finally built some dies for my guillotine tool to make it easier, faster and easily repeated. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask. On this particular style of tong, I can’t see why you’d need any extra grippiness. Since you’re just using the tips of the tongs and not really hammering or anything else. I’ve never seen Chris Madrid swing a hammer in person but I’ve hung out with Craig Trnka a couple time and that guy can stroke. He might swing a hammer with more precision than anyone I’ve ever seen.

It’s always good to have a soft hammer in the shop. As others have said, they’re great for punches and really good for the times your friends want to try to make something.

Also, are the “teeth” in the jaws necessary?

Stainless salad tongs

Thanks Horseshoein4 (Mark) That’s pretty dang close to what I’d like my final result to be. I’ve got a pair of Roy Bloom’s and a set of Jim Quick’s borrowed to use for scale. Who made those?

That’s about what I expected. Which style do you prefer, the ones built like tongs or like dividers?

I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about selling some of my tools through his farrier supply store and he suggested that I make a few pairs of hot fits. Having never been a professional shoer and only cold shaped shoes, I’m not sure how hot these get. Is S7 over kill for these? Will S7 as an impact steel be too brittle, once drawn out, to grip a shoe without breaking?

Thanks Mark. It’s sort of a modified Haberman style that’s going to get modified even more. That center punch was a gift from a talented smith who’s a fellow Texan. Gets used constantly!

Made a handle for a 2lb rounding hammer I needed to get finished before tomorrow and finished up a set of bolt tongs that’s a new design for me.

Finished up a set of redesigned bolt tongs. I’m not really happy with how they turned out but I know what to fix on the next pair.

I like where this is headed.

That’s an understatement. Watching his videos added quit a few items to the “to make list.”

Gergely - thank you, Something about this told me it wasn’t right. I’ll check out the video.

Built some tooling and started to relearn how to make tongs using the newly made tooling.

Good looking stout tongs!

@Sanderson Iron Playing with it is exactly what I’m doing! So far everything that’s been suggested here has been tried on The Playmate of the Year, as my wife and sister call it, with the exeption of the thinned down oil. Going to try that tomorrow. If it works, I stick with it. If not, I go bat how it was. My upcoming project, starting tomorrow, is going to be drawing tapers on some 3”x1/2” strap down 5/8”x3/4”. That seems like a good time to tinker with the spring tension. @beaudry When you say that you use thinned down oil on the clutch, do you mean where the wood meets the metal? Just reread your earlier post about your clutch being center mounted and metal on metal. Still, couldn’t hurt to try. I’d like to see a picture of your brake. Although not always necessary, it would sometimes be nice to have. On another note, I ran a friends Big Blu 110 this evening. I’ve had a fair amount of time on this machine and as far as I can tell it doesn’t hit as hard as the Playmate but is certainly more controllable. I’m sure with more time I’ll get more control.