Nail (fastener)

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In Engineering, Woodworking and Construction, a nail is a pin-shaped, sharp object of hard metal or alloy, formerly wrought iron, though today a modern alloy of steel is common, used as a strong fastener. Nails for specialized purposes may often be dipped or coated to prevent corrosion in harsh conditions like weather or chemically treated wood. Whereas, a Stainless Steel alloy, Brass (Copper & Tin), or Aluminum, are often reserved for the art of fine craft where the nail is the elegant accent of the art-piece presented. Galvanized (Zinc coated), is made of particular mention here however; due arbitrarily to its common use, very low cost, diverse plating affinity, and notably wide range of corrosion resistance to harsh environments.

Nails are typically driven into the workpiece by a hammer or by a nail gun driven by compressed air or a small explosive charge or primer. A nail holds materials together by friction in the axial direction and shear strength in lateral directions. The point of the nail is also sometimes bent over or clinched to prevent it from pulling out. In cases where splitting the workpiece must be prevented, the "experienced" craftsmen will gently flatten the nail point; this has the effect of compacting the material inward, VS a wedge effect whereby forcing the material to split outward; here, the relief of pressure intrinsically splits and follows the fiber density of the grain. This is sometimes the first skill a father or instructor ardently glamorizes as a secret to identify the rare professional from just another novice.

Nails are made in a great variety of forms for specialized purposes. The most common type of nail is a "wire nail". Other types of nails include "pins", "tacks", "brads", and "spikes."

Contents 1 History 2 Sizes 2.1 United States penny sizes 3 Terminology 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

Nails go back at least to the Ancient Roman period. The provision of iron for nails by King David for Solomon's Temple is mentioned in the Bible.^[1] Until the end of the 18th century, they were always made by hand, a Nailer providing them with a head and point. Until the early 17th century there were workmen called Slitters who cut up iron bars to a suitable size for Nailers to work on, but in 1590 the slitting mill was introduced to England, providing a mechanical means of producing rods of uniform cross-section. In the 19th century, after the invention of machines to make "cut nails", some nails continued to be made by hand, but the handmade nail industry gradually declined and was largely extinct by the end of that century.

Manufactured cut nails were first introduced in America at the end of the 18th century. Cut nails are machine-cut from flat sheets of steel (originally iron). They are also called square nails because of their roughly rectangular cross section. Though still used for historical renovations, and for heavy-duty applications, such as attaching boards to masonry walls, cut nails are much less common today than wire nails.

Types of nail include:

• brass tack
• bullethead nail
• canoe tacks
• carpet tack
• casing - similar to finish nails but on a larger scale
• clout
• coffin nail
• corrugated
• Dheadnails
• double-ended
• fiber cement
• finish
• horseshoe
• lost-head
• masonry - fluted nail for use in concrete
• oval brad
• floor brad (aka 'stigs') - flat, tapered and angular, for use in fixing floor boards
• panel pin
• plastic strip
• gutter spikes
• roofing tack
• ring shank
• shake - small headed nails to use for nailing sidewall shakes
• square
• T
• Teco - 1-1/2 x .148 shanks nails used in metal connectors (usually hurricane ties)
• veneer pin
• wire
• wire-weld collated

[edit] Sizes

Most countries, except the United States, use a metric system for describing nail sizes. A 50 x 3.0 indicates a nail 50 mm long (not including the head) and 3 mm in diameter. Lengths are rounded to the nearest millimeter.

For example, finishing nail* sizes typically available from German suppliers are:

Length	Diameter
mm	mm
20	1.2
25	1.4
30	1.6
35	1.6
35	1.8
40	2.0
45	2.2
50	2.2
55	2.2
55	2.5
60	2.5
60	2.8
65	2.8
65	3.1
70	3.1
80	3.1
80	3.4
90	3.4
100	3.8
90	3.8
100	4.2
110	4.2
120	4.2
130	4.6
140	5.5
160	5.5
180	6.0
210	7.0

• Drahtstift mit Senkkopf (Stahl, DIN 1151)

The USA uses a similar system except nail lengths are given in inches.

