Hotshoein4 (Mark)

I've never found work hardening to be a problem with any horseshoe makers. Yes it sounds easy to just put a crease in the shoe then punch and pritchel the nail holes, but no, it's not. Even just half a shoe. You want it to look right and not messed up. The client might not know, but I certainly do and wouldn't let garbage be sold or even given away. Anytime my clients want stuff made from shoes, I say no, factory shoes aren't cool, I'll just hand make it. They like that. So if you do want to just make half a shoe and a blade, I would suggest getting the proper tools and knowledge yo do so. I think doing it out of 1084 or something simular would be a great idea. Practice on mild steel though. It'll take time to learn it.

Thanks. I'll check that out. Never researched it, just heard about it.

I've heard that. Why does it do that?

Chaps and apron seem to be interchangeable with farriers. We all know what they mean when they say either

If you had your oven set at 450°, you think it looks like 440°. Ok, close, but how will an oven set at 450° get something to the 540° range? Even on thin parts. Isn't that why we use ovens. Set it and forget it?

Never got into the habit of using a magnet on my apron. I usually put them in my mouth. And if I'm working on a sensitive footed horse, I'll put them in bees wax or hoof packing. Helps them drive in a bit smoother. Foundered horses seem to like it

Do a lot of reading about steels. It'll help you in the long run. Read about the steel your using too. They all have different temperature ratings for different things.

Sounds like you did more of a normalizing cycle. Bring it to critical temp then try slowly cooling. I usually use barn lime in a metal bucket. It's cheap and easy to find for me. Let it cool completely.

Might need to anneal the steel before you try drilling

Unfortunately mild steel does not harden. Not enough carbon in it. You would of had to forge weld in a piece of good hardening steel for the edge. The mild steel won't hold an edge. Other than that, it's a pretty cool 1st project. Good job

No upgrades. It's going on a 1/2hp baldor buffer. It should have plenty of power and the bearings are usually great in those machines. I shouldn't have been so vague. It's going to be a scotch-brite wheel. 4" wide 6" diameter, so pretty light and easy to turn. It should be easier to turn than a 6" expander wheel and mutli tool attachment that is already on it. Going to pull 1 side off.

Thanks for the compliments folks. It meant a lot to make it.

I've looked and looked and can't find what I'm looking for. Where can I find thread extensions for my bench grinder. I'd like to be able to run a 4" wide wheel. All I can find is the shaft extension, but that won't allow the use of a wide wheel, just makes the work piece farther from the grinder which is also handy. Any ideas? Thanks Mark

Did you anneal the axle part your hitting or are you going to leave it hardened? And do what Jeremy K says, dome the top. Also, do slightly radius the edges on the bottom so you won't leave as many marks in your steel. Great idea by the way. Thanks for sharing Mark

And look for an anvil with a round horn. Flat top horns aren't the best and I think they can really limit what you can do on them.

I personally like the Scott tapered heel anvil. I own a 100lb now and can forge big stuff on it. It's a solid little anvil. I've also owned a 100lb square heel Emerson. It was also a great anvil. I just prefer the Scott with the tapered heel now. And with the Scott being compact and chunky, it doesn't give off that nasty ear piercing ring. I also put a magnet under the hardy hole to stop all ring. The magnet on the Emerson works too to stop the ring

Hotmetal, just out of curiosity, what are you using for a finish on your openers and on your tap handles? I've shown all my non metal moving friends and they were extremely impressed as well.

I've always been a sucker for that type of pattern down the blade. Thanks for sharing

Hotmetal, that is awesome. I like that a lot. All of them.

Don't feel it necessary to start a new thread, so I'm going to add my latest pickup here. Any ideas in this one? There seems to be such a lack of info on vises. I'd like to just learn more about them. Thanks for all the intense information on this forum. I've learned a lot and confused myself a lot too. Haha.

Even try a small pour into a steel mold if you wanted. Experimenting is half the fun. But like I said, soot the mold up with a candle or whatever. Never thought of a fire brick. That would be easy enough to bust out. Keep us updated!

I melted my copper wire that way. I made a "crucible" out of mild steel, then made a mild steel mold. One thing that I was told, put borax in the crucible to help drive out impurities. I scraped the "junk" off the top before my pour. Then the mold, light a candle and coat the mold in the soot from the candle. It helps it from sticking and will come out easier. Hope that helps some.

I poured it into a mild to make a billet. It was about 16" long, 1 1/4" wide and 1"thick. Abouts. I also included another picture of what happens when you work it cold. Kind of a neat grain structure. It likes to be hot and loses heat quick. A lot of heats and not many blows. It's time consuming, but awesome when you figure it out. It likes to crack and split. Keep it hot. Red. I couldn't find much on the internet about it, so I figured it out on my own. Lots of failures. Haha

Thanks for the compliments. It's always a pleasure to help out

What kind of progress pictures? Making the shoe or melting the copper? I can get some next time of either. I should ask, anything in particular you'd like to see