Comments on: Nails: As Important as Computers

By: rwilman

rwilman — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:37:59 +0000

A history of nail making :blacksmith, cut nails to wire
http://www.nfb.ca/ film/ nails/
National film board of Canada short.

By: HowardS

HowardS — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:44:39 +0000

I was walking the beach one morning in Praia the capital of Cape Verde, an archipelago nation west of Senegal, and came on a boatbuilder who built the fishing boats they use in those waters. The hulls were wood (madeira he called it but I’m not sure if that just means “wood”) and he joined them with galvanized cut nails. Later on he caulked the joints with a caulking mallet and a rope like caulk. Fascinating stuff!

Howard

By: farnarkleboy

farnarkleboy — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 01:50:29 +0000

Then there are these guys,
http://www.glasgowsteelnail.com

By: antkn33

antkn33 — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:04:38 +0000

I have heard about these types of nails before. However, I never really heard a good explanation of why & when to use them . Besides that they look good.
Thanks

By: ChrisCos

ChrisCos — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:51:05 +0000

Tremont has a nice sample sheet you can get to see what they offer:

http://www.tremontnail.com/sampleset.htm

(I have no association with Tremont, I just thought it was cool).

-Chris C.

By: Megan Fitzpatrick

Megan Fitzpatrick — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:38:13 +0000

And if you want an actual, bound copy of “Spons on Carpentry and Joinery”…:
http://www.shopwoodworking.com/spons-on-carpentry-and-joinery-w1335?lid=pwmfbl072712

(We excerpted the 276 pages on ww and reprinted them)

By: woodgeek

woodgeek — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:20:29 +0000

I believe the diagram came from a book by Spon called Mechanics’ Own Book. It’s figure 445. You can look at the book on ChestofBooks.com

Here’s a link to the image of the nails: http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/mechanics/How-To/images/Bench-Vices-447.jpg This image is incorrectly tagged as “bench vises.” Go figure . . .

By: Moontoad

Moontoad — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:05:53 +0000

Where did the attached diagram of the nails come from? Did the source include descriptions of the various types and their use? I could see a great article here if there is enough known about them.

By: rorymoulton

rorymoulton — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:52:32 +0000

I scored a whole box of antique cut nails from a basement in historic Leadville, CO. There must be around 5,000. All appear to be of the A-C categories judging from the diagram above.

They are amazingly straight and rust-free for being approx. 130 years old. Damn, they look good.

I’m a total woodworking noob (just recently progressed beyond the popwood’s ICDT projects) – is there any reason I shouldn’t use these antique nails in projects? They’ll hold as well as those Tremont nails, right?

By: ddj0528

ddj0528 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:52:30 +0000

The Dikeman (no d) MFG Co. Sorry.