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I Forge Iron

Compact Shoeing business


bigb

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Nah, that's a safety feature, you'll know instantly if the propane leaks. Did you talk to Mr. Gonzales? His Father may have been a farrier. Of course the farrier may have upgraded his ride to a dune buggy. I mean upgraded THAT ride to a dune buggy. At the very least a better anvil stand.

I keep combining the name and picture, "Skinny Gonzales, Speedy Horse, Shoeing," and so on. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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Although the car is '60s vintage, I'd date that photo at circa late '70s as evidenced by the mankel gas forge. 

Mankel was first ones introduced and the one pictured wasn't even atmospheric. It had an electric blower that needed to be plugged in.  Somewhere buried in back of my storage room I still have one like that. I believe by now it probably belongs in a museum.  Before those forges came out the only thing to use was coal.

Although it might not seem like it with the fancy Hollywood trucks guys drive today, this guy was right on the cutting edge for that time and place.

Most contemporary horseshoers anvils available new today are trash. That one pictured is a real honey. Any anvil makers out there take a good hard look. That anvil is everything a horseshoers anvil should be.

George 

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2 minutes ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

The step ladder cum anvil stand might be a bit light..

Maybe a bit. I thought this guy was either a race plater or a cowboy. I'll go with the latter due to his lack of a stall jack and especially by the spur hanging on the tool box.

Yeah a more substantial stand would help but evidently it worked for him. 

George 

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15 hours ago, George Geist said:

Although the car is '60s vintage, I'd date that photo at circa late '70s as evidenced by the mankel gas forge. 

Mankel was first ones introduced and the one pictured wasn't even atmospheric. It had an electric blower that needed to be plugged in.  Somewhere buried in back of my storage room I still have one like that. I believe by now it probably belongs in a museum.  Before those forges came out the only thing to use was coal.

Although it might not seem like it with the fancy Hollywood trucks guys drive today, this guy was right on the cutting edge for that time and place.

Most contemporary horseshoers anvils available new today are trash. That one pictured is a real honey. Any anvil makers out there take a good hard look. That anvil is everything a horseshoers anvil should be.

George 

Thanks for the info, I didn't know (or forgot) that Mr. Mankel made forges. I have one of his anvils and real happy with it. Frosty no I did not speak to "Flaco", just Googled. Without an area code it could be anywhere although a Western state would be more likely.

I Googled it again but this time I put "Horseshoeing" in front of the phone number and came up with more info, he is from San Jose, CA and George is spot on with the date: (Click on the pic for more info)

VW Farrier Rig

 

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That's a great picture, thanks. When we raised horses, mid 60s to mid 70s though I'd moved to Alaska in 72. The farrier showed up in a pickup truck and dropped the tailgate. Anvil and stand on the ground but the forge almost always stayed on the tailgate. Only race track farriers had "special" rigs to haul their gear. 

San Jose was north of us so we wouldn't have met Flaco. More's these shame.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Lol, if I had pics it wouldn't be a memory, it would be a nightmare! And I never want to shoe one of them again. 

And then there was that time shoeing in a borrowed Valient, coming back from Crested Butte, toping the continental divide on Cottonwood pass and a blown wheel cilendar, a clinch block and my nailing hammer,,,,,

 

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When I had a Bug in New York and the heater control cables rusted out, I'd crawl under the car in the fall, wire the heater channel valves open for the winter. Come Spring I'd crawl under the Bug again and snip the wires to close the valves for the summer.

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