My old box of handmade handmade nails from the 80s finally ran out

I got a box of handmade farrier nails from a retiring blacksmith back in 2005. They were leftovers from the 80s when a few guys still forged them by hand. Used the last one last week on a draft horse in a barn outside Boise. Anybody else miss how those old nails would bite into the hoof compared to the machine pressed ones now?

3 comments

3 Comments

benb212mo ago

Buddy of mine out in Montana saved a coffee can full of handmade nails from his granddad's shop. He was shoeing a mule, driving one of those old nails in, and he said it felt different right away. The nail bit into the hoof like it knew where it was going, not like the machine ones that just force their way through. He told me the mule stood there calm the whole time, didn't even flinch once. He said the old nails had this rough texture that grabbed the hoof wall and held tight. He's been saving his last ten for special horses ever since.

king.jordan2mo ago

Feel you on that. I still got about fifteen of them old handmade nails left from a guy in Montana who quit in the early 90s. They grab way different than the factory ones, almost like they sort of expand in the hoof wall as you drive em in. Machine pressed nails just slide too smooth and dont hold the same.

avery_foster311mo ago

That reminds me of a buddy who found an old farrier's apron at a garage sale out in Idaho. Had a bunch of nails sewn into the pockets, all rusted and bent. He tried using one on a draft horse and said the nail basically refused to go straight. Kept curving off to the left no matter how he set it. Ended up pulling it out and the nail had this weird twist to it like it was handmade with a shoddy twist. Horse was fine but he spent an hour getting that nail out. He still keeps that apron in his truck for no good reason.