I learned two interesting things about tapered square nails while visiting Colonial Williamsburg. First, in the 18th Century, all nails were hand forged and relatively valuable. If something was discarded or torn down, the wood would be burned as fuel, and the ashes would be sifted for nails, which could be reused. Second, square nails used to construct doors would be driven through the two pieces being joined and the protruding ends would be bent back and pounded into the back of the door. This was called clenching and made the door extremely strong by making it impossible for the nail to ever back out. It also rendered the nails unusable and gave rise to the phrase "dead as a door nail".

So, my daily habit of walking about talking shit about nails has finally caught up with me

Another advantage of nails is ease of repair. My great grandfather made a rolling cabinet out of thick wood using nails over a century ago. Recently a castor fell off. I was expecting a major job, but a few hits with a hammer and it came apart; I replaced it, and a few more hits and it came together again, and the repair was complete. My respect for nailed furniture soars.

Whenever nails were used in any kind of carpentry before industrially made drawn nails became common, there was a _very_ good reason to use it. After all, when you could go to the nearest coppice and quickly cut a dowel for free, expensive forged nails weren’t used willy-nilly.

I just finished turning handles for my drawblade, it was a first decent turning project that I have used the end product, none of my mates would really care so i thought I would share in this community where you will actually understand that importance

If my unhealthy addiction to Thomas Johnson has taught me anything. Master furniture builders have been using nails for hundreds of years to build some of the best furniture in history

Rex, I know it sounds like a lot of work but it works. My dad used to take cut masonry mails, heat them in my grandad's forge and then hammered the heads to make them look forged. Then he let them air cool. You would be surprised how much they look like forged nails in the end and they soften up during the air cooling and you can even clinch them over without breaking.

Never thought about the Flexing. I knew that screws break.

The Japanese woodworking tradition has some neat joints, sure, but what really impresses me is their timber-frame joinery. Building not just log cabins, but extremely complex structures that have stood for centuries using no fasteners is really impressive. The ways they pull it off are also just really damned clever!

I remember seeing a video on Japanese woodworking making the claim about no nails to build a house or something else big, but in the video, they did use nails... to a fashion. Instead of metal nails, they used wedges of wood, shaped similarly to those cut nails.

i was just scrolling youtube thinking about how much i despise nails, but you really turned me around

Used to do a lot of forging a few years ago, and every seesion I was about to call it a day I spent the leftover heat from the forge to make nails. Can never go wrong with homeforged nails because you throw away the bad ones before you get a chance to use them :D

Outstanding! I cut my teeth on woodworking growing up with scrap wood and nails.... aaaand yes I fell into the group of "nails in woodwork = useless" for the exact reason you pointed out, which carried on into adulthood. They had little hold and not to mention it always felt like it took the skill out. Like everything you made looked like a craft fair birdhouse. So thank you for opening my eyes to the right nails for the right job!

I’m building a blanket chest at the moment that uses rabbits at each corner and uses a cross grain construction and Rex just saved it from the scrap pile I completely forgot about expansion and contraction I was going to glue it tomorrow...but now I’ll use nails thank you rex

When I saw the title, I thought "O no, not another hobbiest talking about nails." But after watching, I was pleasantly surprised. You pointed out some great points and used for nails that are still common today. All of your information was correct and explained in an easy manner for people (Layman) to understand. Personally, I would have also mentioned the use of nails in upholsterery, wooden roof, making, wood sidings (for houses, cabins...) and some other areas. But It general great video, keep up the good work.

Hi Rex. Nice to see the revival of tried and true methods. Imagine the strength with glue. I grew up summers in Wareham MA and visited the Tremont Nail Factory where my carpenter Grandfather used to buy his cut nails. He used them primarily in boxes and cabinets. In addition to the penny rating, there are different gauges, types and head shapes designed for specific uses. I used a pyramidal head once in a wide board pine floor to simulate a colonial look. Thanks again.

Fun fact: the "d" abbreviation actually comes from the latin coin called the denarius. This was the Roman equivalent to a penny and for some reason that abbreviation stuck for a millennium with the British penny.

You can get much more flexible screws now, they're often sold as Framing Screws and they are tempered back further than a normal screw to allow much more flex.

