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A retired farrier in Boise showed me how he draws out a hoof knife tang and I've been using his trick since Tuesday
I was at a small hammer-in outside Boise a couple weeks back and got paired up at the forge with a retired farrier named Dale who must be pushing 70. I was struggling to draw out a tang on a hoof knife without getting a cold shut, and he just took my tongs, flipped the steel 90 degrees, and worked the corners down first before touching the flat. He said the steel wants to move where it's thinnest, so give it somewhere to go instead of fighting the wide face the whole time. Did three more that afternoon and not one cracked on me. Any of you run into a similar trick for keeping tangs from folding over on smaller stock?
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barbara_baker5722d ago
Oh wow, this one really made me stop and think because I always figured you had to work the flat face first to keep the thickness even. I got taught that way years ago and just never questioned it, even when I'd get a fold here and there and blame my heats or my hammer angle. What Dale said about the steel moving where it's thinnest makes total sense though, you're basically giving it an easy path instead of squeezing it against the wide side. I tried the corner-first thing on a couple of small tong blanks this weekend and the tangs came out clean with way less fighting. So yeah, I'm a believer now, that one tip changed how I look at drawing out anything thin. Betting a lot of us were taught the flat-first way and just never knew better lol.
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