Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/273

Rh nail as much obliquely outwards as he wished, which a more confined aperture, or greater thickness of metal, would not have allowed him so readily to do. Now these stamp-pits must have been done with a very rough, clumsy tool, for the rim or outer margin of the shoe has been terribly disturbed by it, and thrown out into bulges of a surprising size, disfiguring the shoe very much, and also endangering the horse's legs. The heels of the shoes are provided with very prominent calkins, made by doubling or turning over the iron, and lapping and welding it; finding, no doubt, the great advantages which attended this plan. The wearing line of the shoe at the toe in No. 1 (fig. 80) was considerably worn away, but in No. 2 (fig. 81) hardly so much. These shoes, generally speaking, are thickest forwards, and go declining in thickness till reaching the calkins. Their insides are thicker than the outside. The nail-heads are very remarkable for their size, and projecting high from the shoes; and that part of the head next the aperture in the shoe is formed with a very abrupt broad shoulder, and nearly straight, but a little inclining, however, towards the shank. The sides of the head of the nail are nearly straight and perpendicular, forming an obtuse angle to the former line; upwards it passes by another converging line towards the summit, or top of the nail, which is made flat, and is of the length of about a quarter of an inch, for receiving the blows of the hammer; the head itself stands beyond the shoe, and if embraced by the finger is flat, and shows a thickness of only about, or perhaps less than, the eighth of an inch. The shank of the nail is short, compared with modern nails, and is square, tapering all the way to the point, but is