I got a post on the 1st day of 2010!

Miracles of Miracles, I am actually posting to the blog on the first day of the new year. Let's hope this is a year to open up some new or even old doors.

small ash stained door; Takayama, Japan

Next time I will start back up with the rest of the horseshoes. Not many more to go.

Hello 2010!

Happy New Year, I hope everybody's year was much better then mine. And here is to a wonderful new year to start. Please be nice to me 2010. I'm cute.

I thought 2009 ended just right for me, with someone one hacking into my photo webiste, www.asbrittonphoto.com. Classic stuff for 2009, just about sums it up. Luckily my provided was ontop of things and noticed the hacked and took down whatever was put up. Who knows why someone would want to do that, but there are all kinds of people doing many different things in the world with their time.


Oh well, let's leave all of the bad in 2009 and bring in the good with 2010.

13th shoe of December

Here is a lighter horseshoe, the Forged Half Round Shoe. It enables to the hoof to be picked up quicker.

12th shoe of December

The good ole forged Hackney pony shoe. The bar causes the horse to pickup its hooves quickly.

11th shoe of December

Number 11 here is a forged slider plate horseshoe. The shoe is designed to enable the rear hooves to do a quick sliding stop.

10th shoe of December

Aahh, the training plate shoe. Not the same as training wheels on a bicycle, but it is small and lite.

9th shoe of December

This shoe is a little different, because it is actually for a mule. The bends at the heel and toe of the shoe give traction.

8th shoe of December

This is a forged hunter-jumper horseshoe. The attachment at the end of the shoe, called a Sticker, is used to give traction after jumping.

7th shoe of December

This is a KEG shoe, a manufactured shoe, with some borium added on the ends. The borium has carbide bits which help with traction and wear.

Happy Holidays to everyone out there in Blogland

Happy Holidays everybody!
I hope yours is filled with joy and happiness.

6th Shoe of December

Last time I talked about how the greedy people should hang their horseshoe. Today, it being Christmas and all, I will talk about how generous people should hand their horseshoe. The generous person will hang the horseshoe above a doorway with the opening pointing down. This way anyone walking through the doorway will have luck rained down upon them.

Today's horseshoe is the spare tire. An adjustable hinged shoe slapped together with spare metal, used for emergencies only.

5th shoe of December

The horse shoe for today is pretty weird looking. But before we get to that, I am going to talk about how to hang your horse shoe for good luck. While working with Mike Carson in the blacksmith booth at many a fair we would get this question very often. What it comes down to is if you are Greedy or Generous.

Since today is Christmas eve I will talk about the greedy option. If you are feeling greedy and want to horde your luck, you would mount your horseshoe above a doorway with the opening pointing up "U". This way all of your luck is contained for you in the horseshoe.

Tomorrow I will talk about how to mount the horseshoe for all you generous people out there.

Now back to the shoe of the day, this is a horseshoe for a Stifled horse. This shoe will help in preventing the horse's leg from locking up.

4th shoe of December

Our fourth horseshoe is a hand forged Whip across bar shoe with a trailer. The trailer part helps to straighten hoof flight on a horse.

3rd shoe of December

Here is a patten shoe. It is used to raise the heel to ease pressure on the flexor tendons.
No relation to the high healed horseshoe (the HHHS).

2nd Shoe of December

Here is a draft horse handmade shoe. These will be one of the biggest horse shoes out there spanning about 9" - 12".
And here is a "keg" draft horseshoe. Keg shoes are factory made.

Horseshoe a Day in December

Boy, have a been slacking here in December on my blog. I have just been busy dealing with life and the holidays, as I am sure everyone else is doing.

Well to start off December I will be posting some horseshoe photos.

Here is the first, a hand forged shoe for Tennessee Walker.

Something to brighten the day with

Just because it is wet, dark and cold out today here in Seattle, WA I am going to post some photos to brighten the day with. Here are a few of my butterfly photographs I have taken over the years. Dry, warm and sunny.

Blacksmith example board part three

The horseshoe. What first comes into the mind of people when you say Blacksmith. It is one of the top questions we get at the blacksmith booth, "Do you make horseshoes?" or "Do you shoe horses?". Where upon I answer yes, shoo shoo, begone you horses. Yes coal smoke does give you bad humor.

This board shoes the steps to make you basic horseshoe. You start with a piece of flat stock, 3/4"x1/4" or 1"x1/4". Approximately 3/4" of both ends are hammered to a 90 degree angle. Then one side is bent into an arc and then the other side to match. A groove or can be chiseled in to help with the placement of the nail holes which are punched threw the horseshoe.

Blacksmith example board part two

This board shows the process to make a tomahawk. First you start with a flat piece of mild steel or wrought iron. Chisel out the pattern you wish it to have if any. Wedge up the ends and fold in half. Slip a piece of high carbon steel into the end (shown here is a piece from an old horse rasp). You then forge weld the two pieces of steel together (this is done by heating the steel up to its melting point, somewhere between 2400-2800 degrees Fahrenheit depending on carbon content, so the surfaces become molten, where upon you bring out of the fire and hammer them not to soft and not to hard but just right. This lets the molten surfaces mix together and form into one piece.) You then do final hammering to shape, anneal the whole piece, harden and finally temper the edge.

Blacksmith example board part one

While visiting my Blacksmith friend, Mike Carson, in California I documented some of his example boards. These boards show the steps in creating some of the basic forged works we would create. The one pictured in this post shows three different items, a leaf, a wizard head and a horse head. These designs can then be used for key fobs, bottle openers, grill work, ends for bbq and/or fireplace sets, etc.