NAILING SECURELY AND SAFELY. 187 



pritchel ; and a large counter-sink punch, the size of the nail-head, is then tr 

 be emploved, but not driven so deep as the small punch ; the first being of the 

 size of the nail-shank, the second is to receive a small part of the head. This 

 mode is, of course, best adapted to the "improved shoe" recommended at page 

 182, where a shoulder and groove supply the place of fullering. But in every 

 form of shoe, and every modification of naihng, the manifest advantage cf ad- 

 mitting the nail-head to a rest or protection from rude concussions agajrist the 

 ground, must be evident, when the counter-sink part of the head is allowed 

 to lie deep in the shoe. 



The number of nail-holes has hitherto been eight, but a better practice pre- 

 vails in some forges of driving seven nails only, three on the inside, four out- 

 side ; whereby the fourth nail outside is thrown so much farther back than the 

 third nail inside. More play is thus allowed for expansion at the quarters : 

 and if the pui.ching and driving be performed eflfectively, the hold thus ob- 

 tained will be found fully adequate to any service to which the greater num- 

 ber of nails is applied. The safety of the shoe depends more upon the nails' 

 passing through good sound horn, and filling up the punch-holes in the shoe, 

 ihan upon their number. A good workman can hear when the nails thus 

 tellf by the sound of driving. After punching, the smith must not apply heat 

 or a hammer to the shoe, with a view to reduce any bulge, or burr, which the 

 punch may have occasioned ; for this exploded practice spoils the shape and 

 size of the holes, upon the fitness whereof wholly depends the security of the 

 shoe. Indeed, good and proper iron does not readily incur either of those ob- 

 jectionable forms, nor will it break or chip off at the fuller-edge (when such a 

 plan is adopted) like ordinary metal. 



Driving the nails home properly includes no small share of skill. Former- 

 ly, he who could drive highest into the crust without occasioning lameness 

 was reckoned the best workman, whilst the French method of driving both 

 into sole and crust is an error in the contrary extreme, and argues no little 

 slovenliness and disregard of the construction of the sensible part of the foot. 

 As may be seen and accounted for by reference to the section at page 166, 

 immediate lameness is not always likely to succeed the pricking of the sensi- 

 ble part at cc, but matter may form underneath, and lameness ensue at a fu- 

 ture day, unless upon removal of the shoe it issue forth at once in the shape 

 of blood. The hoof, which may have lost the elastic substance of this sensi- 

 ble part through age or infirmities, as represented at(g-) fig. 3, plate 3, is usu- 

 ally " pricked to the quick" at once, and flinches, or goes crippling away from 

 the smithy. 



According to the most improved modern mode of punching and nailing, the 

 nail should enter at the conjunction, nearly, of the sole and crust, so as to pe- 

 netrate almost the whole thickness of the crust,* and be driven slanting out- 

 wards, so that the clinch be little more than half the usual distance above the 

 shoe. If the nail-holes be punched too near each other, and the driving be 

 performed by a workman who drives and draws his nails, and then peers into 

 the punch- holes, then points his nail and drives again — however well his work 

 may appear when put out of hand, he will but have prepared the hoof for fresh 

 injuries at the next shoeing : after this treatment portions of the hoof are apt 

 to come away, and the smith is thus compelled to fasten on his defence by the 

 toe, or at the quarters, and so produce fresh offence and incurable lameness. 



Do not nick the hoof, as is too commonly practised, previous to turning the 

 clenches; as most feet can not afford to lose so much of their natural support, 

 and even tiie stoutest foot ought not to be subjected to the loss of so much of 

 its main strength. Neither rasp off the clinch, by way of finish, for the sam« 

 reason, but hammer it down like the head of a rivet. 



• As shown in the figure of Goklflnch'a shj^ at page 183, 



