by Richard Klimesh, CJF
Horseshoers Gold Video Series
P.O. Box 140
Livermore, Colorado 80536 USA
970-221-2948, fax 970-491-9898
Videos: $44.95
Reviewed by Emil Carré
This review was published in the November, 1996 issue of ANVIL
Magazine
This well-made, entertaining tape is worth watching for a number of reasons. Mr. Klimesh successfully combines good humor with good sense in a carefully choreographed tape that covers far more than clips. There are a number of good tips on blacksmithing and safety in this tape. It's more than you bargain for, though, if you are looking for an easy way to get a set of clips on your shoes. Be prepared to learn the basic principles of forging, welding, tool making, hardening, tempering and, of course, shopping. That's right, you'll have to shop for the sheet metal for making the clips. If you don't have the tool steel to make the hardy in order to cut the clips, you'll need to pick that up too, along with tempering oil, lye and an assortment of tools you may not have on hand if you have not made tools in the past. If you want to start making tools and want some sound advice on welding, metallurgy, proper methods for heat treating tool steels and more, this tape is for you.
As for welded clips? I don't like them. I think you'll find yourself money ahead if you invest in a clipping hammer and some time in the shop practicing your forging skills.
I rate this tape three shoes. UUU
This review was published in the December, 1996 issue of The American Farriers Journal
OK, I thought the same thing you're probably thinking: Why would an American Farrier's Association Certified Journeyman Farrier want to make a video on welding clips? And how could I politely review this tape without offending anyone?
Well, this video is terrific! It's not only immensely informative but also very entertaining!
Richard Klimesh is a smooth, well-oiled, gifted speaker. His tongue-in-cheek style welded to a walking-encyclopedia personality makes this a unique horseshoeing video. Do you remember that high school teacher who was brilliant and made learning fun? He's back in the form of Klimesh.
If you have a dry, unsophisticated sense of humor, you'll be rewinding the video because you missed something during one of your chuckles or because you were busy writing down some bit of information that you know you're going to need later.
The video's focus is making and welding clips with a wire-feed welder, but the amount of information Klimesh packs into 60 minutes is amazing. You'll be subjected to a barrage of tidbits of very, very useful information on tool making, forging, welding, annealing, tempering, shoeing, etc.
"I believe that the more options you have available to draw upon in your work, the better equipped you will be to shoe your clients' horses and the more successful you'll be as a farrier," says Klimesh at the beginning of the video.
Like The Wizard of Oz, this video begins in black and white, depicting farriers of old, and then moves into color - the modern farrier. A talk of how and why clips are used is thorough, as well as how to make you own clip hardy, complete with instructions on how to make your own "Magic Quench!"
Besides showing how to make and weld clips, Klimesh shows how to make a contiguous clip shoe for P3 fractures and how to make heel shields for chronic shoe pullers. He not only answers your questions, he answers questions you've never thought of asking.
If you shoe horses, this is a must video for your library. Hours of preparation and editing are apparant in this very professional video. (5 stars in the Professional Farrier Category.)
This review was published in the November, 1996 issue of Western Horseman
Calling all horseshoers. This video was created especially for you, and it's got to be the definitive work on how to make and apply clips to horseshoes.
This is the first video in Richard Klimesh's Horseshoer's Gold Video Series. Klimesh, a certified journeyman farrier, does an excellent job of presenting the subject in clear, concise language, and with easy-to-follow instructions.
With the release of this video, Klimesh shares an entirely new way of making clips, using a compact wire-feed welder. Until now, clips were made only one way - by forging them from the edge of a hot shoe. Klimesh's method allows any farrier to quickly make and apply clips without heating or changing the shape of the shoe.
Besides showing how to make the clips, this video describes how, where, and when to apply them to reshape and maintain a hoof. Also included are instructions for making and applying the contiguous clip shoe (for the treatment of a fractured coffing bone) and heel shields (to prevent horses with under-run hoofs from losing extended-heel shoes).
Welding Clips lasts for over an hour and is well-done as an instructional tape.
This review was published in the March, 1997 issue of The Quarter Horse Journal
I opened this video and a piece of steel fell out. I finally realized this was an example of a blank clip.
This video shows use of a wire-feed welder in a portable model for attaching clips to shoes, including a solid row of clips all around (contiguous clip) for use in stabilizing a broken coffin bone.
My husband, the millwright and perfectionist welder, had the following comments about the video:
This video is excellent, and even if you do not shoe horses, it is interesting to see some of the things that can be done for problem horses. Klimesh, a certified journeyman farrier, is amusing, easy to understand, and definitely has something to offer in improving the shoeing business.
Welding clips save time, and hence money. The welding technique offers a lot more latitude for prosthetic shoes and makes it possible to salvage horses that would otherwise be unusable.
Klimesh tells you how to make a tool to stamp out clips, where to get clip material, and how to do a lot of stuff that is only important to people who are really into this. Buy the video if you do a lot of clip shoes.
Question: Does the Magic Quench help harden the shoe for more wear, or does that make it too hard? If you don't understand the question, the video will enlighten you (but the question still goes unanswered).
Other material is fascinating as well, such as welding bar shoes, general welding machine usage and how to avoid burning down a client's barn.
Klimesh is a pleasure to watch and probably moonlights as a stand-up comic for his students.
I don't shoe, but my horse is dedicating himself to putting my farrier's children through college. Right now they are in grade school. If your farrier is on your speed dial, you know how I feel.
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