While rasps are not cheap, stretching the life of these valuable tools is certainly possible if you put some extra effort into their care. This means being able to handle more horses with each rasp and saving dollars.

Biggest Rasp Concerns

For this article, a number of farriers and suppliers were asked for their ideas concerning the major mistakes made with rasps. They came up with a list of 20 different concerns.

1. Steve Stanley says manufacturing consistency has been a problem across all of the brands of rasps that he has used. The veteran Standardbred farrier from Versailles, Ky., suspects this is probably the biggest issue with consumer loyalty.

2. European farrier tool specialist Florian Pottrick says farriers tend to purchase rasps by focusing too much on cost rather than performance.“We believe shoeing in general, and especially rasping, could be more economical if the farrier would look for the rasp that best fits his own style and the work demands,” says the PFERD representative located at the company’s home office in Germany.

3. Esco Buff says a major money-waster is not keeping rasps clean. “A rasp will function better and have a longer life span if you clean it throughout the day with a file card or a light wire brush,” says the Webster, N.Y. shoer. “I brush my rasps after every trimming.”

Danny Ward suggests cleaning rasps with a file card several times a day. “When the teeth start filling up with pieces of hoof, it places more…