I learned two interesting things about tapered square nails while visiting Colonial Williamsburg. First, in the 18th Century, all nails were hand forged and relatively valuable. If something was discarded or torn down, the wood would be burned as fuel, and the ashes would be sifted for nails, which could be reused. Second, square nails used to construct doors would be driven through the two pieces being joined and the protruding ends would be bent back and pounded into the back of the door. This was called clenching and made the door extremely strong by making it impossible for the nail to ever back out. It also rendered the nails unusable and gave rise to the phrase "dead as a door nail".

@peybak

3 жыл бұрын

Like you said, I read migrating farmers used to burn their dwellings and sift through the ashes to get the nails because they were so valuable.

@tarbucktransom

3 жыл бұрын

You can clinch wire nails too. Also in Britain apparently oval cross sectioned nails exist, and are pretty good for clinching.

@maciejtrybilo

3 жыл бұрын

Clenching/clinching is shown in a tool chest build in an excellent video by The English Woodworker.

@tarbucktransom

3 жыл бұрын

@@maciejtrybilo Giving a hearty recommend to Richard Maguire, The English Woodworker. Most of my style and the way I think about wood came from him.

@gordonstewart8258

3 жыл бұрын

Anyone familiar with wooden boat construction has seen clenching used with a rove (washer) to fasten planks to frames.

So, my daily habit of walking about talking shit about nails has finally caught up with me

@Defekcija

3 жыл бұрын

your days of talking shit about nails ARE OVER buddy! get outta 'ere

@fridryx8464

3 жыл бұрын

Furniture without nails last longer and can be reused

@AnakinS86

3 жыл бұрын

@@fridryx8464 why?

@nicholasplamondon3991

3 жыл бұрын

@@AnakinS86 One very simple reason is it's a lot easier to take apart and fix anything that's wrong. A much more complex reason is that as nails and other metal fasteners corrode overtime they damage the wood and can cause harm or an expedited case of rot. Now that doesn't mean that old furniture doesn't use glue, modern Titebond glue is stronger than nails and does move with the wood meaning that it doesn't break apart to the season change. There are some pieces of furniture that are 300 plus years old where the hide glue is just as strong as the day it was made.

@teachingthecode4651

3 жыл бұрын

You can still talk shit about wire nails.

Whenever nails were used in any kind of carpentry before industrially made drawn nails became common, there was a _very_ good reason to use it. After all, when you could go to the nearest coppice and quickly cut a dowel for free, expensive forged nails weren’t used willy-nilly.

@SenselessUsername

3 жыл бұрын

The naming system involving the price is also a giveaway that they're valueable, even fungible.

@mikeking7470

3 жыл бұрын

I read that as codpiece which made little sense.

@ragnkja

3 жыл бұрын

@@mikeking7470 A codpiece would be more directly useful for sewing than for carpentry or cabinetry, as it may serve as a pincushion.

@Rowgue51

3 жыл бұрын

It was less about the value and more about the scarcity of supply. They were valuable because the supply was so scarce, which is also why they weren't used very much. As you said anybody could cut their own dowels/mortises/tenons/dovetails, not just for free but more importantly quickly and easily with basic tools and materials readily available all around them. Forging nails was an incredibly labor intensive and time consuming undertaking in comparison. It just wasn't possible for smiths to supply enough nails for widespread common use.

@ragnkja

3 жыл бұрын

@@Rowgue51 Value of a thing was (and to some extent still is) closely linked to how much labour went into making it, and skilled labour was obviously worth more than what everyone could do with basic tools that most people owned.

Never thought about the Flexing. I knew that screws break.

@bobbystanley8580

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome video!!!!!!!!!! B

@Nubbe999

3 жыл бұрын

There are different types of screws made of different types of metal that flex more or less. An aluminium, brass or steel screw don't flex the same. And different alloys also flex more or less

Another advantage of nails is ease of repair. My great grandfather made a rolling cabinet out of thick wood using nails over a century ago. Recently a castor fell off. I was expecting a major job, but a few hits with a hammer and it came apart; I replaced it, and a few more hits and it came together again, and the repair was complete. My respect for nailed furniture soars.

