After about a year and a half since my last hot fit, I have finally put the forge back in the truck. I am just looking for any helpful tips as I get back into hot shoeing in case I've forgotten something!

Amy

Amy, Amy, Amy,
Don't ever do that again. To resurect an old signiture line of mine I will leave with...
Always shoe hot,
Bill

with my arm the way it is it'll be some time before Im able to shape a shoe cold , not that I did that ofen anyway
I love my lill home made pie oven
bloody bewdy

NHFarrier wrote:
Hi Amy

to do hot shoeing well you have to do it every day
to give your self a chance

there is hot shoeing and there is somthing people
call hot shoeing

if you havent done much then go with some body
that has good name hot shoeing

i do 80% hot shoeing it is the best way if you do it right

your foot dressing playes a big part

smitty88 wrote: I prefer Honey Mustard and on occasion, Oil and Vinegar.

Amy, How could you get though a winter in NH without the use of a forge? Temp yesterday was almost 100 and I had to build two pair of sliders, didn't matter as everyshoe of mine goes in the fire. Keeps my elbow from hurting and my soul from going to Hell for hitting cold steel! Best, Gary

Gary
send some of that weather over here

Yeah, a forge would have been nice on some of those really frigid days! I stopped hot fitting after I left horseshoeing school, because I wanted to make sure other skills were better before adding hot fitting into the mix. Unfortunately, I don't know any farriers in the area who hot fit anymore, but maybe someone else does!

Amy

Hi all,

Hot fitting is a good thing and you don't have to do them all so practice on the ol nags and get up to speed cuz really it is the thing to do or at least be able to do when you have to. Also some mods on shoes are pretty hard to do cold but with a big enough hammer. Anyway the funniest thing I ever heard was some farrier saying that farriers that hot fit did it because they wern't good enough to shoe cold.

Kevin

NHFarrier wrote: how long did you go to farrier school for
and i cant understand why you would stop somthing you where

been taught

Shod a horse today for a new client and as I went to hot fit he asked if that was going to make the circulation of the blood in his horses feet better? That was what someone told him? He thought the heat would draw the blood into the feet better? I picked up a hoof clipping and held it to the hot shoe and asked him if he saw blood and where would it come from? Had a good laugh and so did he after I explained it all to him! Cold front dropped the temps to to low 80's, great shoeing weather! Best, Gary

My advice would be:

Leave a little more foot (about 1/8" more)

Make sure your foot and shoe or flat before burring ( if your going to burn it on)

I prefer my shoe to be at a black heat before I burn, that way, after the burn it I can look at the foot surface of the shoe and see where the hoof makes contact ( helps with boxing too for a full fit)

Try not to burn past a three second count.

Remember your working hot steel so lighten up your hammer blows ( I had the most trouble with this)

finally dont inhale that lovely smoke

This was some advice I was given a few years ago, hope it helps.

Hi all,

I find to that on a horse you want to preserve the heels it doesn't hurt to quench the heels quickly before burning. Years ago I built some fancy tongs that work great but lately I have found that vise grips work as well as anything and if you let one jaw over hang the shoe on the front it acts as a guide to keep the shoe from slipping back.

Kevin

i use the old pritchel lets me see everything

A big problem yesterday was definitely with the unclipped shoes while hot fitting...they would slide and that was a pain! I think I'll try the vice grip idea first, I usually have a pair in the truck. I just get the shoe hot enough so that it doesn't burn in too quickly. I need lots of practice shaping hot. I am used to cold shaping and making a few trips back and forth from anvil to horse. Since I am still developing my eye for fit, it took a lot longer to get the shoe shaped hot, because I'd have to quench it each time I went to the horse. I got through 4 horses yesterday as a start.

Amy