Coilpower Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 As it is so hot in NZ at the moment to detect, I decided to do a restoration on some relics found last year with the Tarsacci MDT8000. I used paraffin wax for the final coating. This horse shoe weighed in at 866 grams, or 1.90lbs and that is with it losing some of the rust scale!!!! Circa early 1800s and is a back shoe off a working horse designed for mud and heavy loads. It can be noted there is no "fullering" system (a groove for the nails to bed into) plus the turned heel bit is referred to as calkins or caulks, pronounced corks designed to give the horse more traction, as was the raised bit at the toe. This shoe is minus its toe clip which would have helped keep it in place. The weight limit of shoes for horses was set by courts to be around 2lbs. Times that by 4 and that would have taken a lot of muscle power to plod through the added misery of mud.....sometimes nearly knee deep in Winter. Provided is a link for a short read on the evolution of horse shoes.......enjoy! https://dressagetoday.com/horse-health-/history-of-horseshoes-17802 The axe head is circa 1860s and in very bad shape so rather than take too much off which is irreversible, I left it pretty much as found.As far as I know it was a military issue to the British forces here during the NZ land wars. A lot of the problem here is the high mineralisation, fertilisers, animal urine etc that rots relics and destroys history. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewcon4414 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Interesting read and finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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