There is one particular phase of the smith’s art in England which deserves more than a passing notice. The great impetus given to the industrial arts by the universal re-building after the great fir of London exercised a considerable influence on the art of the smith, and there is the peculiarity attaching to the revival […]
In addition to the metal-work on the doors, in many of the large churches in France of the twelfth century, the large wheel windows are filled with ornamental iron grilles. Noyeau has a noted example. These grilles were more particularly used when there was no tracery, the ramifications of the iron-work almost supplying the want […]
Door Hinges The next division of the subject is the use of iron in ecclesiastical art, and this comprises hinges of doors, locks and fastenings, screens, railings and vases. We have already seen to what perfection it could be brought in defending man against his fellow man; its nobler employment in the service of his […]
Some time since, Mr. G. H. Birch read a paper before the British Architectural Association entitled: “The Art of the Blacksmith.” The essential portions of this admirable essay are reproduced here as a fitting introduction to this volume: “It is not the intention of the present paper to endeavor to trace the actual working of […]
Although there are numerous legendary accounts of the important position occupied by the blacksmith, and the honors accorded him even at a period as remote in the world’s history as the tie of King Solomon, strange to relate there is no single work in the language devoted solely to the practice of the blacksmith’s art. […]
Trush Trush is a nasty disease of the foot, secreting unhealthy and offensive smelling matter from the cleft of the frog. All classes of horses are more or less subject to this disease. The cause of the disease is mostly the filthy and unclean condition of the stable in which the animal is kept. Mares […]
Mules and Mule-Shoeing The term mule in its ordinary acceptation is generally employed to designate the offspring of “cross” between the equine and asinine species. Mules are of two kinds: the mule proper, which is the hybrid product of a male ass with a mare; and the hinny, which is the offspring of a stallion […]
Forging, or overreaching, is a bad habit, and a horse with this fault is not very valuable. “Clack forging” is meant by the habit of clacking the hind and for shoes together. This kind of forging is not serious or harmful; it will only tend to wear off the toe of the hind foot and […]
Kneesprung Sprung knees is the result of some disease not yet understood. We often find a horse with straight legs who will, without any noticeable cause, begin to set his knees forward, and in the course of a year or two the animal will have become totally useless. It was the custom of all old […]
In shoeing horses it is often the case that some horses go lame as soon as the shoes are put on, and the horse is all right as soon as the shoes as the shoes are pulled off again. In examining the feet of such horses it will be found that there is a weak […]