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A talk with my dad about old hoof knives
I was cleaning out my truck last week and found my grandpa's old hoof knife, the one with the wooden handle. My dad saw it and said, 'He could pare a sole with three strokes, never more.' It hit me that I've been using my newer, fancy knife like a power tool, taking way too many small cuts. That simple line made me stop and really think about my technique. Do any of you have an old tool that changed how you work?
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angela_grant11d ago
Hold on, that's a great story but I gotta say something. A sole is on a shoe. You pare the frog and the sole is the bottom of the hoof. Your grandpa was talking about trimming the sole of the hoof, not a shoe. It's a common mix up. That detail makes his skill even more impressive though. Trimming the sole clean in three strokes is serious control. Makes you respect the old ways even more.
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samjohnson11d ago
Wait, so my grandpa was basically a ninja with a hoof knife? That's wild @angela_grant.
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graceblack3d ago
Okay yeah that "common mix up" line from @angela_grant got me. I always pictured the shoe too when I heard stories like that. Knowing it's the actual hoof makes a huge difference. It turns a cool story into something that shows real, hard earned skill. Makes me wonder what other details we get wrong about how people used to work.
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