Some years ago I was at the Victoria and Albert museum in London UK (Home of decorative arts in the UK) and I was looking at a piece of French ormolu furniture. I was able to get up quite close to it and was amazed to see that the ormolu was fixed with small nails! Regards from Redruth Arnold

I have never thought that one day I would watch an 11 minutes video about nails just because youtube recommended it... What am I doing with my life

I saved a blanket chest from the trash about a year ago. It had been paint and repaint about five times but I could see hand cut dovetails because I could see the layout lines for the depth. And signs. But anyways I went to take it about and it wouldn’t. They had used cut nails and drove three of them into each side having dovetails. Pretty interesting. After scraping paint and planing the whole chest was made of walnut and olive wood. I have used it many times. Thanks for the video!! My guess is the nails made it so that they could let the glue dry without clamps. It was a shaker design probably not true “shaker” still beautiful. Wish I could post pics on here lol

Forged iron nails were used to make shipping trunks. I had to restore a trunk and could not find a source for clinch nails and so I made them from horse shoe nails that were iron and could be clinched without breaking. Clinch nails are used in some types of boat building but they need to have very little carbon content. Modern nails are made of steel.

Greetings from the Black Country in the English Midlands. This used to be a heavily industrialised region where the sky was black by day (soot) and red by night (the glow of furnaces). Nail making was a traditional job for women and children, while the men made things like chains and anchors.

I am still a homegrown DIY woodworking beginner, but I gotta say Rex, I learned so so so so much by simply watching any of your videos. You are an international treasure. And I say international, because I'm a German guy, breathing the metric system, and I'm living in modern Japan, but still I'm enjoying every inch and pound of information you throw my way. And this video about nails was a freaking eye-opener to me. So, thank you. Really, not sure what else to say than Thank you, Mr. Krueger. It has been and it always will be a pleasure to watch your videos. At least for me. 😊

I nail wire nails at an angle, dovetailed, the punch them below the surface of the wood. Wet the nail hole with water and apply heat and the wood expands hiding the head of the nail. I usually do this to hold glued joints together rather than use sash clamps which I don't have. However o am intrigued by the method shown in the video and will give it a go.

I was supposed to be studying social sciences rn, how did I end up spending 11 minutes and 36 seconds learning about the complexity of using nails and the different types nails for building furniture when I don't even have a hammer

Nailed it! Great video Rex. I'm definitely guilty of turning my nose up at nails for my fine woodworking projects. This will help.

I love how well you speak and your tempo. The pauses in the perfect place to let the thin you said sit for a second before you continue. I wish you were my woodworking teacher.

Thanks for this video. I'm an industrial design student and some of my teachers are obsessed against nails and screws in woodworking, they go on and on an on about how much better joinery is without them, it drives me nuts.

[cries in metric]

Great post again Rex. Three words you need here; 'Oval brad nails' or 'lost head brads'. Holds like a cut nail, (or floor brad as we call them over here as that's what they where properly used for; oak flooring), can be driven below the finished surface and filled with minimal filler, when coupled with glue is virtually indestructible. No one in the UK built anything smaller than an battleship with cut nails after 1500. Anyone using drywall screws for anything other than drywall, should be locked in The Tower and the key tossed in the Thames.

The other thing I like about cut nails is the blunt end. The blunt end tends to crush the wood fibers rather than splitting them apart. Wire nails, with their wedge shaped points, are more likely to split the wood. I have purposely blunted wire nails if I'm using them in wood prone to splitting. This trick has always worked.

It's not that nails aren't effective, it's all about design, refinement and subtlety. It's hard to create a contemporary piece with nails. Well... I guess I gave you a challenge, Rex :)

I had to do a double take -- somehow this ended up in my video recommendations. You taught one of my classes at university in ~2013! This looks like an awesome side hustle. I make video games now, but some days I want to quit my job and build furniture too.

I get a lot of my lumber from antique houses. They often have these old cut nails in them. I have built a few projects using the old nails and they still work great!

I would go absolutely insane doing fine woodworking! Low end stuff has all kinds of tricks like exact constraint design, so you don't need anything but screws and a tolerance for a "not quite solid" feeling, and you can make stuff super durable without much real skill. But real fine woodworking doesn't leave and room to hide anything, and it's a pretty amazing art form that must take a ton of patience.