I just finished turning handles for my drawblade, it was a first decent turning project that I have used the end product, none of my mates would really care so i thought I would share in this community where you will actually understand that importance

@markirish7599

3 жыл бұрын

Well done and best wishes from Ireland 🇮🇪

@jlmfoy365

3 жыл бұрын

Ain't it a great feeling 👏👏👍. Regards Jim UK.

@janbernad4729

3 жыл бұрын

Noice

@RexKrueger

3 жыл бұрын

I understand totally.

@gnarthdarkanen7464

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome! You'll remember that drawblade forever! ;o)

If my unhealthy addiction to Thomas Johnson has taught me anything. Master furniture builders have been using nails for hundreds of years to build some of the best furniture in history

@supernoodles908

3 жыл бұрын

"right tool for the job". I see wood, glue, nails, saws and all the stuff as tools. Sometimes it makes sense to nails, sometimes it doesn't. Use them when it makes sense

Rex, I know it sounds like a lot of work but it works. My dad used to take cut masonry mails, heat them in my grandad's forge and then hammered the heads to make them look forged. Then he let them air cool. You would be surprised how much they look like forged nails in the end and they soften up during the air cooling and you can even clinch them over without breaking.

Used to do a lot of forging a few years ago, and every seesion I was about to call it a day I spent the leftover heat from the forge to make nails. Can never go wrong with homeforged nails because you throw away the bad ones before you get a chance to use them :D

i was just scrolling youtube thinking about how much i despise nails, but you really turned me around

You need to send one of those Mitten boxes to Burnie Sanders.

@OldDunollieman

3 жыл бұрын

Send one to Trump with the mittens then he wont be able to grab women by the you know what.

@jimcarter4929

3 жыл бұрын

Have to make bigger.

@1959Berre

3 жыл бұрын

Bernie Sanders has mitten boxes, plenty of them!

@nohmehari947

3 жыл бұрын

@@OldDunollieman gonna need a full body gimp suit to stop Biden touching kids

@-Devy-

3 жыл бұрын

@@nohmehari947 Aww you couldn't stand someone poking fun at your boyfriend?

[cries in metric]

@knutzzl

3 жыл бұрын

[hands over a 304,8x304,8mm handkerchief]

@ardenthebibliophile

3 жыл бұрын

1/8 inch is 3.175mm. Quick rule of thumb would be 1penny/3mm

@Gisburne2000

3 жыл бұрын

@@ardenthebibliophile None of the nails I've ever bought have mentioned the old penny system. Length in mm and weight in g, that's it.

@SenselessUsername

3 жыл бұрын

@@Gisburne2000 I think that's for wire nails, not for these cut nails? I'm going by my local shops though.

@duudsuufd

3 жыл бұрын

​@@ccox7198 Of course the weight of one nail is not important. But if the weight is written on the box then you can control that you got what you have paid for. No one is ever going to count the nails in a box if there are 500 pieces in it. And you can compare the prices with other brands. It's also helpul if you have to make an inventory at the end of the year to get an idea how much you have used. Say there is 200 gr left of a 1 kg box, that means you have used 4/5 of the number of nails that were in the box. Same for metric or imperial system.

The Japanese woodworking tradition has some neat joints, sure, but what really impresses me is their timber-frame joinery. Building not just log cabins, but extremely complex structures that have stood for centuries using no fasteners is really impressive. The ways they pull it off are also just really damned clever!

@igrim4777

Жыл бұрын

Wooden dowels and pins are fasteners just the same as metal screws and nails and many Japanese joints use them.

Greetings from the Black Country in the English Midlands. This used to be a heavily industrialised region where the sky was black by day (soot) and red by night (the glow of furnaces). Nail making was a traditional job for women and children, while the men made things like chains and anchors.

@noelnicholls1894

3 жыл бұрын

Some of the last were in Bromsgrove. Dad took over some homes (they had a smithy behind their houses) when a friend of my grandfather died in 1930 or so. From the account books I found recently they closed in the 1930’s-1940’s. A few remaining bags of the nails that my dad still had in the back of the garage were donated to the local museum.

