Early Access Video: Nails in Fine Furniture
Added 2021-01-23 12:01:00 +0000 UTCFriends:
I’m close to finishing a lovely, early American blanket chest. So close, in fact, that it was almost the subject of this week’s video. But the whole project is assembled with nails, including some fairly exotic ones that you might not have seen before.
As I began describing all the different nails, their different functions, the way they’re sized and sold, I realized I had to just stop and make a whole video about nails in furniture building.
Far from being a cheap shortcut, the humble nail is sturdy, shockingly tenacious, and lets you assemble pieces that would be impossible if you were using glue. Nails are also standard joinery in some of the most beautiful and valuable pieces of furniture from the last few centuries. If you do hand tool wood work, you must understand nails.
So if you’ll forgive a brief detour, I’ve got a 10 minute video that might change the way you look at a lot of things.
Next week, the blanket chest. I promise.
--Rex
Comments
Got a place where you can do a little blacksmithing? If so, you might try looking up the JABOD forge.
Robert Dennett
2021-04-01 18:56:05 +0000 UTC4d or 5d wet nails .... rosehead nails ... when I look on amazon, I see kit's with like 20 custom made nails for $19.00. Do you have a source for the nails that won't break the bank, or are these antiquey things only good for when you have skills? I might try the new chest with flathead finishing nails or screws. Oh, I have just noticed you have a link to a product on amazon in the video description. I'll take a looksie.
Little Gray
2021-02-06 20:20:11 +0000 UTCHi Rex... I seldom comment since I am way far from the knowledge you possess. However, I believe that in addition to drilling the pilot hole pre-nailing, I would also afix a clamp with a bit of pressure from side-to-side along the line of where the nails will be hammered in. That bit of pressure will help a lot to prevent the wood from splitting.
Kenneth Lind
2021-02-04 01:37:27 +0000 UTCI have alot to learn about nails. I'll probably have to order them. I couldn't find them looking on the Menards website.
Chris Hammersley
2021-01-28 16:21:01 +0000 UTCA very interesting video thanks Rex. Once I finish my saw sharpening vise (from your plans) I am going to start building some mobile drawers for tool storage and will see if I can find a source for cut nails here in NZ.
David Coxon
2021-01-28 09:40:34 +0000 UTCYou have to just click through to YouTube. It's in the description and that's not clear from the post.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-26 12:32:34 +0000 UTCFor the other end of the spectrum, I enjoy each year's new rendition of Homer Simpson's spice rack as gag gifts. They're always a great display of masterful control of nail joinery, in imitation of complete incompetence, much like the moves of a "drunken boxing" kung fu master.
Joel Hollingsworth
2021-01-25 19:52:17 +0000 UTCNailed it.
Jean-Raymond Raynal
2021-01-25 18:20:09 +0000 UTChttps://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/nails-for-woodworking/ There are few more: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/using-nails-in-woodworking/ https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/improve-the-clinching-power-of-your-cut-nails/ https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/stock-your-shop-with-the-right-nails/ https://www.popularwoodworking.com/chris-schwarz-blog/nailing-down-the-details/ https://www.popularwoodworking.com/chris-schwarz-blog/a-square-nail-and-a-round-tool/ Christopher Schwartz is kind of a nail freak.
Jean-Raymond Raynal
2021-01-25 18:19:59 +0000 UTCI feel like an idiot. I'm trying to find the article you mentioned in the video and can't. The article on using nails. Might you direct me to it? Love your work. If I was around I'd paint your shop walls for you as you continue teaching and entertaining us.
Larry W Thayer
2021-01-25 17:08:46 +0000 UTCAlthough not what I expected... Now I really want to try these nails out. Had NO idea about them. All I know is wire nails
e.d.
2021-01-25 03:26:47 +0000 UTCHeh, I only know that my thumbnail is 1 cm in length and my step length is about 1 m. In that regard, I really love Adam Savage's tattoo! https://twitter.com/donttrythis/status/1084980643186917376
Daniel Bohrer
2021-01-24 23:54:20 +0000 UTCI have always thought of them as a foot to keep the wood away from a wet floor. In the 1970s they were popular to make in to finger ring. Search images - finger ring "horseshoe nail" -
John Harrison
2021-01-24 13:32:38 +0000 UTCI think the heads are also a bit big for furniture work....but it's probably worth trying.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:18:06 +0000 UTCMan, that's an article I want to read!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:17:19 +0000 UTCThat's a good point!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:16:48 +0000 UTCCut nails are actually not case hardened. Masonry nails are. Believe me, the way these things bend, they're not hardened at all.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:16:04 +0000 UTCThe testing is really the key!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:15:15 +0000 UTCThank you@
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:14:48 +0000 UTCAnd you can just get them on Amazon. I linked in the description.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:14:37 +0000 UTCI quite like Imperial Measurements for the way they relate to the body. An inch is roughly a finger-joint. A foot is my forearm (and actually my foot). It's easy to visualize things because they relate to my physical form.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-24 13:14:02 +0000 UTCWhen the needs must use any tool. ;-) It is easy to take out a screw driven in with a hammer. Most of the nails I used in the past were oval nails https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-50mm-Bright-Oval-Nails---400g/p/516003 Learning to flatten the point so it punches a hole rather than split the wood.
