Smitty,
You know I'd agree with you there. I carry both types of forges in my rig but when I was at the track we used coal only.

Seems to be best for a stationary shop although with the weather we've been having over here lately I think the gas might be a little better for trying to keep warm
George

Most of the barns around here won't let you near the barn with a coal forge. Too many horror stories(true or not) about sparks, and wood siding and roofs, and hay and straw.......

Rick

Not to mention the black lung you get , just blow your nose and see, BUT I do love to work in a coal forge!

Gary its nice to spend the odd day working the coke fire
its less hard spending a day in the coke than the gas

regarding the black stuff its down to the quality of coke
well vented spot to work in

Try welding in both scarfs first with an edge of your hammer.


The bottom scarf will be off the anvil and will stay hot longer.

Then take another heat and finish the weld.

Thanks Roy,
I'll give it a go. I haven't been in the shop for 2 days . I feel like I am neglecting my toys.
To morrow night I'm in there. Only two thing's will stop it, death or taxes. I am working on the tax thing the past few days.

Smitty you have really got me curious about the coke forge now. Thanks allot!!!

Don

Roy, thats quite a toeweight shoe? What do you use this shoe for?

This one. The description says "navicular relief barshoe". I haven't found a use for this one yet.

Roy, Smitty, Goergoe Geist, and everyone else you gave me inputs. Thank You.
I welded up two hind bar shoes last night right after I got home and they turned out nice. I'll post pics tonight when I get home.

3 things I wasn't doing right. There are probably many others I still am not doing right and don't know it. Anyhow these are the 3 things that helped me out.
1. thining out my scarf more,
2. welding each end of your scarf first
3. HEAT, CLEANLINESS, AND TIMING.

I'll give her another go tonight and see if it's just a fluk deal or not. I think I may be on to something here.

We need some more different Mods from different farriers
give us a dig out here please

I'll be heading to my barn today. Give me a few mod ideas to try smitty, I'll see what I can do. Keep in mind my forging skills are the least impressive out of all the folks here.

Smitty I am working on my fullering. As soon as I can produce a nice job I will post it. Just figured out how to hem the ground surface of the shoe to maintain width of stock. This has been a great idea, has made me practice and try different things.

I was'n going to post this one, 'cuz It is really not a forge mod. But I guess it is still a mod. This horse had severe navicular bone deterioration and needed some help. This was the first reset of these shoes which are St. Croix eventer plus with short sections of 5/16x3/4 welded on the branches. We had tried bar shoes on this guy and he could not keep them on. We wanted an open heel shoe but did not care for the design of the ones on the market. So, we came up with this..... It worked like a charm for him.

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/wellshodhorses/Nemo/

ps "we" is my wife and I who, from time to time, take on "rehab" cases for the benifit of the horse and the experience for us....

That is the original Tennessee navicular shoe. This was the basis for the shoes that Tu***cari puts out and the GE navicular egg bar. The first ones used the heel sections of another shoe and, later, the contest folks made them out of 5/8" square.

a bit of concave while we wait for the mods to come in