@jimbo2629

3 жыл бұрын

Go to Avoncroft museum for nail making when Covid is over.

@noelnicholls1894

3 жыл бұрын

@@jimbo2629 I’m in Texas now, but have seen Avoncroft on visits back in the 1980’s. See the Talley Ho blog and in one episode he made a piece of furniture for his girlfriend with no fasteners, just pegs. All the best, have fond memories of the area

I remember seeing a video on Japanese woodworking making the claim about no nails to build a house or something else big, but in the video, they did use nails... to a fashion. Instead of metal nails, they used wedges of wood, shaped similarly to those cut nails.

@ragnkja

3 жыл бұрын

Back when nails had to be forged by hand and were therefore quite expensive, wooden pegs were often used instead of nails. There are some wood species where that is preferable to metal fasteners, such as oak which tends to discolour from contact with iron.

Outstanding! I cut my teeth on woodworking growing up with scrap wood and nails.... aaaand yes I fell into the group of "nails in woodwork = useless" for the exact reason you pointed out, which carried on into adulthood. They had little hold and not to mention it always felt like it took the skill out. Like everything you made looked like a craft fair birdhouse. So thank you for opening my eyes to the right nails for the right job!

You can get much more flexible screws now, they're often sold as Framing Screws and they are tempered back further than a normal screw to allow much more flex.

I nail wire nails at an angle, dovetailed, the punch them below the surface of the wood. Wet the nail hole with water and apply heat and the wood expands hiding the head of the nail. I usually do this to hold glued joints together rather than use sash clamps which I don't have. However o am intrigued by the method shown in the video and will give it a go.

I have never thought that one day I would watch an 11 minutes video about nails just because youtube recommended it... What am I doing with my life

I was supposed to be studying social sciences rn, how did I end up spending 11 minutes and 36 seconds learning about the complexity of using nails and the different types nails for building furniture when I don't even have a hammer

@Raynorification

3 жыл бұрын

Yes but in the end, it's way more valuable than social science :)

@Gandhi_Physique

3 жыл бұрын

@@Raynorification Yeah uh.. Lemme know how effective nails are when your brain doesn't work properly because we don't have psychologists, sociologists, or scientists developing and improving ways to keep humans healthy or finding ways to help them be productive members of society. Nails or your brain, which one is more valuable? It is hard to gauge which areas are the most valuable for humans, which is why it is pretty wasteful to try and choose. STEM is definitely up there in terms of what is valuable though.

@Raynorification

3 жыл бұрын

@@Gandhi_Physique Yeah, i was just talking specifically about social sciences because you can't make a living with that, but you can with nails :)

@Gandhi_Physique

3 жыл бұрын

@@Raynorification Not really true, but fair enough

I’m building a blanket chest at the moment that uses rabbits at each corner and uses a cross grain construction and Rex just saved it from the scrap pile I completely forgot about expansion and contraction I was going to glue it tomorrow...but now I’ll use nails thank you rex

I had to do a double take -- somehow this ended up in my video recommendations. You taught one of my classes at university in ~2013! This looks like an awesome side hustle. I make video games now, but some days I want to quit my job and build furniture too.

@TomsLife9

3 жыл бұрын

what was the class?

Nailed it! Great video Rex. I'm definitely guilty of turning my nose up at nails for my fine woodworking projects. This will help.

@RexKrueger

3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad! I used to feel the same way.

@NMranchhand

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, that was awful! 🤦🏼‍♂️

The other thing I like about cut nails is the blunt end. The blunt end tends to crush the wood fibers rather than splitting them apart. Wire nails, with their wedge shaped points, are more likely to split the wood. I have purposely blunted wire nails if I'm using them in wood prone to splitting. This trick has always worked.

It's not that nails aren't effective, it's all about design, refinement and subtlety. It's hard to create a contemporary piece with nails. Well... I guess I gave you a challenge, Rex :)

Hi Rex. Nice to see the revival of tried and true methods. Imagine the strength with glue. I grew up summers in Wareham MA and visited the Tremont Nail Factory where my carpenter Grandfather used to buy his cut nails. He used them primarily in boxes and cabinets. In addition to the penny rating, there are different gauges, types and head shapes designed for specific uses. I used a pyramidal head once in a wide board pine floor to simulate a colonial look. Thanks again.