John Harrison
2021-01-24 12:13:23 +0000 UTCScrews driven with a hammer hold better than nails driven with a screwdriver.
stlmch
2021-01-24 11:21:55 +0000 UTCVery good point (; Now that you've mentioned it I can see it in the pictures. However, pilot holes should compensate for the lack of symmetry to some degree. A bit of grinding might help too. Thanks for the info.
stlmch
2021-01-24 11:20:15 +0000 UTCManchester Driver was invented ;-) When screws started to take over nails. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22827063 I found this but no ref to Manchester Driver - hammer that was in common conversation to me in the 1970s
John Harrison
2021-01-24 11:05:22 +0000 UTCHope you don't mind I put a reply in the main conversation Starts with "The problems with horse shoe nails"
John Harrison
2021-01-24 10:57:45 +0000 UTCThe problems with horse shoe nails is they are designed no to go in straight, they are not symmetrical (one edge will lie flat on the table), because you want them to come out of the hoof side, hammer blows light or hard will make the nail come through the hoof higher or lower and the twist off the end to act a bit like a rivet. I the four in hand file was developed for Farriers to prep the hoof and remove any sharp nail edges. Since the hoof grows or the shoe wears out, the part of the hoof with the nail holes will be trimmed back. We had some very large horse shoes on the wall of the blacksmiths shop. I remember also we had hardened studs to give extra traction for use in bad weather or the cobbled streets in Lancashire UK. https://www.horseanswerstoday.com/horse-care/footcare/item/18-horse-care-using-studs-in-your-horse-shoes I think it was only my grandad that made and fitted horseshoes for cart horses.
John Harrison
2021-01-24 10:56:06 +0000 UTCThanks, I did not ask it because I can't google it. I asked because I got used to the convenience that Rex always converts the inches and feet into metric values and I though this is a widely appreciated attitude. Very few US woodworkers are so kind that they consider people outside of the USA.
Csongor Halmai
2021-01-24 09:24:14 +0000 UTCThank your for a quick nail tutorial. I don't recall where I read it, but there was an article about the use of nails in cabinetry in Early England when the Joiners Guild got the King or Queen to stop the Carpenters Guild from building the cabinetry in homes they built because they were using jointed construction. This expanded their reach from suppling and building jointed furniture further into the housing industry to include built-ins. To combat this intrusion the Carpenters Guild began installing cabinetry using nails since they were forbidden to use jointed construction in the finishing of a building. On another front, I do some small boat building and using iron nails was very prevalent before screws became readily available. Can't wait to see the 6 board chest.
Matt Evans-Koch
2021-01-24 01:45:48 +0000 UTCI’ve found the bamboo nails work well and flex with the wood. And they are cheap.
Lawrence Burr
2021-01-24 00:16:25 +0000 UTCHe also covers this in the Anarchists Design Book, which I sadly don’t own yet. But there is a blog post, where he published a draft for that chapter: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2012/12/01/download-a-draft-of-my-6-board-chest-chapter/
P.Finger
2021-01-23 23:11:47 +0000 UTCSame for me and I love that discovery!
P.Finger
2021-01-23 23:03:16 +0000 UTCDictum also offers some forgets nails in Germany but some length and types are hard to get here. From the factory in France I haven’t found a good way to purchase them. However there are also some on eBay atm, but everywhere they are pretty expensive. I am building my own six board chest over past couple of weeks, pretty excited to see the next video.
P.Finger
2021-01-23 23:02:01 +0000 UTCRex as always making my Sunday better with great brain food thank you
Wayne
2021-01-23 21:42:15 +0000 UTCHorseshoe nails sounds like an interesting possibility wonder if someone will reply with first hand experience of a woodworking use?
