Square nails?

[Goodyguy]

Hand-forged nails were the first manufactured nails, and they date back to Biblical times. As people first used hewn beams, timbers, planks, and whole logs to build with, the early hand-made nails were spikes. With the development of the split wood shingle, nails of about 1" long came into use. When sawyers, and then sawmills, began cutting dimension lumber, the sizes and varieties of nails greatly expanded. Thus, over time, nails developed in different sizes, shapes, and used different heads to fasten lumber and wood.

Nails have always been in demand. Some blacksmiths made only nails and they were called "Nailers." Nails were so scarce (and expensive) in pre-1850 America that people would burn dilapidated buildings just to sift the ashes for nails. They did so because pulling the nails would have damaged most of them. After the nails were recovered, a blacksmith could easily straighten any nails that had been bent during construction.

We still use the term "penny" when referring to a nail's size. It is believed that this term came into use in the early 1600's in England. The English monetary unit was the Pound Sterling (£) which was divided into Shillings and Pence. The cost of 100 nails in Pence in the 1600's is how we refer to nail sizes to this day. For example, 100 small nails that sold for 4 pence were called 4d nails (4 d is the abbreviation of 4 pence). 100 larger nails that sold for 16 pence are 16d nails. And so on.

The cut nail made its appearance in the mid-1700's. For example, Thomas Jefferson established a nail factory at his Monticello plantation as a way to increase his farm income. His nail factory made both hand-forged and cut nails. It would not be until the middle-1800's that cut nails began dominating the marketplace. Cut nails are not actually "cut"--they are sheared from steel plate that is the thickness of the nail shank. Although routinely referred to as "square nails", the cutting machine tapers the nail shank as it is sheared from the steel plate. A second machine forms the head of a cut nail. With the hand-forged nail, all four sides are tapered. With the cut nail, two sides are parallel because they represent the thickness of the plate they were sheared from.

Cut nails could be manufactured much faster than hand-forged nails. As the process was mechanized, the cost per nail was less. However, cut nail factories employed operators and attendants for each machine so the process was still labor-intensive. The noise in those mills was deafening as well. Cut nails had their heyday from about 1820 (development of the Type B nail) to 1910, the advent of the wire nail.

GG~

References:

Nail manufacturing at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello http://www.monticello.org/plantation/work/nailmaking.html

Nail Industry at "Nail City"--Wheeling, WV http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/bus/nails.htm

Glasgow Steel Nail Ltd. www.glasgowsteelnail.com

By Dave Allen, Editor, Appalachian Blacksmiths Assn.

 

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[Rusted_Iron]

Some great responses in this thread. It's true, the square nail tends to crush its way down through the wood instead of splitting it.

A lot of people don't know that about cut nails being invented in the 1700's.

Hand forged nails are often, but not always, relatively free of rust even when dug. Some of them are still quite rusty, especially if the refined iron had impurities.

If you guys have any pics of your dug nails that you like, let's see 'em. I likes iron relics.

 

[russau]

these old hand cut nails are antiques and sold at the antique stores. dont through them away!

 

[Veraen]

Absolutely well said!

I keep ALL the square nails-infact I keep ALL the nails I find regardless how rusted
as well as keeping ALL rusted "things" that are found.

Every find, weather good or junk, is something found. To me its like Christmas Day in a way--you don't know what it is until you open it (dig it). Just like some presents, some are real keepers and some aren't. With MD'ing, the junk is still history be it pull tabs, bottle caps, old flash bulbs, nails, etc...

Believe it I not, I've been paid for some of the junk by museums, schools etc... Even by an artist
who incorporates some of the stuff into his work.

So, you never know.

 

[ticm]

I keep the ones that are in good shape. I kind of like them too. But I do get tired of digging a lot of them. I dig iron signal when I am at a old site.

 

[got2dig]

I'll have to admit after 40 years I keep the nice ones too. I've got buckets of stuff like that in my barn. Not really worth anything but to good to throw away.