[edit] United States penny sizes

Nails are usually sold by weight (either in bulk or in boxes). In the US, the length of a nail is designated by its penny size. It is commonly believed that the origin of the term "penny" in relation to nail size is based on the old custom in England of selling nails by the hundred. A hundred nails that sold for six pence were "six penny" nails. The larger the nail, the more a hundred nails would cost. Thus the larger nails have a larger number for its penny size.^[2] This classification system was still used in England in the 18th century, but is obsolete there.

The penny size is written with a number and the abbreviation d for penny (e.g. - 10d). D is an abbreviation for denarius, a Roman coin similar to a penny; this was the abbreviation for a penny in the UK before decimalisation. A smaller number indicates a shorter nail and a larger number indicates a longer nail. Nails under 1¼ in., often called brads, are sold mostly in small packages with only a length designation (e.g. ½" (12 mm), 1¹⁄₈" (28 mm), etc.).^[3] In boxes of nails that are packaged for pneumatics nails are called 8 penny nails but have a length of 2-3/8. Some 16d nails are called 16d short and measure 3-1/4". Penny size is not always directly correlated to length because nails with larger shanks and shorter lengths will be the same weight as the standard penny designation.

penny size	length (inches)	length (nearest mm)
2d	1	25
3d	1¼	32
4d	1½	38
6d	2	51
7d	2¼	57
8d	2½	65
9d	2¾	70
10d	3	76
12d	3¼	83
16d	3½	89
20d	4	102
30d	4½	115
40d	5	127
50d	5½	140
60d	6	152

[edit] Terminology

• Box - a wire nail with a head; box nails have a smaller shank than common nails of the same size
• Bright - no surface coating; not recommended for weather exposure or acidic or treated lumber
• Casing - a wire nail with a slightly larger head than finish nails; often used for flooring
• CC or Coated - "cement coated"; nail coated with adhesive (cement) for greater holding power; also resin- or vinyl-coated; coating melts from friction when driven to help lubricate then hardens when cool; color varies by manufacturer (tan, pink, are common)
• Common - a common construction wire nail with a head: common nails have larger shanks than box nails of the same size
• Duplex - a common nail with a second head, allowing for easy extraction
• Finish - a wire nail that does not have a "head"; can be easily concealed
• Galvanized - treated for resistance to corrosion and/or weather exposure

• Electrogalvanized - provides a smooth finish with some corrosion resistance
• Mechanically galvanized - deposits more zinc than electrogalvanizing for increased corrosion resistance
• Hot-dip galvanized - provides a rough finish that deposits more zinc than other methods, resulting in very high corrosion resistance that is suitable for some acidic and treated lumber; often easier to bend than other types of nails

• Head - round flat metal piece affixed to the top of the nail; for increased holding power
• Helix - the nail has a square shank that has been twisted this makes the nail very difficult to pull out; often used in decking
• Length - distance from the head to the point of a nail
• Phosphate-coated - a dark grey to black finish providing a surface that binds well with paint and joint compound and minimal corrosion resistance
• Point - sharpened end opposite the "head" for greater ease in driving
• Ring Shank - small rings on the shank to prevent the nail from being worked back out often used in flooring
• Shank - the body the length of the nail between the head and the point; may be smooth, or may have rings or spirals for greater holding power
• Sinker - Same thin diameter as a box nail, cement coated (see above), the funnel shaped head is easier to nail flat and the head has a grid on the strike surface to keep the hammer strike from slipping; these are the common nails used in framing today
• Spike - a large nail (usually over 4" - 100 mm)

[edit] See also

• Rail spike

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Metal nails

• UK DIY site Description of different types of nails
• US DIY site description of different nails
• Nail forging movie