Wayne
2021-01-23 21:41:23 +0000 UTCHave you tried annealing masonry nails, Rex? Do you think it would make them more fit for woodworking? Do you think horseshoe nails would work?
stlmch
2021-01-23 19:59:47 +0000 UTCThe beauty of the U.S. measurement system is its practicality. The prime factorials of the base 12 inch foot are 2x2x3, which allows division by 3. The inch is divided by base 16, with prime factors of 2x2x2x2, which provides many opportunities to divide field measurements in half. If only we had six fingers, then our "decimal" system would be base 12, a very useful base. In base 12, 1/3 has a "decimal" equivalent of .4, 2/3 a "decimal equivalent of .8, 1/6 an equivalent of .2, 1/4 an equivalent of .3...you get my drift. The standard layout of a mortise and tenon joint is in thirds, typically in a 3/4" board the tenon, the mortise and the shouders are all 1/4", but could just as easily be 1/2", 3/16", 3/8", all which work out easily on the tape/
John Griswold
2021-01-23 19:18:01 +0000 UTCRex, I apprenticed under a blacksmith, one of my projects was to make a nail header and with that at my forge I made nails - rose head, three clout, 4 clout and others. I supplied traditional carpenters with these nails. Cut nails are a more modern nail - they are case hardened. Great video thanks, and keep producing. I look forward to more videos and wait patiently for any of your books.
Christian Bookter
2021-01-23 19:04:31 +0000 UTCI have purchased cut nails from Lee Valley to try out in a non furniture project, putting trim boards up to hold tools in a blacksmith shop I was building. I did know about drilling pilot holes in both boards to prevent splitting the boards, some of the boards split anyway. This left me puzzled as to why. Didn't know about how to determine correct size as you explained in this video. Good information I'll do some more testing and definitely check out the additional information you provided. Thanks
Jeff Hill
2021-01-23 18:34:41 +0000 UTCJust be glad you aren't messing with liquid measurements. Even something simple as a pint is a different volume bases on where you are. At least in Germany they are sensible enough to serve beer in liters :)
Stuart
2021-01-23 17:57:31 +0000 UTCDoes anybody else hear Rex's voice in their head as they read his comments? 😂😂 No? Just me? Ok. still funny.
e.d.
2021-01-23 17:53:17 +0000 UTCIM NOT MAD AT THIS DETOUR AT ALL! I actually just got excited because you can easily forget that there are some pretty decorative nails and nails that go beyond just fastening. I'd like to get into that. Shot out to Rex with the much welcome curve ball this week. Can't wait to watch this one.
e.d.
2021-01-23 17:49:23 +0000 UTCWe all do it soemtimes.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:44:45 +0000 UTCWait till next week!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:44:30 +0000 UTCYou can drive them back in, maybe just a bit deeper.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:43:58 +0000 UTCIn this case, it's just shy of 50kg of weight on those 2 nails.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:43:20 +0000 UTCOh, I still use my pin-nailer often. It's a fine tool.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:42:37 +0000 UTCI really should do that. Good idea!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:42:06 +0000 UTCI'm all about the foundation!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:41:49 +0000 UTCAll VERY valuable informaiton!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:41:29 +0000 UTCSearch for Chris Schwarz's article on 6 board chests. It's the best resource, and I've looked at a few!
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:40:44 +0000 UTCThe penny system is absurd. I don't blame you for being mad.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 17:39:18 +0000 UTCNorse 6 board box. They used cross grain as well to make their storage boxes for their boats. Cool. Joshua Cline also uses cut and salvaged forged nails. I'm working on a small table that will have a nailed lid if I can find the right size cut nails. Lee Valley carries some.
William Allen
2021-01-23 17:38:40 +0000 UTCOne pound is about 450 grams, so the 30 lb anvil was about 13½ kg, the machinist's vise was about 9 kg, the railroad tracks about 2.2 kg and 22.6 kg, so 47.6 kg in total.
Daniel Bohrer
2021-01-23 17:36:03 +0000 UTCRex, as a German, I've watched your videos for a while, and now I've got a good feeling for inches and yards, even fractions. But now you wanna tell me to use *another* strange measuring system?! 😁 Looking forward to the blanket chest build though 🙂
Daniel Bohrer
2021-01-23 17:29:57 +0000 UTCWITCH!! Get out of my head! I’ve been looking for plans and ideas in making a blanket chest all week long! Looking forward to the video and plans! Thanks Rex
Vasileios
2021-01-23 16:44:30 +0000 UTCA few thoughts about nails from the carpenter's perspective. I have pulled a lot of nails out of century old buildings, trim, and built in cabinets. Those square nails did NOT have wedge shaped profiles, they were mostly uniform in cross section, particularly the finish nails. Might be impossible to buy similar ones today, but the straight profile has obvious advantages when your goal is to avoid splitting your pieces. The sharp points on today's wire nails are probably engineered to offset their diminished hardness and subsequent tendency to bend. Wire nails get their hardness from the drawing process by which the wire is formed, and is largely on the surface of the nail. The point on the wire nail acts as a wedge to split the stock, an old carpenter's trick is to flip the nail over and blunt the point with your hammer when splitting is an issue. This seems counter intuitive, a larger point would seem more likely to split the wood, but in practice the much harder steel punches a hole through the wood, not that different than a pilot hole. The square end on an old square nail should have worked the same way, and given the straight profile of the nail, would have punched the appropriate sized pilot hole for the whole length of the nail.
