Before the shoes are nailed on, the normal punch should be oiled and driven into the calk-holes, and the calks passed into the holes to see that they fit perfectly.
The calks are driven into place after the shoes are nailed to the hoofs. A light blow is sufficient to fasten a calk, yet a necessary precaution is first to remove every trace of oil from the calks and calk-holes. The first calk driven into place must be held with the hand while the second is being driven, otherwise it will either spring from the calk-hole or be loosened so that it will soon afterwards be lost.
To remove such a calk we strike its head from different sides with a hammer, stone, or other hard object until it becomes loose, when a rather hard blow upon the shoe causes it to spring out. Calks which have worn down are seized by a pair of sharp nippers and loosened by blows upon the shoe. Since a calk which is firm soon rusts and is then very difficult to remove, it is recommended that all calks be removed every night.
The advantages of peg-calks over screw-calks are: 1. They do not break off. 2. They are easier to make and simpler to use. 3. They are cheaper.
Disadvantages.—1. Peg-calks are sometimes lost, even when properly made and most carefully introduced. This evil happens much less frequently when the calks are put in by the maker (horseshoer) than when they are stuck in by the coachman, attendant, rider, or other person. When calks are lost on the way from the shop, it is usually due to some fault in the calk-holes or in the calks, although when the feet are balled with snow the calks are easily lost, because they do not then touch the ground.
2. The removal of the calks often involves many difficulties, since they are apt to rust into place if not removed daily, and when worn down so far that they cannot be grasped with the pincers are almost impossible to remove. By hammering upon the calks and shoe many horses are rendered not only restive, but sensitive in the feet.
3. If horses are used without the calks, a wire edge forms around the hole on the bottom of the shoe, which interferes with the placing of the calk and lessens its security.
The hollow peg-calk ([Fig. 168]), made by Branscheid & Philippi, of Remscheid, has considerable merit. It holds exceedingly well, and is very durable. It is furnished in three sizes,—Nos. 12, 13, and 14,—of twenty-seven, thirty-one, and thirty-four millimetres length, and twelve, thirteen, and fourteen millimetres diameter at the end of the tap.
A punch is furnished which, when driven up to its head in the holes of the heated shoe, insures a proper width and shape of the hole and an accurately fitting calk.
Fig. 168.