I saved a blanket chest from the trash about a year ago. It had been paint and repaint about five times but I could see hand cut dovetails because I could see the layout lines for the depth. And signs. But anyways I went to take it about and it wouldn’t. They had used cut nails and drove three of them into each side having dovetails. Pretty interesting. After scraping paint and planing the whole chest was made of walnut and olive wood. I have used it many times. Thanks for the video!! My guess is the nails made it so that they could let the glue dry without clamps. It was a shaker design probably not true “shaker” still beautiful. Wish I could post pics on here lol

Some years ago I was at the Victoria and Albert museum in London UK (Home of decorative arts in the UK) and I was looking at a piece of French ormolu furniture. I was able to get up quite close to it and was amazed to see that the ormolu was fixed with small nails! Regards from Redruth Arnold

I am still a homegrown DIY woodworking beginner, but I gotta say Rex, I learned so so so so much by simply watching any of your videos. You are an international treasure. And I say international, because I'm a German guy, breathing the metric system, and I'm living in modern Japan, but still I'm enjoying every inch and pound of information you throw my way. And this video about nails was a freaking eye-opener to me. So, thank you. Really, not sure what else to say than Thank you, Mr. Krueger. It has been and it always will be a pleasure to watch your videos. At least for me. 😊

I get a lot of my lumber from antique houses. They often have these old cut nails in them. I have built a few projects using the old nails and they still work great!

Thanks for this video. I'm an industrial design student and some of my teachers are obsessed against nails and screws in woodworking, they go on and on an on about how much better joinery is without them, it drives me nuts.

Thanks for that info on sizing the nail. I've always based nail size on experience and didn't know that there was a rule to base it on.

Great video Rex. You really put on a clinic here, and it made me feel like I was in a classroom. I can tell a lot of research went into this.

Such good information, thank you! I had just felt a little stab of shame buying nails last night to attach a drawer bottom and now I realize how silly that was. I'm excited to try cut nails next time!

Rex I have always used nails in my wood working and have always felt it is under utilized by newer woodworkers because they think screws are newer tech and so they must be better. I'm glad you made this video.

Brilliant thanks Rex, as a restorer I come across nailed furniture often, and my can those nails hold fast! Thanks for posting love your channel, UK greetings, stay safe

A few years ago, I made a Japanese toolbox with rebates and cut nails. I clenched the batons on the lid. I'm pretty sure the batons won't go anywhere, at least for the nxt century.

Forged iron nails were used to make shipping trunks. I had to restore a trunk and could not find a source for clinch nails and so I made them from horse shoe nails that were iron and could be clinched without breaking. Clinch nails are used in some types of boat building but they need to have very little carbon content. Modern nails are made of steel.

Fun fact: the "d" abbreviation actually comes from the latin coin called the denarius. This was the Roman equivalent to a penny and for some reason that abbreviation stuck for a millennium with the British penny.

so my takeaway is that our lord and saviour was really stuck to that cross.

@kiefferwebb142

3 жыл бұрын

That’s rough

@RsDefcon

3 жыл бұрын

Haha

@windhelmguard5295

3 жыл бұрын

i just realized that the had to drill pilot holes before nailing him to the cross, now that must have sucked.

@rinnhart

3 жыл бұрын

@@windhelmguard5295 do you drill a narrower pilot hole through the underlying foot or just the beam?

@scriptkiddie8205

3 жыл бұрын

There is no lord

Thank you for putting out this content in a format I can understand. I am still upset that I missed the Hershey Car show this year because of Covid, my brother and I were going to go under your suggestion to find good deals on tools.

You ever have that moment? Where you're like: "Damn I need to subscribe to this guy."

So, this show that said 'not a single nail was used', were they using tens of thousands of dollars in machinery with the brand names very obviously showing to make a replica? It does take skill and artistry to make something without fasteners, and I guess people assume any unevolved primate with a hammer and box of home depot nails can bang something together.

