Overheard a guy at the forge say he uses a 4-in-1 rasp for everything...

I always figured you needed a specialty rasp for each part of the hoof, but he showed me how he does the whole trim with just that one tool. Saved me like 40 bucks on a new rasp I was about to buy. Has anyone else tried sticking to a single rasp for the whole job?

2 comments

2 Comments

white.seth6d ago

My farrier actually swears by that too, he uses a 4-in-1 for everything except heavy sole cleaning where he still grabs a loop knife. I tried it on my last trim and the biggest thing I noticed was how much faster it went once I got the angle down for the different sides (the flat side vs the curved side vs the fine cut). The trick is keeping it sharp though, if you let it get dull you'll be fighting the whole time to get a clean wall.

the_ben6d ago

Yeah, that's basically what I do now too. I switched to a 4-in-1 for almost everything after my old farrier showed me the same trick, and honestly I don't even miss having a separate rasp for the wall and the sole. The flat side works fine for me on the wall if I keep it sharp, and the curved side gets into the frog just as good as a specialty tool. I mean, the first few trims felt a little awkward until I figured out the right angle for each side, but now it's way faster than swapping tools every two seconds. And yeah, keeping it sharp is key, I used to let mine get dull and it was a total waste of time. I ended up buying a second one so I always have a fresh one ready to go.