Stopped by an old forge in Lexington and felt like a dinosaur

I was down near Lexington last Saturday and walked past this old farrier shop that's been there since the 70s. The guy running it now is like 28 and uses all these composite shoes and glue-on stuff I never touched when I started out. I remember my first boss, old man Hendricks, who swore by nothing but forged steel and a hot fit. This kid showed me his setup, had a propane forge and a digital timer for cooling. I felt like I was looking at a different trade from the one I learned 20 years ago. He asked me if I still use a rasp by hand, and I just laughed. Does anyone else feel like the old-school methods are dying out faster than we expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

beth_hart6818d ago

Brings up a good point about how we teach the next generation though. All this gear is fine but does the kid know why you do a hot fit beyond just making it look pretty?

cameron_owens4918d ago

Wait, are you sure that guy was only 28? I was over at a horseshoeing clinic in Frankfort last spring and a kid that age was showing off some carbon fiber pads but he still used a hand rasp for finish work. The digital timer thing sounds a bit too fancy for most of those small shops I've seen around here. Most of the younger guys I know are still using coal forges because they got taught by the old timers who hated propane. But you're right about one thing - the old methods are getting pushed aside by folks who never learned to read the metal right. I've seen too many farriers skip the hot fit and just slap on cold shoes that don't seat proper. Give me a hot shoe over glue any day because you can feel the fit before it cools.