@BiosElement

3 жыл бұрын

Exactly this. Any unevolved primate with a hammer and nails 'can' bang something together, but it's a clear sign of skill to be able to create something without fasteners. I don't think it's intended to imply nails are somehow bad, but to highlight the skill involved in not using common fasteners.

@someoneelse5005

3 жыл бұрын

Let's talk about being practical. If you can put something together with nails or cool joinery, I am game. If it breaks down for any reason, I don't care about the artistic value of it. And both 'cool joinery' and nails can get messed up as time goes, there are reasons both are used.

"I can try this with a drywall screw; we're not supposed to use these for woodwork" *Matthias Wandel wants to know your location*

@RexKrueger

3 жыл бұрын

Matthias and I can disagree. No one will get hurt.

@jsn1252

3 жыл бұрын

@@RexKrueger *Some kid in the future* "Grandpa, how did the carpenter wars start?"

@johngaltline9933

3 жыл бұрын

@@tcarney57 Yeah, it depends a lot on what, or how, they are used. drywall screws are just fine if you don't need any flex in the joint or are not worried about shear. We always used them in set building for plays and never had any issues, but then, we always over built anything load bearing and never depended on the screw to hold weight. The also work reall well to hold on trim that falls off with nails when you roll a set piece in to a wall, and you can't see the heads anyway from at least 30 feet away there the audience is.

When I saw the title, I thought "O no, not another hobbiest talking about nails." But after watching, I was pleasantly surprised. You pointed out some great points and used for nails that are still common today. All of your information was correct and explained in an easy manner for people (Layman) to understand. Personally, I would have also mentioned the use of nails in upholsterery, wooden roof, making, wood sidings (for houses, cabins...) and some other areas. But It general great video, keep up the good work.

Maaaan I’ve always wanted to use cut nails! This was the video I needed to get some motivation and alleviate some fears. Thanks, Rex!

Never in my life has a screw broken under the strain of wood expansion and contraction. I hate how heavily implied this is. No quality fastener will do that.

@nicholasplamondon3991

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you I was thinking the same thing I use screws on a daily basis in a proper screw can hold a 600 + Pounds before hitting critical failure.

@whitepickle1

3 жыл бұрын

I would imagine its the wood breaking against an unflexing fastner, not the fastner breaking

@coryulrich6489

3 жыл бұрын

@@whitepickle1 In theory that sounds quite plausible, but it wasn't the wood he was smacking with a hammer, calling it brittle. I don't remember having seen that in real life but I totally wouldn't be surprised if it happens. As I'm typing this, some of the cracks I see form at the edge of a deck board for example might actually be from this. I always assume that it's from a non-pre-drilled installation with a fastener that doesn't do a great job of creating its own pilot hole.

@TheBlackstarrt

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, the thing with the Japanese furniture stuff is because they use no nails in a fancy and decorative way, not that they just use no nails. But it was a nice history lesson.

@windhelmguard5295

3 жыл бұрын

@@coryulrich6489 you know i wouldn't be buying it either if it weren't for the fact that the thing described in the video happened to my bed last week, four screws just gave up on me. it's probably not going to happen all the time or quickly, a screw might be able to take the flex a hand full of times, but eventually they'll just nope out on you.

Hi Rex, getting proper cut nails can be quite difficult in some countries. A way round this is to use the masonary nails which are easily available. You first need to aneal them before use and then they are just as good a a "proper" cut nail

@MRichK

3 жыл бұрын

Would a regular oven get hot enough to anneal them?

@evilcanofdrpepper

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah I was actually wondering about that! How hot do you need to get your nails? I'm sure if we knew the kind of metal that was used then someone could probably give the optimal time and temp but lets hear your experimental results! Also this is a good video that explores the process of making them with modern equipment and stock: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dpttmaiMYayvY7w.html

@lornemiller3489

Жыл бұрын

Just make sure you get nails that arnt galvanised or coated with something nasty

I love how well you speak and your tempo. The pauses in the perfect place to let the thin you said sit for a second before you continue. I wish you were my woodworking teacher.

