=2. Cut Nails.=—The primitive nail was made or forged by hand, and
this mode of manufacture still exists in certain sections of Europe.
These hand-made nails sold at exorbitant prices compared with the
machine-made nails of today.
The manufacture of cut nails is less automatic and requires more manual
labor than is necessary in the making of wire nails. The iron or steel
is first rolled into sheets, the thickness of which is equal to the
thickness of the nail; it is then cut into strips as wide as the nail
is long. This strip of metal is fed into the nail machine and sheared
off in tapering strips having the form of the nail, when it is seized
by clamps that hold it just long enough for the heading hammer to
strike the blow that forms the head.
The nail manufactured in this manner is known as the =cut nail=, and is
much superior to the wire nail, which is of more recent production. Not
only has the cut nail greater holding power, but it is more durable,
especially when used in damp places.
=3.= Nearly all cut nails used at the present time are made from
sheet steel, a small percentage only being manufactured of iron, for
which the makers charge a slightly higher price. The steel nail is
undoubtedly the best for use in hardwoods, but the iron nail will
outlast it where dampness exists, as, for instance, in shingling, etc.
As shown in Fig. 1, cut nails are made in many styles and sizes, and
for various purposes. They are also known by the same trade term for
the various styles. Cut nails are heavier than wire nails, and as they
count fewer to the pound, are more expensive at equivalent prices. All
nails are sold at base prices per keg of 100 pounds, the “extras” for
smaller and special nails being added to the base price. For special
work, certain types of nails can be obtained in copper and brass.
=4. Size and Gauge of Nails.=—Both cut and wire nails are designated by
the trade term _penny_. The term penny as applied to nails is a relic
of medieval England. This designation was due, it is said, to the fact
that it defined the _cost per hundred nails_, so that _tenpenny nails_
would mean that 100 of such nails cost _ten pence_. A more likely
interpretation of the term is that it implied the _weight_ and not the
_cost_, and that the term penny is a corruption of the Old English word
_pun’_ (for pound), so that _tenpunny_ or _tenpenny_ implied that 1,000
of such nails weighed 10 pounds. The smallest standard size of nail is
known as _twopenny_ or _threepenny_, while the largest is designated
as _sixtypenny_. These sizes range in length from 1 to 6 inches. In
designating the size of the nail in list prices, the symbol “d” (for
penny) is used, so that a nail about 2 inches long is designated as 6d.
The thickness, or diameter, is indicated by the gauge number, the gauge
of cut nails being an indication of the thickness of plate from which
they are cut, while the gauge of wire nails is the size of the wire
from which the nails are formed. The different wire gauges and their
decimal equivalents of an inch are given in Table I. The special wire
gauge commonly used to indicate the size of the nail is the Birmingham.
In Table II is given a list of the stock sizes of standard, common, cut
nails. This table, besides giving the thickness of the nail and its
length, gives the number of nails to the pound.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]