George Geist wrote:
Yes Sarah,
With technique and some experience you can make clips any size you want them.
For those who prefer to weld them on it's probably best to use a smaller welder that runs on 110v so it can be plugged into an ordinary wall outlet. These type of welders are obviously limited in their capabilities, but for welding on clips they are satisfactory.
the only 110 welder that I've ever used is the one I own and it OLD. It provides enough current but the arc is nowhere near as smooth as what I get from my big welder. A friend of mine has a newer 110v welder and he claims that it works better for him if he preheats the work. As I said, I try to get as much of this kind of stuff done in the shop rather than out on the job and in the shop the welder is plugged in and ready to go all the time.
For specialty work such as long footed show horses or drafts this might be a good idea. I think for most ordinary shoeing, drawing clips the traditional way is probably much faster, easier, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
George
I don't know which is faster. In the time it takes a shoe to heat, I could arc weld several clips on. After arc welding I clean up the weld with a grinder so it's probably close to a wash time wise. As far as looks...a welded on clip looks good. The weld isn't visable after dressing and there's no stock missing from the toe or branch of the shoe.
For regular sized clips, I heat the shoe in the forge and draw a clip with a hammer like every one else and I don't see much reason to do it any differently. I'd still rather do as much of my forge work ahead of time in the shop as possible though. I just don't always get to work near the truck and any extra trips back and forth (especially if it's to haul heavy stuff) is a real time and energy waster.