(From the UK) Interesting old fashioned use of 'penny nails'. I've never heard of it over here. A useful tip a friend of mine gave me - he was a carpenter - to avoid round or oval wire nails splitting planks especially near the end grain, he used to have a small rectangle of mild steel in his toolbox. Using the steel as a small 'anvil', for each fresh nail he tapped the sharp point with his hammer to produce a flat end. The idea was the nail now punched some of the fibres out of the way, rather than separating them. The nail was less likely to split the wood. This was handy when fitting floorboards, shiplap or fencing palings.

@hal4192

Жыл бұрын

I do this, except that when nailing near the end of a lath etc I turn the nail upside down and tap the point. This knocks the head of the nail below the surface - where the nail will be used- and helps to avoid splitting once the nail is turned over and driven in. UK here too.

@derekmills1080

Жыл бұрын

@@hal4192 👍

For penny nails between 2d and 10d, you can divide the penny size by four, then add 1/2 to get your measurement in inches. After that you probably want a chart for them.

While most screws don't flex very well, I find GRK screws actually can survive bending multiple times. I've used trim headed GRK screws for outdoor furniture, and have been extremely happy with the results. That being said, cut nails definitely are a lot cooler and lend themselves to the aesthetic of traditional furniture making.

Cool, I like it. Unfortunately these kind of nails I've never seen it even heart of here in Europe. What i sometimes use are ribbed nails instead. They flex the same way and have a better holding power than screws.

@mongocrock

3 жыл бұрын

check out Rivierre Nails of France

@TheNadOby

3 жыл бұрын

In Germany search for "feingeschnittene Nägel".

@johanneswerner1140

3 жыл бұрын

Can totally second that. Shipping is cheap, customer service is good. And the nails look pretty good! And there's apparently a company in Sweden that sells the cut nails (made by Tremont). www.hyvlar.se/en/cut-nails?search=spik Have not yet ordered from them.

@knutzzl

3 жыл бұрын

Look for "medieval" or "horseshoe" nails

@peglor

3 жыл бұрын

The wedge shaped nails are called brad nails in Ireland and the UK - this name has been mixed somewhat with the lines of glued together nails for staple gun style pneumatic/electric/mechanical nailers though. If you look for floor brads you'll get what look to be very similar to the 6d nails shown in the video. They're used to hold floor boards down in most house builds - again because the wedge shape resists movement and loosening better than a round or oval nail. No fear of anyone bothering to drill pilot holes for them in that application though. The reason tapered nails hold better is because the tend to push the wood grain down as they are driven in, so as the grain springs back it acts like a ratchet against the sides of the nail. Tapered wooden nails are also used in traditional joinery for the same reason. Annular nails have ridges on their surface to bite into the wood to make them harder to remove - if you find a pallet held together with these, the wood will break around the nail before the nail even threatens to lift out.

One of the advantages of being in the Netherlands, nails are sold at the big box stores in length by diameter in millimeters.

@PieterSchreurs

3 жыл бұрын

Ben ze nog niet tegen gekomen, waar?

@MichaelHeidweiller

3 жыл бұрын

@@PieterSchreurs weet niet of youtube links to staat, maar als je even Googled op 'Gamma spijkers' krijg je de pagina met alle spijkers.

For light items, it would seem you would get the same benefits from using staples as heavier items get from cut nails.

why am I here, I'm not even into work working, but I watched all of this.

I would go absolutely insane doing fine woodworking! Low end stuff has all kinds of tricks like exact constraint design, so you don't need anything but screws and a tolerance for a "not quite solid" feeling, and you can make stuff super durable without much real skill. But real fine woodworking doesn't leave and room to hide anything, and it's a pretty amazing art form that must take a ton of patience.

Also... when building, do a counter sink on the holes, then when the nail is deep enough, then put some wood filler, or you can get caps for the wood and take some sandpaper, sand off a sacraficial wood sample, and with some wood glue, mix the sanded bits of wood, with the glue and fill that over the countersinked hole that has a nail in it... Boom... nailless look with still having nails in it...

