220 THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 



on as soon as the ground freezes, and they are kept on till 

 sirring*. 



To make a self-sharpening shoe, pick a shoe to fit the 

 foot you are going to shoe, and turn down the heel calks as 

 for mud calks. Then with a sharp flat chisel, made from a 

 large flat file, split the calk as shown in Fig. 120. Now 

 toke the best cast steel that will harden the hardest without 

 breaking, and make slips as shown in No. 2 of Fig. 120. 

 They should be a trifle wider than the width of the calk, 

 and an eighth of an inch deeper than the depth of the slit. 

 Weld with borax, or some good compound, so as to keep 



Fig. 131— Section of Shoe Showing Toe Calk. 



good life in the steel. Make your toe calks of iron, then 

 weld to shoe good and solid. Then make slips, as shown in 

 Fig. 121, a trifle longer than the toe. Now weld, as shown, 

 being careful to keep the steel out to the edge where the 

 shoe is sharp. This can easily be done by filing the iron 

 oil' as the toe is being drawn out, when the shoe is fitted to 

 tlie foot. It is now read}^ for tempering, and this is my 

 way of tempering. Heat toe and heel to a good cherry red 

 and then cool the shoe oft' by dipping in water and holding- 

 it there till cool. Hold the edge of the calk in the fire and 

 draw the temper to a copper color. Heavy mower sections, 

 such as the Buckeye, make good slips for ice or snow roads, 

 but are too light to stand frozen ground or stone. The 

 steel of a circular saw is the best I have ever used. — By J. 

 A. B. 