Rex I have always used nails in my wood working and have always felt it is under utilized by newer woodworkers because they think screws are newer tech and so they must be better. I'm glad you made this video.

so my takeaway is that our lord and saviour was really stuck to that cross.

Such good information, thank you! I had just felt a little stab of shame buying nails last night to attach a drawer bottom and now I realize how silly that was. I'm excited to try cut nails next time!

While most screws don't flex very well, I find GRK screws actually can survive bending multiple times. I've used trim headed GRK screws for outdoor furniture, and have been extremely happy with the results. That being said, cut nails definitely are a lot cooler and lend themselves to the aesthetic of traditional furniture making.

I love this style of "rant"-inspired informational video. 👌

You need to send one of those Mitten boxes to Burnie Sanders.

Great video Rex. You really put on a clinic here, and it made me feel like I was in a classroom. I can tell a lot of research went into this.

"I can try this with a drywall screw; we're not supposed to use these for woodwork" *Matthias Wandel wants to know your location*

Brilliant thanks Rex, as a restorer I come across nailed furniture often, and my can those nails hold fast! Thanks for posting love your channel, UK greetings, stay safe

Simpsons makes an exterior rated ring-shanked electro-plated nail. They aren't very large, so great for woodworking. I've tried these in a few random pieces of different types and I'd have to say that they have some amazing characteristics (including anti draw that are basically like some screws) but are far cheaper than cut nails.

Also... when building, do a counter sink on the holes, then when the nail is deep enough, then put some wood filler, or you can get caps for the wood and take some sandpaper, sand off a sacraficial wood sample, and with some wood glue, mix the sanded bits of wood, with the glue and fill that over the countersinked hole that has a nail in it... Boom... nailless look with still having nails in it...

For light items, it would seem you would get the same benefits from using staples as heavier items get from cut nails.

So, this show that said 'not a single nail was used', were they using tens of thousands of dollars in machinery with the brand names very obviously showing to make a replica? It does take skill and artistry to make something without fasteners, and I guess people assume any unevolved primate with a hammer and box of home depot nails can bang something together.

(From the UK) Interesting old fashioned use of 'penny nails'. I've never heard of it over here. A useful tip a friend of mine gave me - he was a carpenter - to avoid round or oval wire nails splitting planks especially near the end grain, he used to have a small rectangle of mild steel in his toolbox. Using the steel as a small 'anvil', for each fresh nail he tapped the sharp point with his hammer to produce a flat end. The idea was the nail now punched some of the fibres out of the way, rather than separating them. The nail was less likely to split the wood. This was handy when fitting floorboards, shiplap or fencing palings.

If I remember right, In feudal Japan, metal of any kind was a relatively scarce commodity. And because of the labor involved involved in smelting and refining iron ore into usable tools and weapons was so high. Nails were used sparingly. That's why Japanese joinery is so highly prized and admired. Plus their joinery ability to withstand hurricane's 🌀, earthquakes as well as all the other forces of nature, possibly minor Tsunamis as well. While American and European timber frame construction is very solid and well built. As far as I know, it's just too stiff. It doesn't have the concept of moving and flexing with a severe storm and earthquake in mind.

I was taught to call them brad nails or brads. Our 1935 built house in UK used them to fix softwood floorboards to hardwood joists. As you say, they allow movement of timbers and round nails would also tend to split joists. Having not used nails for decades, went back to them with pilot holes a year or two ago

Never in my life has a screw broken under the strain of wood expansion and contraction. I hate how heavily implied this is. No quality fastener will do that.

Some years ago an university developed modified wire nails for earthquake resistant construction. One of the drawbacks was that they held on so tight it was difficult for carpenters to correct mistakes. I wonder if they ever made it to commercialization. I think I read about them in Scientific American or Popular Mechanics.

I watched a 12 minute video about nails. I have no regrets .

I know you stated that wire nails aren't the best for furniture. Just FYI, if you slightly blunt the tip of a wire nail before driving it, it doesn't split the wood as easily. I learned that from my building and trades instructor, he had been building houses for 40 plus years.

Rex: You are really on the right track with this kind of video ... I look forward to more of this kind of video that is more useful than the many "tool" videos on KZfaq.

Thanks for that info on sizing the nail. I've always based nail size on experience and didn't know that there was a rule to base it on.

