Heading the Nail

[glilley]

Made a nail header from RR spike by flattening-down the lip of the spike head, leaving a slightly elevated, roundish end. Drilled a 3/16 hole, squared hole at top and beveled-out hole underneath so nail would not stick. Using 1/4" round I draw and taper, fit in header, cut approx 1/4" above where hail stops, twist off and start to head nail striking straight down. With this stock the still hot nail always starts working down through header unless I angle my first few blows well off-center and end up with a nail with an L-shaped head: perfectly functional but not pretty. Now, if I draw down 3/8" stock it still wants to start down the header but then stops and I am able to make a decent nail head with the nail more or less centered under the head.

So - with the header I made is 1/4" stock a tad too small to use or am I starting my heading blows incorrectly? Thanks in advance for any observations!

[781]

When you squared the 3/16 hole it became 1/4 or larger.
You need a hole smaller that the parrant stock so it grips above the header to make an upset for the head

[glilley]

When you squared the 3/16 hole it became 1/4 or larger.
You need a hole smaller that the parrant stock so it grips above the header to make an upset for the head

I thought about this but noticed everytime I draw-down 1/4" and put in header it stops at where my taper begins - however when I think about it, if in the squaring process I made the hole just a tad under 1/4" square, then a hot and maliable nail would push on through when headed even though it stops at the start of the taper when I fit it in the header.

Well there it is - I'd better use at least 5/16 or >. Glad its not my hammer technique.

[pkrankow]

781 might have the correct answer.

Before you remake your header you could also try leaving 2x as much material to upset and understand that a large amount will be driven into the die on the first blow. When I first made nails, and I have not made that many, I thought the metal I was leaving hanging was crazy! On a 3 inch nail I had almost an inch on material hanging out. A light first blow to drive the stock into the die left a reasonable amount of material to head, using a few firmer blows. Some videos show this light first blow, but I don't have links.

Phil

[glilley]

781 might have the correct answer.

Before you remake your header you could also try leaving 2x as much material to upset and understand that a large amount will be driven into the die on the first blow. When I first made nails, and I have not made that many, I thought the metal I was leaving hanging was crazy! On a 3 inch nail I had almost an inch on material hanging out. A light first blow to drive the stock into the die left a reasonable amount of material to head, using a few firmer blows. Some videos show this light first blow, but I don't have links.

Phil

I've seen a couple of nail-making videos in past couple months and now that you mention it, it really does appear that first blow is more of a tap. In my response above, I think that I had just squared out the hole too large so that even a seating tap would probably not work. But, a pound of application is worth a ton of theory so when I get home will try 1/4 stock but with a couple of light taps to start.

[pkrankow]

If you choose to keep this header for making larger nails, don't try this. This may ruin the header instead of salvaging it.

Heat the header and drive the dome down some. This will cause the hole to close some. Check with a taper drawn into a piece of stock till you like it. You may not need to re-drift the square hole as the back side should open some or stay the same as the front closes.

I had the opposite problem making my header, I started making nails that were 1 inch long and 1/8 inch under the head. I used a piece of stock drawn down like I wanted to drift the hole out.

Phil

[Yance]

glilley;

One thing to try is setting two "shoulders" on two touching sides at the top of your taper. Also, 1/4" round is too small for a 1/4" square header hole. I had to "shrink" the hole in the header I made by re-heating and driving the top down then opening it back up a bit with my square punch. Now I can use 1/4" stock with no problem. (Except for not leaving enough material for a good head.) :(

[Frank Turley]

Point it first on the far edge of the anvil or base of the horn. Shoulder on two adjacent sides a known distance from the point, so all nails will be close to the same length. Use half-face blows for the shoulders over the near anvil edge. Draw a smooth taper. Notch on the hardie a little above the shoulder, heat and wring off in the heading tool. The head will be cattywampus in the heading tool, so use angle blows to center it. I use a Presto brand correction pen to draw a concentric circle around the heading tool hole; it tells you whether your centering the head or not.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of blacksmith schools

[Glenn]

Try making nails with 3/8 stock. This should give you plenty of material for the nail head, shoulders to catch on the top of the header, and will tell you if the hole needs adjustments.

