Nails - some interesting facts!

As you may be aware one of my current pieces is based on the use of nails; well true to form, I have done a little research about some historical facts about nails, their names over the years and modern equivalents. You may wish to gloss over this post!!! But, when working with mixed media I do like to get involved with the materials I am using.

(source: glasgow steel nail company)

The Penny Nail
This article in 'The Ironmonger' from 1915 tells us the story of the 'penny' nail.
As you can see from the above picture, the details come from the account books of churchwardens and builders in the Middle Ages in England. In this case, the researcher examined the records dated 1477 from the Church of St Mary-at-Hill in the City of London.
Although many different handmade nails were in use at the time which had specific names, a large proportion were named simply by the number of pence paid for a hundred nails.
For example, four penny nails were those of which a hundred were purchased for 4d. (The 'd' stands for pence in the days when sterling was denominated in pounds, shillings and pence - £ s d).
The account records of the Church of St Mary-at-Hill show -
'ffor a c of v peny nayle vd'
The 'c' is the Roman numeral for 'hundred' and 'v' is the Roman numeral for 'five'.
The amount of money paid for a hundred nails - fourpence, fivepence,sixpence - is thought to depend on the size of the nail. The larger the nail, the more expensive it was. The largest nail appears to have been the tenpenny nail, also referred to as the 'fyve stroke nayle' - possibly because it took five strokes of the hammer to get it home.Nails in Stuart Times
Moving on a couple of centuries and we begin to see some of the nail names appearing that we still use today.
This article, again from 'The Ironmonger' this time dated 1924, reports on a young man named Ambrose Crowley who lived in the days of William & Mary. He was a Quaker who was in business as a 'naylor' and by 1682 had set himself up as an ironmonger in Thames Street in London to sell his nails.
Apart from explaining the best size of bags to use for packing the nails to stack them successfully in a pile the document reviewed by the researcher showed the following nail names being used at that time -

Batten Brads
Pound Nailes Long
Plain Brads
Port Nailes
Kings Brads
Patten Rivetts Long
Bill Brads
Horse Nailes Short
Pound Brads
Patten Rivetts Short
Clout Nailes
Rosehead Nailes -
Deck Nailes Sharp
Dogg Nailes Square
Flat Head Nailes
Sheathing Nailes
Flat Pointed ditto Dutch
Flat Pointed Short
Filling Nailes
Tenter Hooks
Weight Nailes
Lyne Hooks ditto Diamond Head
Horse Nailes Long
Weight Nailes for ye King
Lead Nailes
Spikes Copp Head
Pound Nailes Short
Spikes Diamond Head
Spikes for ye King

Handmade nails
In 1946, 'The Ironmonger' tells us under the Trade Chat section of a Mr S R Naish who put together 'a fine private collection of nails made by methods in use before nail-making machinery was invented....which must be by far the most comprehensive of its kind that has ever been compiled'.

Listed below are the types of handmade nails Mr Naish had collected at that stage.

Batten, Fine
Hob, Wrot. Sq.
Boc king(Welsh)
Cider Spike
Hob, Wrot. Patent.
Cider Stub.
Hurdle, 6 in.
Clasp, Fine.
Limer, Stock Head,
Clasp, Fine Wing.
Wrot.
Clasp, 4 in. Wrot.
Mop, Rd.Hd., Large.
Cloth Hook
Mop, Square.
Clout, Best.
Ox.
Clout, Best Strong.
Pig Rings.
Clout, Common Wrot.
Plate.
Clout, Csk.Wrot.
Prison Door, Cast.
Clout, Double Deep Csk.
Prison Door, Wrot.
Roofing Stud, Cast.
Clout, Fine.
Rose, Fine.
Cooper's Flats.
Rose, Flat Wrot.
Cooper's Hook
Rose, Pointed Wrot.
Cooper's Nails, 2 in.
Rose, Pointed.
Crib.
Rose Spike.
Essex Hurdle
Rose Wherry (or Cooler)
Rose, Wrot.
Fencing Spikes, Wrot.
Scupper.
Flemish Tacks.
Scupper, Fine Sq.
Frost, Chisel Head
Sign Hook.
Frost, Snap Head.
Slate, Fine.
Gate, Wrot.
Staples, Wrot.
Horse.
Tenter Hook.
Horse, Csk.
Tiling Hook.
Horse, Half Csk.
Tyre, Cast.
Hob, Wrot. Clasp
Tyre, Wrot.
Hob, Wrot. Clinker.
Tyre Stubs, Wrot.
Hob, Wrot. Fancy Sq
Wrot. tip.

Ah yes, life can only get better!!!!!

nail sizes with prices (US), as an image I like it, using it as a starting point for a graphite and biro sketch