I am a blacksmith and farrier, I shoe horses for a living. I am going to build my own shoeing trailer to try to save a few thousand. It will end up looking somthing sort of like the tag along trailer here..
http://www.horseshoes.com/supplies/alphabet/somersongforge/
I will be ripping an old 2 horse trailer down to the bottom frame and building this trailer from there up. The trailer is steel frame so I will have to build the trailer structur out of steel and do all the surfaces with either stainless or aluminium. I will probably rivit the sheet metal to the frame. Or I will build a structure/body out of AL that I can fasten to the trailer frame.
I want to have a bare metal surface, beucase I dont want to deal with paint getting a zillion scratches..
My questions for you guys are,
What type of metal would be more cost effective for the sheeting of the body?
I know Aluminuim loses its polish easy to oxcidization, what are the corosive properties of stainless, and what type (AL or Stainless) is good for this type of application?
What gauge should I use for the outer body sheeting, working table, and what type/gauge of steel would you recommend for the structure?
And where is a good supply house to get the stock/sheeting that I need. I cant seem to find one in my area. I am in Massachusetts
Thank you!
-Josh