[TheForge] nail header question

[Washington, Aubrey O.]

A few years ago we had Peter Ross as a demonstrator for our annual conference (SCABA).  He made nails as a little warm up exercise in the morning.  He made is nail headers with the taper down [/ \].  Once he got going he could make about 8-10 a minute, one heat each.  He did not quench and I'm sure would not have wanted to cool of the header that way because it would sap more heat from the nails.  He just rapped the header on the edge of the anvil to knock the nails out.  Most came out very easily.  Nails flying....what a sight!  Later I picked up several nails from the floor and compared them with each other.  They were all within 1/8" of each other in length.
 
He said nail making was one of the first things they had new apprentices do at Colonial Williamsburg...for days and days.  It was good for developing hammer control and judging length by eye.  When you would make a couple hundred 3/4" nails all in a row, then you could move on to making a few hundred 1" nails, etc.  He said all of their nails were used in Williamsburg in the building and restoration of their buildings.  Can you imagine making a few thousand 3/4" nails by hand to tack up lath boards that were then going to be covered with plaster.
 
Aubrey

________________________________

From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Wayne Ackman
Sent: Mon 1/23/2006 1:26 PM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] nail header question



Watching Tom make nails. he didn't quench them, but when he finished the
head, he would lay the head on the anvil to draw some heat out of it,
then flip the header and tap the nail tip on the anvil. they would pop
right up. He was really fast.

Wayne

Steven.Walker at its.state.ms.us wrote:

>>I just talked to Tom this morning. He states that he makes his headers
>>   
>>
>with
> 
>
>>the taper down [\ /] , and that if you make the nail properly its not an
>>issue. He said most of the problem comes from trying to head a cold nail.
>>The nail should be HOT, so that when it cools it shrinks away.
>>   
>>
>
>Hmmm.  That's interesting.  Must just be my bad technique then.  I
>certainly don't doubt that.  I will say though that I've used a buddy's
>nail header with the taper up (/ \) and I didn't have any problems with
>nails getting stuck. But just about everytime I try to make a  nail with
>the taper down (\ /), my  nails get stuck.....and I am heading with the
>nail HOT.  Just must be my newbie technique.  I'll keep trying.....practice
>makes perfect.  But I also think I'll also try to make my own nail header
>with the taper up (/ \).
>Thanks for all the input, fellas. This list has proven to be a great
>resource for a beginning smith.
>
>Steven
>
>
>
>
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