Milling/Engraving Horseshoes?

Not knowing the metalurgy of horseshoes, I can't give you a good answer other than if you can file them and your machine has the rigidity to run carbide then I bet you can do this.

I was under the impression that the typical file is Rc 50 but I can not confirm that atm.

Wes

Almost all (magnetic) horse shoes are mild steel. (ie: a few might be aluminum). I knew a guy who made shoes for the Budwieser Clidesdales (sp?) and he used 1050 for that, but those are REALLY big shoes and should be easy to spot. If in doubt, take a spare shoe and heat it intil a magnet is not attracted to it (a meduim red heat in a dark shop), then quench it in room temperature water until cool. If it will still file, then it's mild steel.

Pete Stanaitis

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woodworker88 wrote:

Okay. Thanks to all those who replied. I'll do some more tests and see what I can do. Thanks ww88

Finally, one _I_ can answer! :)

Wife has had horses longer than she's had me.

The typical keg shoes currently bought by the box are mild steel, even up into the draft horse sizes. So are the handmade shoes most farriers use, 1/4" X 1/2" or 3/4" stock.

Even a medium carbon shoe some farriers use for draft horses will anneal to dead soft.

I'd think aluminum shoes would also be easy to engrave.

I'll just add that I have bought shoes from Tractor Supply and used them to make horseshoe puzzles. My preferred method is to drill a ~1/4 inch hole through each end and then countersink that (chamfer?) hole on both sides so they don't bind on the chain. They drill easy, I don't remember any issues with putting holes through them. I've been getting the small 000PL shoes by Diamond listed on this page:

Wow, thanks for the advice. Now I'm not worried about the hardness part. The bigger problem it seems, now, is finding some shoes large enough to have a sizeable area to engrave. I found an old small shoe while digging around in the shop, and it's only got about a 0.5"x1.5" area, not all that big. However, I think a large horse or draft shoe should have enough space. I can bend the text to match the shape of the shoe, so that's not an issue. Thanks for all the tips I'll post pictures when all done. ww88

How about welding in the nail holes and sanding it down flush. That would give you a lot more text area and still have the shape.

Jim Chandler

Definitely a good idea, however, my welding skills are somewhat mediocre. I was considering grinding things down a bit, anyways to give me a bit more space. ww88

For stuff that I want to look really nice I use oxy-acetylene and for the stuff that I can get get away with covering up the slop with grinding I use MIG.

Jim

Indeed. Maybe I'll get one of my friends, a crack O/A welder, to help me out. He does some really nice stuff, but I'll have to do all the surface prep and grinding. Shouldn't be a problem, though.