Comments on: An Unusual Shape for Wooden Nails

By: me.yahoo.com/a/WNGOk_AcqYZGikyHnUYf00UjWVhLQY1uZOs-

me.yahoo.com/a/WNGOk_AcqYZGikyHnUYf00UjWVhLQY1uZOs- — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:56:54 +0000

I have often seen this type of hole and peg on 18th century Philadelphia furniture. Most of those I have seen were not quite so extreme as the one you show. When you have taken them apart you have to line up the peg again when you put it back. Also the pegs are not interchangeable; they were individually shaped. I think the peg was shaped just to better fill the hole (which is odd shaped because of the bit) and make a neater appearance. There is no mechanical advantage to this type of peg. I have never seen a peg on old work that looked like it went through a dowel plate.
W Mickley

By: Peter Baines

Peter Baines — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:25:22 +0000

You can see similar nails in the work covered within the ‘Chipstone Article’ – here: http://www.chipstone.org/publications/1996AF/Follansbee/1996FollansbeeText.html

The article references 17th C New Edngland furniture so its a fair enough assumption that this technique was/is used in North American furniture.

Fig 15 shows the exact same shaped hole and dicsusses how the hole was made with a fluted reaming bit with a lancet point, is it is likely that this tool determined the shap of the peg?

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 07:03:58 +0000

I’d almost wonder about spliting if this "lemon shaped, pin wheel" was driven into a piece of wood. Just a thought

Brian
Seattle, WA

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 07:01:41 +0000

I had to "almost" second JC’s comment on a branch. From an artist’s prospective it almost looks like a branch cut from a trunk, but typically branches are round on the top side and have an almost upside down teardrop look to them. So I think we’re back to square one. Although "lemon shaped pins" sounds nice. I’m not sure. What do you think Chris?

Brian
Seattle, WA

By: Bob Rozaieski

Bob Rozaieski — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:42:41 +0000

Cut with a gouge perhaps? Since gouges don’t make perfect half circles, a paring cut on either side would leave a football shape similar to what’s in the last picture.

By: Matt Sullenbrand

Matt Sullenbrand — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:13:00 +0000

I wonder if there might be a connection to the type of bit used to bore such a hole. The pictures above made me think of a post on Peter Follansbee’s blog of a piercer bit and the pinwheel-shaped hole it bores: http://pfollansbee.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/boring-tool-hole.jpg. Maybe the jointer made a peg to fill this type of hole? Peter’s perspective would be helpful here since he probably does more drawboring than anyone out there.

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:42:35 +0000

I seem to recall some book mentioning the use of black thorns as nails. The base of the thorns look sort of like this.

By: www.google.com/profiles/slashdev89

www.google.com/profiles/slashdev89 — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:07:32 +0000

I happened to see this *today*, while following some links on Quaker Locks. In the segment, the appraiser mentions "lemon-shaped pins."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200804A02.html

By: JC

JC — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:05:21 +0000

And to add to my original post of why I don’t’ think that is it, the first photo shows the end grain which would look like a small bullseye if my guess were correct.

By: JC

JC — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:04:08 +0000

I’m not saying this is it, but it looks like they are small branches straight off a tree, the thicker part being the part that was attached to the trunk.