Brass Ship Nails?

[Divin]

Found these on the east coast of the South US, some kind of nail but no idea the time period or what they would be used for, they seem really long to be made of that soft of a metal?

 

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[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

What you have there might be made of muntz metal (brass with extra zinc). That would mean it came off a wooden sailing ship, probably from the mid to late 1800s. I've found a few of those myself, but I've had the good fortune of finding them still attached to pieces of the ship, so it was easier to identify.

 

[FloridaSon]

Those are real nice! Envoy has a good point about an alloy being harder metal. Maybe bronze? What ever the spikes have copper as iron spikes do not have a green patina (AFAIK).

Just read this but it may need verification - I think it is legit: https://www.realorrepro.com/article/Nails-as-clues-to-age

The picture tells the date:

 

[ARC]

Bronze.

 

[Divin]

Interesting, any non destructive way to tell what kind of metal it is?

 

[ARC]

... :/

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

These nails are most likely to be bronze, as brass would be too soft to hammer into hardwood.

"The discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were harder and more durable than previously possible. Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building materials such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone and copper predecessors. Initially, bronze was made out of copper and arsenic, forming arsenic bronze, or from naturally or artificially mixed ores of copper and arsenic, with the earliest artifacts so far known coming from the Iranian plateau in the 5th millennium BC. Bronze is generally harder than wrought iron.

Bronzes are typically very ductile alloys, considerably less brittle than cast iron. Typically bronze only oxidizes superficially; once a copper oxide (eventually becoming copper carbonate) layer is formed, the underlying metal is protected from further corrosion."

Dave

 

[ARC]

Bronze.

...

 

[Tony in SC]

Sometimes a spike was used for a starter hole and the nail was greased with fat.

 

[Divin]

Bronze, got it
Thanks.

If these nails were used on an 1800s ship that ship would likely be wind or steam powered? There would also be hundreds if not thousands of these Bronze nails used correct?
A smaller structure like a dock could have been built using them, but given their size I would assume a ship would have a LOT of these nails, not just a dozen or so?