These are some finds from a Foundry which was built in 1815.. The place was demolished at a later date when they moved the RR tracks over the site..  I don't have the date of the tracks but new it was an old site as a lot of the slag had charcoal in it.. 

A much larger foundry was built elsewhere..  It's pretty amazing to see how or where they dumped the slag and load from the furnace..  It was a cast iron foundry.. I did find a few sprues also.. 

Supposedly the Bog ore came from a brook and a pond located in the local area, and the lime stone from 2 towns away..  In the first picture there is a wood drill that came from the trash pile at a mill that was washed away in 1938 flood.. I don't believe it is from 1938 but must have been dropped there at a later date as I pulled it out of some dirt.. 

Finding stuff like this just shows me how inept I feel as a blacksmith.. Stunning piece of work which was considered everyday stuff on mills, factorys, etc, etc.. 

Those are some cool finds. I love exploring old sites with some history to go along with them and finding old " junk" to check out from the time. 

Even fun to walk along a river bank ( especially with a metal detector) and just see what you can find then try to guess at a time period. 

 

Those Are some strange foot mittens.  

Das,

That style of sock is very common in Japan.

SLAG.

Not poking fun. Just strange and curious to me as are the other finds. I'm honestly a stickler for my old boots tho.  

Ninja blacksmith!

 

That shackle thing is neat.  Makes me wonder what the order of operations was to get the nice 90º corners inside and out on the main body.  

eye each end in straight bar..  45 then 2, 90's..  Thats how i would do it.      As you pointed out though, it was a no brainer for these guys and getting equal bends and the desired leg length was normal place.. 

That is my kind of smithin.. 

Daswulf, These ones in the picture are actually steel toed work Jika Tabi..    Not really steel toed but hardier plastic I believe.. They also have an alum metal band at the outside around both sections of toes.. . 

I gather that they make steel-toe versions of jika-tabi now. 

Not sure..  Pretty much all the information is in Japanese and while I can speak some simple phrases and understand some written in Alphanumeric (plain letters) I in no way can read Sanskrit or the other symbols used in Japanese writing.. 

 

Since people are showing and interest: Here are 4 different versions..  There are more.. There are ones like sneakers which have a lot of padding, Cloth only ones, leather ones.. Rubber ones, neoprene ones.. etc, etc.   

Also Steel spiked ones.. I bought the steel spiked ones by mistake.. These have hardened steel spikes about just over 1/16" diameter.. 

https://www.japan-zone.com/store/soukaido-steel-p-561.html

this is where I buy them from. And they do offer real steel toed.  The sellers are super responsive and just wonderful to do business with.. They respond the same day and will usually help in any way they can..  

I've made my own Waraji   which are traditional sandals braided out of rice Straw rope in a time before rubber was invented..   I couldn't find the Rice straw rope anywhere so asked them if they could locate the product/type used in making the sandals. Which they did find.. They also included directions on how to make them. . They sent me some in an order for free..  I went on to start using Hemp or sisal rope which worked better with greater durability.. 

If you end up placing an order with them..  Please let them know you found them through JLP Services Inc with a note saying from me "Thanks you:  Something like Jennifer @ jlp services Inc Said Thanks you for the wonderful service..  Anyhow just something like that or not..  No pressure.  I just like for people to know that what they do is appreciated and it's easy to do.. 

At that price they area lot cheaper than the AU$200ish I am paying for steel cap boots, but they only go to a size 12. (Sigh) Some days I really hate having big feet

Andrew

You might want to check through there or contact the people at the store i posted..  They are very helpful and might be able to get the size you need.. I do know they offer some other styles in larger sizes.. 

And for folks who need protection between the toes and angle joint may I commend to your attention: metatarsal steel toed boots

(and rubber was invented/discovered  a long long time ago in the Americas...funny how indigenous folks figure out how to use stuff around them...)

@ThomasPowers Its one of those things in the farrier game that is just like a right of passage and something to complain about..  Just like a horse that kicks, or bites.. Or persnickety owners.. 

I don't know of one farrier who wears steel toed boots or shoes.. The metatarsal protection I have thought in the past would be a good idea from a welding stand point.. Sometimes all you need is a little extra protection against spatter and some of the protection pieces are quite light..  

 

OK make yourself a set of australian steel toed flip flops...

Those are the ones with steel soles, right? The ones with protection...

 

(...wait for it...)

 

...Down Under?

Yes I've made something similar to that. It was a slider for a speedway bike rider. Strapped onto the bottom of his left boot so he could slide his foot and keep the bike up.

Interesting thought - do speedway riders in the northern hemisphere ride clockwise or anticlockwise like water going down the plug?

Andrew

Need to make them some TI ones to throw out a really great spark stream!

13 hours ago, Farmweld said:

It was a slider for a speedway bike rider.

We call them skid shoes, wore out several dirt tracking, in my younger days. Always went anticlockwise so only needed one on the left boot.