Horseshoe Hooks

When I saw a picture of horseshoes and hooks welded together for a coat rack, the idea came to me that I could screw our Small Coat Hooks into Large Horseshoes to make Horseshoe Hooks.

I placed a Small Coat Hook on the bottom of a Large Horseshoe and made marks for drilling the holes.

Clamp your horseshoe on the drill press. Use a 9/64" bit and drill holes for the hooks and enlarge two top holes in each horseshoe. I drilled 4 horseshoes.

I had a piece of pecan left over from my kitchen bar and even though it's cracked I screwed the horseshoes and hooks into it. Dry wall screws (#6x1") are perfect for this project. I drilled pilot holes and nailed in Small Star Nails.

If you want to decorate the horseshoes you can choose from small tacks, nails or conchos that we have on the website. You can paint the horseshoes, hooks and wood in the colors of choice or leave as is.

I wanted to go one step further and add a background of saddled horses along a fence. This photo was from one of my neighbor's cattle round ups. I printed it out on a large format printer, but you could have your favorite photo printed by a printing service.

The pecan board had a polyurethane finish which I lightly sanded. I spread Mod Podge on the wood and the back of the photo and applied the photo to the wood. I smoothed it out with my fingers and a brayer to get out any bubbles. After it dried I added more coats of Mod Podge. There are a few wrinkles but they're not very noticeable, especially since the horseshoe hooks will hide most of the imperfections. Some might want to stop right there and hang the picture on the wall.

I decided to rust the horseshoes and hooks. It's so easy! Here's what I do. I unscrewed the horseshoes and hooks from the wood. I got them wet in the sink and I put them outside on a brick wall. I keep vinegar in a spray bottle and I sprayed it on the iron. After about an hour, I sprayed a little more vinegar. And that's it!

I arranged the horseshoes and hooks, trying to frame the horses in each horseshoe and screwed them in. The last step is to spray a coat of clear varnish over everything. Happy Crafting!