The hole I make in headers is hourglass (double funnel) shaped with the top funnel about 1/4 to 1/3 of the depth of the hole. I was taught to dome the header so that is what I continue to do. Draw the point leaving a shoulder as Frank says, trial fit into the header, and cut about 1-1/2 times the diameter of the stock for making the head. I like high orange to yellow when the nail is inserted into the header and broken from the parent stock. It will loose a color shade, maybe two, so move quickly from the break from the parent stock, to the anvil, and hitting the first blow.

A full heavy hammer blow will both set the nail into the header and mushroom the nail head. The way you hold the hammer (think crescent moons on wood) will effect the way the metal is moved. If you have a crescent moon to 3 o'clock, the metal will move to 9 o'clock. With a heavy hammer blow this will bend the taller piece of metal over to the side. Use hammer blow power as needed to finish the nail head, or make the shape needed, 5 flats, etc. The best method is to hit the first blow dead center of the stock. This sets the nail into the header and starts a centered mushrooming of the stock.

Unless you want the nail soft, I quench the nail (and header) when finished. This cools the header for the next nail, and shrinks the metal of the current nail so it usually falls out of the header. If not a tap from the hammer (on the point end of the nail) works to encourage the nails removal. Removal is more about the shape of the funnel. If the funnel is right, the nail header is a nice tool to use.

[glilley]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Measured the square on my header and although I drilled it 3/16" it is almost at 1/4" after squaring, so went up to 5/16" and my nails head fine as long as I remember the "1 1/2 times width" rule when cutting off. Frank/Glenn I do draw out my nails like you recommended after see a .pdf I printed "Nail Making the Peter Ross Way" where it discribes same process. I'm a happy nail-maker now!

[Glenn]

I mentioned a 5 flat head. Attached is a photo of a 6 flat nail head. The other photos show that you can spend a little more time and use the nail head as a decorative element. All photos are of Hofi's nails.

[glilley]

Excellent Glenn - thank you for the pics! When I've thought of nail making it always seemed like a very neccessary but also very utilitarian smith skill set, but these help remind me that you can make "nails" that do more than just hold two pieces of wood together or keep a shoe on a horse's hoof.

[ThomasPowers]

Here in the SW there is a tradition of decorative nails used on doors and furniture called "clavos".

[Frosty]

I've made very few nails so my thoughts are even more suspect than usual. Then again I made the heads using my vise rather than a proper header so maybe?

If the problem is driving the nail blank into the header simply make a little shoulder where you want it to stop with a couple few half face blows before drawing the taper.

Frosty the Lucky.

[stretch]

I will give my 2C here. I make a lot of Clavos for putting on my strap hinges. They are 3/4" with a 1 3/4" head. I then drill and tap them to 1/2" bolt and use ready rod cut to length for fastening my hinges on. I had a customer twist off 3/8" so now use 1/2". Here are some pictures of the tools used in my flypress and the resulting clavos. I will send along a picture of the hinges that are put on with these clavos. Almost all of my hinges have a strap on both sides so the doors are kept together and almost completely supported by the hinge which is usually 1/2 thick. Clavos is nail in spanish I was told so I am sticking to it.
When I make nails I drilled a hole a bit smaller than the shaft of the nail and just used round rod and pointed the end, almost cut it off on the cutoff tool and put it in the header, left about 1/2" to whatever, depending on the size of material I am using, and head it in a couple blows, all of this done in 1 heat. I will send along pictures of the heading tools I use for nails too. The header for nails is just a set of tongs drilled to different sizes and ground lips on it so it isn't driven through the vise and that way the nails are easy to drop out when done. Works great. You could make one for square nails too if that is what you need.