Here's a Great Tip to Keep your Hoof Rasps Sharp

Hi All, 

I met a wonderful open-minded farrier on Sunday, who followed me and watched and learned the methods of barefoot trimming of 5 very different horses with many different hoof problems and who took on board a lot of what I showed him - he also gave me a great tip for sharpening my rasps (of which I have dozens of blunt ones floating about!!)

Cut a 400m length of Poly Pipe (just a fraction shorter than your rasps) x 90m around so that it balances well).  Get a fitting for the bottom – which I put some sealant around just to make sure it didn’t leak -then empty the contents of a 2.5 litre bottle of Hydrocloric Acid (from your hardware store) into the poly pipe – (it takes about 2 litres).  Insert your rasps and leave them for between 4-6 hours – no longer.  It bubbles away like a witches brew – after 4-6 hours, remove the rasps and wash in warm soapy water or water and bi-carb – anything to nuetralise the acid. 

I did this today with three of my rasps and I’m not kidding– they are sharper than when I bought them!!! 

Apparently you can do this 6-10 times before you have to toss the rasps away.

Read the label on the bottle of Hydrocloric Acid for methods of disposing of the acid after use.  (I’m not sure if you can pore the contents back into the container and use it again – something I will research.)

There is nothing worse than working with blunt tools – it makes the job of trimming and rasping so hard!!  A wonderful tip that I wanted to share with as many of my clients and friends.

Happy rasping!!

Bronwyn Flinn

Stonecrest Equine

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