Hi Rex, getting proper cut nails can be quite difficult in some countries. A way round this is to use the masonary nails which are easily available. You first need to aneal them before use and then they are just as good a a "proper" cut nail

Sinker wire nails have a vinyl coating that melts from the friction generated when driving it in. The vinyl works as a glue that makes it pretty difficult to remove. That's why they are required for wall framing in CA. Blunting the point helps to prevent splitting.

One of the advantages of being in the Netherlands, nails are sold at the big box stores in length by diameter in millimeters.

There are tapered drill bits that are usually used for pilot holes for screws that might work well with the cut nails.

I don't know about America, but sizes are confusing even in Europe For example, if I ask for an m8x10 screw, it's actually an 8mm wide and 10mm long screw, but sometimes you'll find a box that says M8x1.5. That 1.5 is actually the space between each spire of the thread expressed in millimeters, so people get confused. Heck, even a lot of hardware clerks don't know the difference.

When I was a kid my father used to use old floorboards for making sheds out of. It was my job to hammer the cut nails out of them, straighten them and put them in a tin to be reused when building there shed. And if you ever wonder about the strength of cut nails - try pulling up 200 year old floorboards!!!

I wish Rex would teach other subjects on the side, such as programming. He is for sure a great teacher. I'm always on the look for his new videos.

Old fashioned cut nails hold better in large part because they're almost universally used with pilot holes, as you demonstrate. But it turns out that the holding power of even humble, cheap wire nails is dramatically improved if they're used with pilot holes. The cut ends of the wood fibers in the pilot hole offer more friction and more contact area than can be obtained by driving the nail between the fibers in the usual way. And wire nails only require simple single-size pilot holes. This is something I learned from "Understanding Wood" by R. Bruce Hoadley, and I wish more people knew about it. I've experimented with wire nails and pilot holes in a couple of my own small projects and the improvement is obvious and undeniable.

A few years ago, I made a Japanese toolbox with rebates and cut nails. I clenched the batons on the lid. I'm pretty sure the batons won't go anywhere, at least for the nxt century.

At the Metropolitan Museum in NY they have a basement area where they have some of the overflow from upstairs. They have some masterpieces of furniture making from Newport and Philadelphia, NY and Boston. The best part of the basement stuff is that it is enclosed in glass cases and you can walk around the piece and see all aspects up close. There are nails, axe and adze gouges, pencil marks and all sorts of stuff that doesn't show. These are fabulous pieces, but the makers didn't fuss with stuff that didn't show and the clients didn't care either. If it had been invented at the time, I'm sure you would have seen a few pocket holes and maybe a few biscuits and dominos too.

Going to rethink this nails vs. screws debate! Lol! I'm guilty of using drywall/deck/sheet metal screws in casing, and pneumatic Brad's & staples where it's "pretty"....🙄. I watched the be chest episode (I'm doing this backwards...😆) And am now, born again to get out my box of wood hand tools and practice the art and craft again as I was taught. Cue up epic music at at anytime... Again, I appreciate your restarting the fire.

For penny nails between 2d and 10d, you can divide the penny size by four, then add 1/2 to get your measurement in inches. After that you probably want a chart for them.

Thank you for putting out this content in a format I can understand. I am still upset that I missed the Hershey Car show this year because of Covid, my brother and I were going to go under your suggestion to find good deals on tools.

You can also use square wooden nails, they work great

You ever have that moment? Where you're like: "Damn I need to subscribe to this guy."

Another small benefit of cut nails is that they are less likely to split the wood they are hammered into because the cross-grain edge cuts some of the fibers instead of just trying to force them apart like wire nails.

This is really helpful because on of my designs needs scale... and these nails will be the fastest way to do that.

Fabulous, Rex, I really got a lot out of it. Not to be pedantic, but the penny-weight system doesn’t have anything to do with cost. Metals (part. Precious) are weighed in Troy ounces, There are 12 Troy ounces in a pound (like a British pound sterling), and 20 penny-weights to the ounce. Hence pennies, schillings, and pounds in old Brit. money. 20 pennies to the schilling and 12 shillings to a pound. 240 pennies in a British pound (of silver, literally).

As usual you're a veritable source of info, Rex. Keep building!

