Die-forged nails usage

[TerryMcK]

I've just had an email from Lost Arts Press stating that Lie Nielsen are about to start selling Rivierre Forged Nails. I know that Chris Schwarz has been using nails a lot in his furniture making but I currently don't use them nor intend to in the near future. Maybe it will become an in vogue item in coming years.

Do any WoodTalkers use or intend to use these type of fasteners in your work? I'm not talking 23 gauge or 18 gauge brads here.

[RichardA]

I don't see the point, unless it's "rustic" your after, but then I don't do "rustic", I have no source for pallet wood!  Thankfully!

[wdwerker]

I have installed some hardware that was based on ancient Japanese styles for a client. I was hesitant at first but it turned out looking great. Lee Valley offered a bunch of hardware for "Tansu " furniture that was nailed on.

[Unknown craftsman]

I also have built several pieces useing decorative nails.I was lucky to salvage some brass or bronze nails from a roof repair I did after the Northridge earthquake here in California.

The building was built in 1913 my nails have a nice greenish patina.

[Gilgaron]

I've used some Tremont cut nails, haven't used the forged ones from France.  They work when you want to use nails and look different than someone who went crazy with a nail gun.  I used a brad awl and some headless brads to pin a mitered corner on a picture frame that was opening up to good effect.  I'd have been nervous to use a nailgun on the corner.

[rodger.]

Can you use them with a pocket hole jig?  ?

 

[wtnhighlander]

With good joints quality adhesives, I see no need for nails as fasteners. Maybe for decor.

[Tom King]

I've never heard of die-forged nails.  I have hundreds of pounds of hand forged nails I've saved from old houses I've worked on.  I use some occasionally, like for a door I'm building for a work building on a mid 19th Century place.

I have some tiny ones that held on a 1/2" wide ogee with bead in an early 19th Century house.  Some a little larger are used for holding backs on reproduction pieces of furniture.

I use Tremont galvanized facsimiles for exterior work on these old houses.

The picture below is of a roof with exposed hand forged nails that were exposed to the sky for 132 years, and neither rusted away, nor leaked water.  Wrought iron is a bit different than what we know as steel in nails today.   It's a Cypress shingle fanned hip on a 4-1/2 in 12 roof built in 1850, and covered with that standing seam metal in 1982.  Even though we used stainless steel fasteners on the replacement, I changed the design a wee bit so that we didn't have any exposed fasteners.

[mat60]

Cool...Im suprised the roof didnt leak with all the face nails..Never seen them installed this way..

[Tom King]

Not much water runs across the peak of a hip.  The farther down slope a spot is on a roof, the more water it has to shed.  No other place on that roof had exposed nails except for some of the fanned shingles near the hip peak.  During that time period when the house was built, and a century or so before, a hip roof was regarded as "more elegant", but not with an applied ridge cap.  The fantail hip eliminates the cap shingles.

  It's quite a puzzle to install, as the layers need to be three deep anywhere, and no overlap of gaps between shingles.  There was no sign of water getting in that roof anywhere except at the chimneys.  You can see more pictures on the Cypress shingle page on my website, of both the old roof, and new replacement.

[mat60]

Nice website and great work Tom...I do no your job is not a eazy one..Old buldings are a pain in the rear to work on ..Building new is eazy.

[toddclippinger]

On May 25, 2016 at 7:45 AM, Aj3 said:

I also have built several pieces useing decorative nails.I was lucky to salvage some brass or bronze nails from a roof repair I did after the Northridge earthquake here in California.

The building was built in 1913 my nails have a nice greenish patina.

Man those are pretty cool!

[Tom King]

Aj3,  What were those nails holding?  I've never seen any like that.

[toddclippinger]

I purchased some forged nails similar to the ones from Lie Neilson years ago for a project on an old house. I used what I needed and I have not needed them again.

They are an item that you might go through a lot of or not need any depending on the type of work you do and what job lands in the shop. 

[Tom King]

6 hours ago, mat60 said:

Nice website and great work Tom...I do no your job is not a eazy one..Old buldings are a pain in the rear to work on ..Building new is eazy.

I enjoy it.  There's a never ending supply of new puzzles to solve.  It amazes me that people not only pay me to do stuff that I've never done before almost every day, but wait for me to get to it when there are other people they could get who already have done it before, and it's not because I'm cheap.

I built new houses for 33 years, but got tired of it long ago.

[Unknown craftsman]

1 hour ago, Tom King said:

Aj3,  What were those nails holding?  I've never seen any like that.

They were holding 2piece clay roofing tile on the science building @ occidental college in Pasadena.

The roof had a internal gutter that was damaged from the earthquake.I salvaged about four coffee cans of nails.My older brother gave me a hard time about collecting them.Many went in the landfill.