Tools are manufactured to make a job easier. Yet, when tools aren’t properly maintained, efficiency and performance can suffer. Investing a little time to keep your tools tuned up will go a long way toward helping you at work or while competing.

“Tools that aren’t tuned up just make your job so much harder,” says Matt Lybeck, a Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., farrier who was competing at the World Championship Blacksmith’s mid-April season opener in Madison, Wis. “Ten minutes spent on tools can save so much frustration later.”

Tapered Shoulders

Many wooden-handles are ground horizontally (Figure 1a above), which creates a sharp shoulder to accommodate the tool head (Figure 1b above).

“That sharp shoulder is just like having a cold shunt in your steel,” Lybeck says. “Your handle can snap off there.”

This type of design eventually will lead to an ill-fitting tool.

“After using it for a while, the tool…