Great video! Never thought about using nails like that (didn't even know about them). Looking forward to your next project using them.

I, too, have a 50lb of railroad track scrap in my garage left over from my DIY train project. What a coincidence.

Great video Rex. I would also like to see a video on screws, which ones to use, their features, and what's wrong with drywall screws. Thanks!

Cool, I like it. Unfortunately these kind of nails I've never seen it even heart of here in Europe. What i sometimes use are ribbed nails instead. They flex the same way and have a better holding power than screws.

Awesome Rex!! :) - bringing back the "old nail" to fine furniture :)

Loved: "... it is for some DAMNED GOOD reasons."

Nice knowlage. Extra funny information about nails measurmet units :D

I think you made it easier to understand than Chris did. Looking forward to chest build, so happens that is next on my list. Built turning saw using "Gramery" pins , blades and plans, love this saw , so much better than coping saw. Getting the curved strut ends squared and seated even was challenging , but fun never the less. Thirteen tooth bad seems for great all around use.

Hello Rex, I could be wrong but I think the nail should go with the grain of the bottom board than the top board. when I look at the cross grain construction, the thing that keeps the 2 boards together is the nail grabbing to the bottom part. We can have a very strong connection between the top board and the nail but it doesn’t matter if the bottom part pops up

Listens to the explanation of penny sizes and is very grateful I can just order nails in millimetres.

Awesome video! When I first read the title, I immediately thought I'd be commenting on wedge shaped nails as used in traditional furniture but after having watched it, once again I'm left dumbfounded at the breadth and detail of information given. My only small comment is that wedge shaped/square nails can be found in old items of furniture and house fittings and people often restore these items (read: completely rebuild, hacking them trough blindly) without regard for these nails that get thrown out and replaced with wire nails/screws/modern glue in the process. What these people don't realize (or care about) is that a great part of the history (and value) of the "restored" piece is gone at the end of this process. Sometimes, esp. for large items such as door frames, windows, or even benches etc. these nails actually seem to be hand-made (forged perhaps?). Often there are other fixings also made that way such as hinges etc. It's probably getting a bit off-topic but it's sad to see these items get thrown away and discarded and the beauty they hold get lost.

Very good and interesting Rex! Good info here! I liked how you covered pre drilling, which is not only important for applications within this video, but for joining things when using screws. Too many tradespeople or woodworkers ram rod screws in with over powered impact drivers, and fail to realize the importance of predrilling. Of course it is not necessary all the time, but in the case of nails, mostly is. Thanks for your content! 👍👍👍😁✌🏻🇺🇸

why am I here, I'm not even into work working, but I watched all of this.

You put out such good information & make it so approachable. Thank you

Very interesting video an thanks for the knowledge about different nails for carpentry, Rex !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you for simplifying nails and going into details.

Half of those screw types and some of the wire nails are not available in my country, due to standards and regulations. This also means the prices are somewhat bigger. Usually 2-3$ for a box. Some a 100 piece, some a 1000, depending on size, or in case of nails 1-2 kg boxes. (steel, no-rust steel, 1kg, 4$) But the Smithed Nails! 50 cent/1$ each. I can't find the wedge type of nail at all. However, I found out that they used to use ropes, strings for jointery, for timber like framing, in houses. They made 3 holes through the timber, near the end, than for the next side, another 3 a bit lower. (not touching) These would have ropes in them, nice and symmetrically, knotted onto the other timber, through all the 6 holes of both timbers, very tightly. There are pictures of 3 timber meeting, or 4. Supposedly iron was in a shortage? Or maybe no trust in glue? They seem to have stood the test of time too. I want to make very rustic looking, nice and oldish chest and such. But the accessory for it.. is sooo expensive. Everything is made by hand - which I really like - but this means the hinges too are expensive. Aka 10$ each. For a hinge or a decor edge.

I love the look of a nice nail pattern. I enjoy hand nailing too.

Thank you for the great information. I'll be sure to try out the pilot hole tricks that you've shown here. Keep up the good work.

Ring shank nails are a good idea for extra hold applications.

Maaaan I’ve always wanted to use cut nails! This was the video I needed to get some motivation and alleviate some fears. Thanks, Rex!

I don't know why this was recommended to me, I don't even woodwork, but now I might.

excellent video as usual. Greetings from France