HORSESHOEING. 103 



F. Making Shoes.* 



Besides good, tough iron for the shoe, we need an anvil with 

 a round horn and a small hole at one end, a round-headed 

 turning-hammer, a round sledge, a stamping hammer, a pritchel 

 of good steel, and, if a fullered shoe is to be made, a round 

 fuller. Bodily activity and, above all else, a good eye for 

 measurement are not only desirable, but necessary. A shoe 

 should be made thoughtfully, but yet quickly enough to make 

 the most of the heat. 



The iron of which horseshoes are made is derived from the 

 natural iron ore. Iron used for technical purposes is not 

 chemically pure. Pure iron is rather too soft, and is there- 

 fore mixed with different substances, mostly with " carbon," 

 tlie most important ingredient of our fuel. Of course, the iron 

 contains a, very small quantity of carbon (0.5 to 5 per cent.). 

 When iron contains more than 2.2 per cent, of carbon it is 

 hard, brittle, and more easily melted, and is known as crude 

 iron, or raw iron, because it is derived from the raw product, 

 — ^black ore. The melted crude iron is called cast iron. Iron 

 is ductile when it contains less than 2.2 per cent, of carbon, 

 and is then called forge iron, or wrought iron. Wrought iron 

 is fusible only at a high temperature. Only weldable iron 

 containing less than 1.6 per cent, of carbon is suitable for gen- 

 eral use. Of this iron we distinguish two sorts, — steel and 

 wrought iron. A larger percentage of carbon is found in steel 



* On a shoe we distinguish an outer and an inner branch. The 

 anterior portion, formed by the union of the two branches, is called 

 the toe. The upper surface, upon which the hoof rests, is called- the 

 hoof-surface, and the under surface, which is in contact with the 

 eroimd, the ground-stir face. That portion of the hoof-surface which 

 is in direct contact with the lower border of the wall, the white line, 

 and a narrow marcin of the .sole is termed the hearing-surface, and 

 when necessary " concaving " (seating) extends from this to the inner 

 border of the shoe. On the ground-surface is seen the " fullering " or 

 " crease." 



