Front Horseshoe Forged in Two Heats: Bend, Bevel, Concave, Fuller and Punch (Lungwitz and Adams, Text-Book of Horseshoeing, 1913)

"A shoe should be made thoughtfully, but yet quickly enough to make the most of the heat."

Measure the length of the hoof from the point of the toe to the buttress, and its greatest width. Added together they give the length of the bar. To keep the exact outline, set the hoof on stiff paper and trace round the wall with a pencil.

Choose good, tough iron, of a width and thickness that needs the least working. Cut the bar to the length you measured; a bar shoe or a shoe with heel calks needs a longer bar.

Heat the bar white-hot just beyond its middle. Lay the head of the sledge across one end of the anvil face, hold the cold end of the bar on it with the hot end on the face, and bend the bar into a half-circle with the round head of the turning hammer. Make the outer branch first, and the right shoe first in a pair. Draw out the end to width and thickness with the sledge.

Lay the bent branch obliquely across the heel of the horn, turn it to the right onto an edge, and bevel it diamond-shaped from toe to end. Flatten it on the face: bending stretched and thinned the outer edge and thickened the inner one, so leave the inner edge a trifle thinner. Go over it lightly on the horn with the flat face of the hammer to shape it.

Concave (seat) the hoof side, ending about 3/4 in from the end of the branch, or leave it flat for an arched sole. Turn the branch and fuller it: set the fuller about 1/12 in from the edge on small shoes, more on large ones, and lead it from the end of the branch to the toe, twice, to about two-thirds of the thickness.

Stamp the nail holes in the crease and punch them through with the pritchel. Six are enough for a medium shoe, all in the front half and none at the toe. Their distance from the outer edge equals the thickness of the wall there; incline the toe holes a little inward and punch the quarter holes straight. Each hole tapers from the ground side to the hoof side.

Run over the surfaces, go over the outer edge on the horn, and hammer the bearing surface smooth and level. Make the inner branch the same way, turned to the left and fullered from toe to heel. The finished front shoe is round at the toe and about 7/16 in thick; a hind shoe is bent more pointed at the toe and needs no concaving, only the inner edge rounded.

From **A Text-Book of Horseshoeing, for Horseshoers and Veterinarians**, by A. Lungwitz (Dresden shoeing school) and John W. Adams (University of Pennsylvania), 11th edition, J. B. Lippincott, 1913 (Project Gutenberg 66786), chapter III F, "Making Shoes"; wall thicknesses after Mayer. Not covered: trimming, fitting and nailing the shoe to the hoof, clips, calks and special shoes. The book names no forge fuel. The metric figures are ours.