CHAPTER III. 



WINTER SHOEING. 



Fig. 



All shoes whose ground-surface is provided with contrivances 

 to prevent slipping upon snow and ice are called winter shoes. 



These various contrivances are produced by several processes 

 called " methods of sharpening." All methods may be gathered 

 into two groups, — namely, practical sharp-shoeing and impracti- 

 cal. Only the first will be considered. 



The durability of sharpened shoes depends partly upon 

 whether they are made of steel or iron, and partly upon the 

 nature of the ground in winter. If the ground is 

 continuously covered with a thick layer of snow, 

 whatever method of sharpening is followed, the 

 shoes stay sharp ; if, however, the winter is open, 

 changeable, with more bare ice than snow, no 

 method of sharpening, whatever it may be, will 

 last long ; the shoes will not stay sharp. 



For these reasons no method of sharpening 

 which fulfils all conditions satisfactorily has yet 

 been discovered. 



The simplest and at the same time the least 

 durable method of sharpening is : 1. That by 

 means of ice-nails or frost-nails (Fig. 98). One or 

 two nails are drawn from each branch of the shoe 

 and replaced with ice-nails. 



2. Sharp Toe- and Heel-Calks. — The outer 

 calk is split and a small steel wedge welded in. It is then laid 

 upon the edge of the anvil, indented and sharpened from within 

 to without in such a manner that the calk shall be thin from the 

 branch to the ground, and the outer surface shall be in the same 



8 113 



An ice-nail, frost- 

 nail. 



