Stumbled on a stat that 90% of horseshoes today are machine made

Was looking through some old blacksmithing records from the 1800s and found out that almost every shoe back then was hand forged on site. Now I bet less than 10% of the farriers I know even own a forge anymore. Anyone else still hand make shoes or am I just old school?

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amy_foster565mo ago

Wait, only 10% of farriers even own a forge anymore? That's honestly shocking to me, I figured most of the old timers at least kept one around for special jobs. I knew machine shoes took over but I didn't realize the trade had changed that much in just a few decades.

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kevin_schmidt975mo ago

Dude it blew my mind the first time I heard that stat. I know a couple younger farriers who never even learned to forge, they just use pre-made keg shoes for everything. It's wild how fast the whole trade shifted once those machines got good.

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