Experience Look at the nordics with the flat bottom crease that no nail would ever fit. Those shoes stay on nice and tight. I wouldn't drive a race 3 in a draft shoe but I don't think nail fit has to be very precise. Especially if you add a clip to the equation.
I don't think it is fair to compare artistry in handmade shoes to generic machine made shoes. The engine in my F160 has over 160,000 miles on it and it doesn't burn oil, leak, or use more fuel per mile than it did when it was new. I could have pulled the engine when it was new and had it balanced and blueprinted to much more exacting tolerances - at a cost of several $thousand. But there's no way I would ever recover that cost in fuel savings or longevity.
If Ford made horseshoes they would be "Ford Tough" and Chevrolet horseshoes would be "Like a Rock." Either way you could get a better deal on them after they sat on the shelf for a year and needed to be sold to make room for new inventory.
Nails 5 Combos, 6 City, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10 Shoes Kerckaert Standards, Standard Xtra, & a few Sx8 hind clipped Barstock 1/4x3/4, 1/4x1, 5/16x3/4, 3/8x3/4, 3/8x1, 1/2x1, 1/2x1 1/4, 3/4 half round concave - 3/8x5/8, 3/8x3/4, 3/8x7/8, 1/2x1 This is generally what I will have on the truck. I put those in bold that I use the most. As time and my confidence has progressed I've found that I carry muh fewer specialty shoes and just more bar stock.
Years ago the "old man" would drive a JC 0 in a #3 shoe that would be there 4 weeks later when I pulled off. At that time, SSP's . I had to draw the clips. Mondial and JC's were the customary nails purchased at Summit in New Jersey; now that dates me, WOW!
I would say that a precise nail fit would be advantageous, but I have somehow gotten quite a lot of shoes to stay on with wallowed out holes, nails sent in against the pitch, and funky old Diamond kegs from the 1960s with the worst holes I've ever seen. Of all the things that can be "a little bit better", I'd put nail holes on the bottom of the list. All that being said, there's nothing as sweet as nailing up a good hand made with good pitch and nail fit.
Bill speaking of hand-mades most every judge i know judging a shoe the first thing the look at is nail fit, nail placement, pitch should the nail holes be iffy the shoe is put aside when i'm judging i would do the same nail holes are No 1 on any type shoe JMO
Thanks for the replies, John, Chris, and Michael. Do you find the shoes don't stay on if you use E5's? That hasn't been my experience, but it's not like I've used hundreds of pairs. I finally got hold of some concave bar stock, so I'll be doing some "playing around" with it. I've used E5's and E6's with the Equine concaves I've used, with no problems. The E4's heads seem a little small for the crease. The E6's seem to fit the crease best ( but not for smaller hooves ) , but I have to enlarge the nail holes. Am I completely off base here? Thoughts, pro and con, please? Thanks in advance. Regards
What size foot are you nailing them too? I don't want to use a bigger shank nail in a hoof if a smaller one would do the job. I am more concerned about destroying the hoof wall. I actually should have said E4 slim. Shoes will stay on fine with an e5. But for that section of stock I use an e4. I even use an e4 on 7/8 x 3/8 if I use clips. If the equine concave has a wider fullering you could trya mx 60? or hem the concave shut a tad. I think Eric might be talking aboutthe fact that Equine is a softer steel .