I got my bucket to.

 

[chip cannon]

Just had the privilege of hunting CW battlefield and found many of these nails. Most bent at a 90. Believe they were remnants of ammunition boxes. Soldiers had to pry boxes open...bending the nails.

 

[hvacker]

I have still bought cut nails on occasion. The ones today are hardened and are usually used to, for instance, nail a wooden wall plate to concrete. Even though they will penetrate concrete it's better to predrill or the nail can act more like a chisel and bust up the concrete.
If you have a home with old stuff hanging all around like I do, the cut nail is a cool way to hang stuff. If smaller nails are needed use horse shoe nails.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Square nails are everywhere! I find it easy to identify old vs new from corrosion. If found in abundance on a particular site, you've normally located a long gone homesite. Good luck. Peace

 

[texasred777]

I used to find the old square nails quite often when I was a kid. I've never saved them; though I might should have. I also used to find button-hooks for shoes. Yes, I've seen square nails that are used for horseshoes. As far as the square nails used for easily split wood, a regular round nail can be used. Simply place the nail on a solid surface with the head down, and hit the sharp end until it is blunt. Works quite well.

 

[hvacker]

I used to find the old square nails quite often when I was a kid. I've never saved them; though I might should have. I also used to find button-hooks for shoes. Yes, I've seen square nails that are used for horseshoes. As far as the square nails used for easily split wood, a regular round nail can be used. Simply place the nail on a solid surface with the head down, and hit the sharp end until it is blunt. Works quite well.

I remember that old trick of the trade of dulling a nail. Especially important in hard wood like oak.
When I was a kid my neighbor was a blacksmith. He made a ring for me out of a horseshoe nail. He made me promise I'd never hit another kid with that ring on my hand. There were a lot of fights in my neighborhood and the ring might have given me an advantage but I kept the promise.

 

[Tnmountains]

I had heard that when settlers would move from a shelter they would burn the shelter down and take the nails with them to use again. The nails were a very valuable and hard to come by resource . I wonder if this is true?

 

[CincinnatiKid]

What a wonderful idea. Reusing square nails seems a near necessity in the early 1800s! People couldn't forge their own when traveling. Thanks Tnmountains. Peace

 

[Tnmountains]

You are most welcome. Like they said you can buy cut nails of various sizes to hammer into concrete it's a common construction item. I have a basement full of old and new. I like digging the big old spikes they uses as well. I dug 3 or 4 square nails today. They were wet and rang in high.

 

[creskol]

 

[Rob in KS]

Just had the privilege of hunting CW battlefield and found many of these nails. Most bent at a 90. Believe they were remnants of ammunition boxes. Soldiers had to pry boxes open...bending the nails.

The bent nails were probably door nails. The flexing of the door over time would loosen the nails. Nail it together and then bend over the nail and it'll never come apart. Its called dead nailing. Hence the term dead as a door nail.

The also could be to the lid and sides of a box

 

[boogeyman]

Another use for them. We used to keep all we could find. We'd cut a bunch of 4" x 4" pieces of pine. Aged the wood with a propane torch then used a set of number stamps to put an approx. date on a small piece of tin. Four nails & the date plate were layed on one of the pieces of wood & coated with resin to make a plaque. Sold a pile of them to the local tourist trinket shops. Bought a lot of summer soft serve ice cream cones with the money!

In later years I had a bucket of them that I had sucked up with a magnet sitting by my swapmeet table. This guy walks up& catches me off guard and asks how much? I told him $25, he couldn't get his money out fast enough! Sure beat hauling them home!

 

[digger460]

When I'm hunting a new old site, the square nail is the first thing I look for. At least I'll know I'm in the right place. Gotta follow the clues

 

[Dr. Syn]

Square nails are used for nailing into concrete too. Same thing, they crush the material as they go in, lessening the chance of cracking/splitting.

The do a heck of a job on chainsaw teeth too when you hit one.