Awesome Rex!! :) - bringing back the "old nail" to fine furniture :)

Great post again Rex. Three words you need here; 'Oval brad nails' or 'lost head brads'. Holds like a cut nail, (or floor brad as we call them over here as that's what they where properly used for; oak flooring), can be driven below the finished surface and filled with minimal filler, when coupled with glue is virtually indestructible. No one in the UK built anything smaller than an battleship with cut nails after 1500. Anyone using drywall screws for anything other than drywall, should be locked in The Tower and the key tossed in the Thames.

You can also use square wooden nails, they work great

Simpsons makes an exterior rated ring-shanked electro-plated nail. They aren't very large, so great for woodworking. I've tried these in a few random pieces of different types and I'd have to say that they have some amazing characteristics (including anti draw that are basically like some screws) but are far cheaper than cut nails.

I watched a 12 minute video about nails. I have no regrets .

I wish Rex would teach other subjects on the side, such as programming. He is for sure a great teacher. I'm always on the look for his new videos.

When I was a kid my father used to use old floorboards for making sheds out of. It was my job to hammer the cut nails out of them, straighten them and put them in a tin to be reused when building there shed. And if you ever wonder about the strength of cut nails - try pulling up 200 year old floorboards!!!

I think you made it easier to understand than Chris did. Looking forward to chest build, so happens that is next on my list. Built turning saw using "Gramery" pins , blades and plans, love this saw , so much better than coping saw. Getting the curved strut ends squared and seated even was challenging , but fun never the less. Thirteen tooth bad seems for great all around use.

Thank you, I have never heard of cut nails before this

Great video Rex. I would also like to see a video on screws, which ones to use, their features, and what's wrong with drywall screws. Thanks!

I, too, have a 50lb of railroad track scrap in my garage left over from my DIY train project. What a coincidence.

I love the look of a nice nail pattern. I enjoy hand nailing too.

thank you for simplifying nails and going into details.

I love this style of "rant"-inspired informational video. 👌

Some years ago an university developed modified wire nails for earthquake resistant construction. One of the drawbacks was that they held on so tight it was difficult for carpenters to correct mistakes. I wonder if they ever made it to commercialization. I think I read about them in Scientific American or Popular Mechanics.

Ok, I’m super excited to see the blanket chest video! 😆

Looking forward to the blanket chest video(s). I was just thinking I could use a new storage box.

I never knew the sizing trick for nails. That explains how my dad could look at a board at tell you what size nails to get.

Awesome video! When I first read the title, I immediately thought I'd be commenting on wedge shaped nails as used in traditional furniture but after having watched it, once again I'm left dumbfounded at the breadth and detail of information given. My only small comment is that wedge shaped/square nails can be found in old items of furniture and house fittings and people often restore these items (read: completely rebuild, hacking them trough blindly) without regard for these nails that get thrown out and replaced with wire nails/screws/modern glue in the process. What these people don't realize (or care about) is that a great part of the history (and value) of the "restored" piece is gone at the end of this process. Sometimes, esp. for large items such as door frames, windows, or even benches etc. these nails actually seem to be hand-made (forged perhaps?). Often there are other fixings also made that way such as hinges etc. It's probably getting a bit off-topic but it's sad to see these items get thrown away and discarded and the beauty they hold get lost.

I was taught to call them brad nails or brads. Our 1935 built house in UK used them to fix softwood floorboards to hardwood joists. As you say, they allow movement of timbers and round nails would also tend to split joists. Having not used nails for decades, went back to them with pilot holes a year or two ago

Listens to the explanation of penny sizes and is very grateful I can just order nails in millimetres.

There are tapered drill bits that are usually used for pilot holes for screws that might work well with the cut nails.

Great as always, Rex! I always learn something new watching your videos!

I don't know about America, but sizes are confusing even in Europe For example, if I ask for an m8x10 screw, it's actually an 8mm wide and 10mm long screw, but sometimes you'll find a box that says M8x1.5. That 1.5 is actually the space between each spire of the thread expressed in millimeters, so people get confused. Heck, even a lot of hardware clerks don't know the difference.

