Hossboss, I make all my shoes.. at first it was to practice for the CJF exam... I was struggling and it took me forever.. luckily the economy helped me out and most of my clients got rid of horses... Got to see the light somewhere right?
I am on the mid to high end of the cost but my cost is my cost... I don't charge extra for handmades because they are not a specialty item in my business, my business is special... $110 for full shoes. I had one girl with a lame horse think that my pricing was crazy, her shoer charges her 60... hmm.. but I know there are a few at $125 and $150 and I don't know anyone around here who makes all their shoes.
Uncle Rico, if folks pay that much for shoes then where do I need to move to... AZ has some of the better farriers and the lowest paying customers.. I put 3 ads on craigslist upping prices and all three of them got flagged and deleted for being over priced.. nice huh...
I have been making my own shoes for every horse for almost a year now... I started with 40 minutes to make a pair down to 12 per pair... 20 for 4 shoes. What it has done for me is it has really shown me what is in a foot. I have learned about the toe quarters, the branches, the shape of the foot... it all comes to my eyes now. I noticed other farriers using kegs and seen how they are not really fitting that shoe to the foot... I build the toe into the shoe, the branches.. line up the heels with the toe nails, toe nails lined up with the inside web of the toe and everything comes together... I make the shoes and go to the horse. I don't go back to the anvil because I know the shape I am building because I can see it... I rarely fuller, but you will see one set fullered, one set with concave for the fronts and the hinds get plain stamped and the rest plain stamped.. most of what I nail on is plain stamped.
I have tried using kegs with a friend of mine and it is almost more difficult to fit a keg to that foot than it is to build the shoe for it...
That is what is going on in my world