John Griswold
2021-01-23 16:23:36 +0000 UTCGreat video Rex. Thanks
Skully Wood and Metal
2021-01-23 15:59:33 +0000 UTCAnother fun and educational video, Rex. I really appreciate your dedication to take your videos where they need to go. These side trails really help build a solid woodworking foundation for us all to build on. Before today I knew nothing of nails in furniture building - not even the why of it. So, thanks!
Jeff Stauffer
2021-01-23 15:48:41 +0000 UTCAnother great video. I learn something (or lots of somethings!) every time. You mentioned in passing that you sometimes watch furniture making/woodworking documentaries...ever think about releasing a must-watch list? I, for one, would love to see it! Keep filming...and building...and teaching!
Michael Doyle
2021-01-23 15:28:09 +0000 UTCwhat about ring nails and tacks? I use them for putting the backs on things, for example. Actually the nails I use the most are 16g brad nails in various lengths with my cordless battery operated pin nailer - what an awesome tool that is! My air nailers have been relegated to the box under the bench. A brad nail is awesome when you need to pin two things together while the glue dries if you are impatient...a personal failing of mine. I guess that defies your hand tool only aesthetic though! Love your videos and keep them coming!
Jim Mail
2021-01-23 15:23:15 +0000 UTCBrilliant video, Rex, thanks. But could you convert the pounds to kilograms for us, non-US folks, please? :)
Csongor Halmai
2021-01-23 15:15:24 +0000 UTCNeat video. So what do you do when the nails eventually get loose or needs to be reassembled after a mistake (asking for a friend)? Can you just drive them back in - maybe a little further?
Rick Prosser
2021-01-23 14:58:01 +0000 UTCI grew up using nails in furniture building but I am almost 70 years old. I have a 6 board Shaker blanket chest with cross grain construction that I built over 30 years ago. It is still going strong. This is an excellent and fairly easy project for those interested in the use of nails. You could also cut the end boards with the new turning saw!
James Carey
2021-01-23 14:42:22 +0000 UTCI think I got the point. Thank u all for nice infos!
Mykhailo Kondratiuk
2021-01-23 14:24:50 +0000 UTCFor me, too. This was all new territory to me until a few months ago.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 14:18:50 +0000 UTCMan, they really do hold, don't they?
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 14:18:28 +0000 UTCMykhailo: Softening the steel will restore their ability to bend, which is pretty crucial. Note: I've never done this to a masonry nail.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 14:17:56 +0000 UTC"Not supposed to use drywall screws for woodwork" . . . oops.
Mike Washburn
2021-01-23 14:17:50 +0000 UTCRex well done. Always something new to learn.
Mark Bittrolff
2021-01-23 14:03:37 +0000 UTCLederkram.de has some forged nails. Not super cheap, but reasonable price in my opinion. Maybe they fit your needs.
dave_
2021-01-23 13:51:15 +0000 UTCYou come across ‘cuts’ a lot in the UK whenever renovating houses that have a certain age to them. I have found them holding on skirting boards, door frames and a whole host of timber work. Normally straight into brickwork. They’re really tough to get out and normally, in my experience, the wood or the bricks give way first. They also used to be my go to nail for replacement of floorboards. A really interesting video Rex. Thanks very much. I never considered their application in furniture making or other builds of that nature.
Andrew Waddington
2021-01-23 13:31:24 +0000 UTCCould you please explain for such a noob like me why should we do that? Apparently, that will soften the steel - but for what purpose?
Mykhailo Kondratiuk
2021-01-23 13:18:23 +0000 UTCYou can use Masonry Nails, you just need to Normalize them by heating them to the point they become non-magnetic then burying them in sand to cool slowly.
Kelly D West
2021-01-23 13:16:04 +0000 UTCThere's a factory in France that still makes them. You should have no trouble.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 12:55:02 +0000 UTCREALLY? That's amazing. I never knew. Taylor guitars uses a bolt to connect the necks on many of their guitars. It was seen as crazy when they started doing it.
Rex Krueger
2021-01-23 12:54:32 +0000 UTCRe: nails in fine furniture. Stradivarius used a forged nail to connect the necks of his violins. Also nails were used in the joinery of the 15th century harps in the Scottish National Museum.
Fred Gosbee
2021-01-23 12:35:29 +0000 UTCI wonder whether I could buy wedged nails in Germany... never saw them around here. But another thing nowadays about them would be that your work looks so original when not using those goddamn screws!
Mykhailo Kondratiuk
2021-01-23 12:27:42 +0000 UTC
