Holy Bejesus, a local builder, horse owner, and friend (whose wife happens to be a farrier) hooked me up with about 200 pounds of used horseshoes and a few worn farriers rasps! It has saved me a bundle and I gave them 12 forged hooks for them to hang tack on. It was nowhere near an even trade so I will work something special for a future gift.
I had a couple projects for family that I needed a few shoes (and a dull rasp) for and this will set me up! There are plans for yard wine glass holders, a sign, hooks for a horse obsessed niece, and a throwing tomahawk from one of the rasps. But I now suffer from an abundance of raw material.
I drove home the night after I picked them up thinking of other horseshoe forge and welding projects that are now possible/going to happen, though I will stay away from the hooky Pinterest-highlighted wine racks and yard art. We are not into the “western aesthetic” décor at home – I grew up with that – so I am looking at projects that use them in more subtle ways: feet, brackets, trim, etc. In truth, I have enough horseshoes for a decade worth of projects.
I now need to clean to pasture residue off, remove the nails, and sort them: size, material, condition. I’ll make some sort of rack to hold them in the forge so they are on hand as inspiration strikes.