Hoof-knife

[roadapples]

This was a project I did a few years back when I was still shoeing horses. I forged the blade out of a M113A3 Drivers hatch spring (5160) that was replaced when one of the spring layers cracked. The handle is from a whitetail antler. This hoof-knife saw about a summers worth of use, then it was retired to the shoeing box were it sat for quite a while in Mom's barn. I recovered it when I cleaned out my tools from there and cleaned it up a little. Working on scrimshawing a horseshoe on the butt end of the handle.

 

[Lagrange]

I love the idea of making your own working tools. I have a buddy who used to shoe horses. I bet he would get a kick out of something like this.

 

[KenH]

You can get a real "kick" from shoeing horses< I used to shoe my family's horses - we had from 5 to 20 horses at most, but that was more shoeing than I'd want to undertake these days - that's HARD work!

Ken

 

[roadapples]

Ken, The reason why this hoof knife has lasted so long- (It was made in the mid-90s) is because I quit shoeing, about 10 years ago. Learned my lesson finally after shoeing for about 15 years off and on that I was getting to old to deal with other peoples refusal to train their nags... Besides, there's more money in shoes that aren't attached to the horse.