Because the nail up until then was handmade, the first machines were naturally designed to re-produce the same shape of product - a square tapered nail with a rosehead, but only tapered down two sides of the shank. The cut nail was produced in large numbers and various other shapes were devised to suit different purposes. In the heartlands of the industrial revolution, many nail factories had row upon row of these nail machines and the incessant clatter from them created a deafening sound. This old photograph from the early 's shows a typical nail shop - notice the machines are pulley driven.
But still, the process was labour intensive with a man or woman attending each machine. By the start of the 's, the first coils of steel round wire were produced and quickly machines were designed to use this new raw material. The first automatically produced wire nails with no human intervention other than to set up the machine immediately showed that this was the way to produce a cheaper nail.
The fact that the nail had a round parallel shank that had up to four times less holding power didn't matter so much. Thinner timbers were being used in construction and other forms of fastening were becoming available if a strong fixing was needed. The wire nail quickly became the nail of choice as it is today because of its price and the cut nail's day was numbered. In the 21st century, the nail making process through the ages is now being used by the restoration industry to help to establish when a building was built. Hand made nails suggest the building was built before Cut nails suggest the building was built between and the early 's.
Wire nails will be found in a building put up in the period from then to date. There is currently an enormous interest in preserving our heritage and much of that heritage is in the shape of the buildings that remain as evidence of a bygone age. For the restorer, it is vital that the correct raw materials are used in any attempt to preserve an old building.
Nails are no exception. The restorer is looking to use similar nails to ensure the authenticity of the restored building. While it is possible to get a blacksmith today to produce a handmade nail from wrought iron, the cost can be prohibitive and the blacksmith is not keen to devote his limited time to making such small products. However, almost a century after their predicted demise, there are still two cut nail manufacturers worldwide in existence employing the process that is almost years old and using machines that have barely changed in design in that time.
One such company is Glasgow Steel Nail Co which can trace its business roots back to In addition to working with these old machines, the process also involves preserving the blacksmith's skills to form cutting and heading tools. As explained earlier, the first cut nail machines replicated the handmade nail - the square tapered nail with a rosehead.
Because the process still involves a man or woman presenting a strip of metal to a machine, the resulting nail is necessarily imprecise - that is each nail can look a little different to the next one.
Click here to watch a movie of the process. The result is that these cut nails are often mistaken for handmade nails. In use, the rosehead is often the only part of the nail that is left visible and this shape of head is now considered vital when a period nail is demanded. Whether the project involves restoration or the building of a replica, a genuine cut nail made using a process that has not changed in years lends a degree of authenticity to the project.
The nails are normally made of mild steel and are often used without any further finish and can be clinched i. A recent expensive project involved nails for studding on large outside doors which would be deliberately left to rust to provide greater authenticity. Nails can also be produced in copper and bronze. Glasgow Steel Nail Co has been involved in many interesting projects that have included providing nails for the Globe Theatre in London, restoration work on Stirling Castle and other castles.
The history of nail making
The nails are generally used for doors, floors, gates, indeed anywhere a period nail has to be displayed. The company is also prepared to consider special projects, for example, it produced a bronze boat nail for the building of the replica ship the 'Matthew' that in the year re-traced the year old voyage of John Cabot who discovered New Foundland. Over the years, the cut nail has faced the problem of competition with its rival the wire nail and its history as the first common nail.
One aspect of that has been the expectation that because wire nails are cheap, the cut nail should also be cheap. After all, it's just a nail.
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Attempting to follow that line of thought, no matter how ridiculous as the processes are so different, has meant that many cut nail manufacturers have ceased business over the years because margins were so low. The process is as much part of our heritage as the products produced and it will be necessary for those involved in the restoration industry to change the mindset of trying to compare cut nail and wire nail prices, if the process is to survive.
One way of changing the mindset is to think in terms of the price per nail in comparison with other old artifacts being used and indeed what can be purchased today. Time will tell, as I will flip these paintings.
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