Horse shoes ...My favorite subject
Yes, measure the shoe in all directions, length, width, thickness of
bars, space in between bars, height of bars, height of toe, height of
heel, size of calks, nail hole size, the space between nail holes etc.
There are over 1200 patents for different types and styles of
horseshoes, plus patents for toe and heel calks. And then another
group of patents for the machines to make them. And yes the machines
left marks that are unique.
Not only should they be measured but look for makers marks, and mold
marks on machine made shoes. On both machine made and hand made look
for special marks made by the horseshoer before he/she installed them
on a horse. These marks could be a simple chisel mark made on a one
side so the farrier can keep track of left and right while the shoe is
in the fire too letters or other embossed symbols so farriers could
keep track of their shoes and not be blamed for the bad work of other
farriers. Areas with strong unions or guilds also used marks.
The first wide use of machine made horse shoes was in the civil war
when the Union calvary started using shoe made by Henry Burden, the
inventor of the first machine to make horse shoes. The south only had
hand made shoes. After the war the US army experimented with some
other types. One was the Goodenough shoe, this shoe was a cast shoe
and had a very different shape. The British army does not appear to
have used full machine made shoes until late in the 19th century.
The basic material used for horseshoes was some form of wrought iron.
A material that could be reheated many times and shaped with out
becoming brittle. Even the cast shoes were poured from similar
material. True steel does not seem to have been successful except in
the case of special shoes for race horses.
Horse shoe nails should also be looked at closely. Hand made nails
were still being used well into the 1870s, even where machine made
shoes were being used. Machine made nails have makers marks!! on the
bottom inside area of the nail head. I have removed nail heads from
100 year old shoes and found a makers mark that I was then able to date.
What can be learned from horseshoes?
The shape and style of horse shoes changed over time and can give us
some additional markers for dating a site. The changes were due to
knowledge of foot structure, technology of iron, blacksmithing skills,
the cost of iron, the value of horses and the jobs being asked of the
horses.
The horseshoe increased the energy out put of horses, mules, donkey
and oxen. The presents or absents and/or type of horseshoes tells us a
lot about energy needs and the economic model of the people who
occupied a site. The attributes of the shoes help us fine tune our
understanding of that model.
I have a ?data form? I use for recording horseshoes, If anyone wants a
copy contact me off list.
I would love to hear more about the shoes and nails that you are
recovering. I need to obtain data from more areas to include in the
book I am preparing. Any information about horseshoes and horseshoe
nails would be greatly appreciated.
Makers Marks!! Send them to me (both shoe and nail) and where possible
I will give you some date ranges for when they were manufactured.
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