Nails

The hammer just wouldn't be the same with the nail. Like a good relationship someone has to do the pounding and someone has to get pounded. Take that as you will, but I'm talking about the good old fashioned nail. Nails are generally made of steel or which may or may not be coated or dipped in a galvanized material depending on the application.

Like everything else in the home improvement and construction trade there are different types of nails for different types of work. Lets look at a few.

Nail Terminology

Box - a wire nail with a head; box nails are smaller in diameter than common nails

Bright - normal surface finish; not recommended for weather exposure

Casing - a wire nail with a slightly larger head than finish nails; often used for flooring

CC - "cement coated"; nail coated with adhesive for greater holding power

Common - a common construction wire nail with a head: common nails are larger in diameter than box nails

Duplex - a common nail with a second head; allowing for easy extraction

Finish - a wire nail that does not have a "head"; can be easily concealed

Galvanized - treated for resistance to corrosion and/or weather exposure

Head - round flat metal piece affixed to the top of the nail; for increased holding power

Length - distance from the head to the point of a nail

Point - sharpened end opposite the "head"; for greater ease in driving

Shank - the body the length of the nail between the head and the point; may be smooth, or may have rings or spirals for greater holding power

Spikes - large nails (usually over 4" - 100 mm) are called spikes

Nail lengths in the US is designated by it's penny size. The term penny is believe to be based on an old English custom of selling nails by the hundred. Basically the larger the nail the larger the penny size.

Today nails sizes are denoted with a "d" after the numeric value. Nails come in 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 6d, 7d, 8d, 9d, 10d, 12d, 16d, 20d, 40d, and 60d. The d is an abbreviation for denarius which is a Roman coin similar to a penny. I'm not sure when they made the switch from pennys to denarius, but lets go with it, for the sake of not showing off our age.

Basically the bigger the d size the bigger the nail. The most common framing nails are going to be either your 12d or your 16d nails.

Back 15.12.2006.