Bizarre split sqaured nail

[allison86]

Dug up about 12 sqaured nails never seen one with a split end on the bottom any ideas on. How this happend?

 

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[cw0909]

just a wild guess a vintage handmade cotter pin

 

[testing123]

sure they're not rusted bobby pins? Find a lot on the beach

 

[allison86]

Positive

 

[allison86]

More pics

 

[tamrock]

Your second shots sure reveal more of it then your first picture. Some kind of old iron pin?. The splitting may be cause of age and it was never intended to look like it does today?

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I'd think it's an old hand forged nail that had a flaw in the iron and started to delaminate

 

[BosnMate]

Old nails were made of iron, wrought iron, not mild steel. Wrought iron works great when at a red heat, but cold it will split. I remember when I was a kid, I decided to make a knife out of a large spike nail. I had a piece of railroad track, so pounded the nail cold on that rail. This was a round nail, probably in the late 40's when many things were still wrought iron. The nail split lengthwise, and ended up looking a lot like your square nail. To find out more check out this site:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrought_iron

 

[scavanau]

I dig a them up like that quite often. Think NOLA_Ken "nailed" it.

 

[pistol-pete]

I found an identical one also

 

[Bruce R]

Layers of steel not properly forge welded will get moisture between the layers forming rust which grows, also in layers, and forces the metal apart.