Thanks for sharing this great info. I'll be looking for ways and opportunities to use them. Plus I feel they can add a touch of class to some of the rustic projects I make

I was wondering about the nails I should use for a bookcase Im building. Thanks for this

Very good and interesting Rex! Good info here! I liked how you covered pre drilling, which is not only important for applications within this video, but for joining things when using screws. Too many tradespeople or woodworkers ram rod screws in with over powered impact drivers, and fail to realize the importance of predrilling. Of course it is not necessary all the time, but in the case of nails, mostly is. Thanks for your content! 👍👍👍😁✌🏻🇺🇸

If I remember right, In feudal Japan, metal of any kind was a relatively scarce commodity. And because of the labor involved involved in smelting and refining iron ore into usable tools and weapons was so high. Nails were used sparingly. That's why Japanese joinery is so highly prized and admired. Plus their joinery ability to withstand hurricane's 🌀, earthquakes as well as all the other forces of nature, possibly minor Tsunamis as well. While American and European timber frame construction is very solid and well built. As far as I know, it's just too stiff. It doesn't have the concept of moving and flexing with a severe storm and earthquake in mind.

As usual you're a veritable source of info, Rex. Keep building!

Thank you for the great information. I'll be sure to try out the pilot hole tricks that you've shown here. Keep up the good work.

I like talking about those old school nails.

Great Video, thank you Rex for your time.

I know you stated that wire nails aren't the best for furniture. Just FYI, if you slightly blunt the tip of a wire nail before driving it, it doesn't split the wood as easily. I learned that from my building and trades instructor, he had been building houses for 40 plus years.

This is really helpful because on of my designs needs scale... and these nails will be the fastest way to do that.

Old fashioned cut nails hold better in large part because they're almost universally used with pilot holes, as you demonstrate. But it turns out that the holding power of even humble, cheap wire nails is dramatically improved if they're used with pilot holes. The cut ends of the wood fibers in the pilot hole offer more friction and more contact area than can be obtained by driving the nail between the fibers in the usual way. And wire nails only require simple single-size pilot holes. This is something I learned from "Understanding Wood" by R. Bruce Hoadley, and I wish more people knew about it. I've experimented with wire nails and pilot holes in a couple of my own small projects and the improvement is obvious and undeniable.

@janbernad4729

3 жыл бұрын

You can kind of trick this. If you hit the point of the wire nail with a hammer and dull it a little before driving it into wood, instead of splitting the fibers of the wood it will tear through them which will partially solve this problem.

Would be fun to see project farm doing an in-depth test of these nails!

@evilcanofdrpepper

3 жыл бұрын

And what about trying to un-harden masonry nails with the right kind of heating. This is a video about hand making them too though: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dpttmaiMYayvY7w.html

Going to rethink this nails vs. screws debate! Lol! I'm guilty of using drywall/deck/sheet metal screws in casing, and pneumatic Brad's & staples where it's "pretty"....🙄. I watched the be chest episode (I'm doing this backwards...😆) And am now, born again to get out my box of wood hand tools and practice the art and craft again as I was taught. Cue up epic music at at anytime... Again, I appreciate your restarting the fire.

You put out such good information & make it so approachable. Thank you

Another small benefit of cut nails is that they are less likely to split the wood they are hammered into because the cross-grain edge cuts some of the fibers instead of just trying to force them apart like wire nails.

Ring shank nails are a good idea for extra hold applications.

I've got a tub full of old cut nails that came from the floors in an old cottage were being ripped out. I grabbed as much as I could for firewood and siffted the ashes for the nails.

Fabulous, Rex, I really got a lot out of it. Not to be pedantic, but the penny-weight system doesn’t have anything to do with cost. Metals (part. Precious) are weighed in Troy ounces, There are 12 Troy ounces in a pound (like a British pound sterling), and 20 penny-weights to the ounce. Hence pennies, schillings, and pounds in old Brit. money. 20 pennies to the schilling and 12 shillings to a pound. 240 pennies in a British pound (of silver, literally).