Playing With Aluminum Again

[Matt Shade]

I made a set of hooks to hang planters from and gave them to my mom for mothers day. They're made out of worn out aluminum horse shoes we took off some of the lesson and show horses.

There isn't a whole lot to them, I drew one branch out and put a curl in the end on each shoe and then welded them together to make an S hook. It is tricky stuff to work with though. If you don't hit flat with the hammer you cut right into the piece, and when you want to turn a bend over the horn you have to hit off the horn, otherwise you just pinch the piece and make a narrow spot. Putting the bend in the end without wrecking the taper was tricky. Basically aluminum keeps you honest and makes you focus on the skills you're supposed to have anyway

I managed to get a pretty good finish on them with just the hammer, but had a fair amount of rasping and grinding to do after welding them together with a spool gun.

[JBFab]

Nice!

My wife rides horse, I've seen them in catalogs and stuff, but what is the purpose of aluminum shoes vs. steel?

[Matt Shade]

Mainly less weight. Adding too much weight to the horses foot can put an un natural flip in their stride and mess up how the foot lands. Its most noticeable when you get into corrective shoes. I'll have to try and get a pic of a wedged egg bar shoe and post on here, if you made one out of steel it would weigh more than most rounding hammers. For the most part, if they just need a flat shoe we use aluminum on the show horses and steel on the lesson horses as the steel is cheaper and lasts longer.

[USMCPOP]

Kind of reminds me of a Hmong hill tribe necklace. Traditionally coin silver, but they make them from aluminum as well. I think I have one like this around here somewhere.

[Matt Shade]

That necklace is interesting, I'd be curious to know how much of it is worked cold vs. hot. You would have to plan the work carefully as some of those thin spots would melt long before the thicker parts got hot enough to do much with.

[toprecycler]

Originally Posted by USMCPOP

Kind of reminds me of a Hmong hill tribe necklace. Traditionally coin silver, but they make them from aluminum as well. I think I have one like this around here somewhere.

I think I can make the curly cues!


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[USMCPOP]

Originally Posted by Matt Shade

That necklace is interesting, I'd be curious to know how much of it is worked cold vs. hot. You would have to plan the work carefully as some of those thin spots would melt long before the thicker parts got hot enough to do much with.

I'm sure they are cold worked. They do have little gasoline torches that they can use to anneal periodically so as not to work harden the material excessively.

[JBFab]

Originally Posted by Matt Shade

Mainly less weight. Adding too much weight to the horses foot can put an un natural flip in their stride and mess up how the foot lands. Its most noticeable when you get into corrective shoes. I'll have to try and get a pic of a wedged egg bar shoe and post on here, if you made one out of steel it would weigh more than most rounding hammers. For the most part, if they just need a flat shoe we use aluminum on the show horses and steel on the lesson horses as the steel is cheaper and lasts longer.

That makes sense. We switched farriers last year, and been going barefoot ever since. It doesn't cost any different, but I'm pretty impressed with the lady's knowledge and how much attention to detail she has.