Remember when we used to shape every shoe by hand? I was cleaning out my old truck in Boise last week and found a box of my first rasp.

Three years ago I was still doing all my rounding and finishing with that same rasp, but now my apprentice just uses a grinder for everything. Do you think we're losing some of the feel for the hoof by skipping the hand tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew_nguyen641mo ago

Found my old float in the garage last month and it felt like shaking hands with a ghost. There's a rhythm you get with hand tools that machines just can't match. Yeah, the work gets done faster now, but I worry the next generation won't learn to read the hoof the same way. You can't feel a subtle change through a grinder.

cooper.taylor1mo ago

Wait, you just found it last month? That float sat in your garage for how many years, @andrew_nguyen64? I get what you mean about the ghost part, that's a strong way to put it. My hands still remember the weight of my old rasp, and you're right, that feeling tells you things. The sound and the pull of the tool taught me more than any quick pass with a machine ever could. It's a different kind of knowing, and I share your worry that it's getting lost.