Need Help Again

[billp]

I have tried every idea I can come up with up and am just having trouble making nail heads.
What I wanted to do was make a Crucifixion spike about 1/4 the size of a real one to go with some little crosses I have made. Now I know with Easter just about to be gone it's a bit late for it but where I live in the Bible belt of the U.S. things like this tend to make an impression. I have made several real size spikes and gave one to my daughter's church which went well with the pastor's sermon. I just though a spike with a cross might make up a display to help keep the memory alive, and yes something that might sell real well no matter the season.
Any help or advice will as always be appreciated and thankful to receive.
BillP

[Wind Chapman]

This web sit has a LOT of ideas, or it did at one time. It still has some useful links.
http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/crosses/passion.html

[pkrankow]

Use a chisel, punch, etc., and decorate the head after heading it.
Phil

[arftist]

I can only imagine you are having trouble making nail heads because you do not have an apropriately sized nail header? Long story short, find some steel, higher alloy the better, for example a car spring or bit of an axel. forge a flat spot about 1/2" thick more or less and a couple inches across, at least 1 1/2 inches anyway. Also shape a handle, doesn't need to be fancy, 8-10" long. Get it quite hot and snuff or shut off your forge with your part still inside.. The next day when cold, the part will be softened or anealed. Now drill a hole in the center of the flat spot a bit smaller than your nail stock or bar. The next step would idealy be done with a drift, but could also be done with a tapered reamer or a file. You need to enlarge the top of the opening, while not increasing the bottom of the hole larger than your nail rod. Likely your best bet is to make a drift from another bit of tool steel, like a chisel or screwdriver. Forge/grind it to the profile you need. Heat your header with the hole in it as hot as possible, and drive the drift into the hole, in quick fashion. Use some coal dust or anti-seize compound for lubrication and get the drift out of there fast. If you are satisfied with the opening you have created, return the header to the forge and heat to bright red. Submerge in oil or water and move it continuosly for several minutes. If you use oil, be prepared to put out the resulting fire, with a cover of some type. You don't need to temper your nail header if you are always working hot nail rods.

The process goes as follows; point your nail rod as desired. Here is where I differ from many of my fellow smiths. My method would be to then nick the bar most of the way through with a hot cut hardy. As I nick each bar, I would quench the end, then stick it in the pritchel hole and snap it off. Then, after I have a pile of half made nails, I would reheat the bits. Grabbing the hot nail with tongs, I would drop it point down in the header. Holding the header in one hand and a hammer in the other, With the point of the nail in the pritchel hole, I would shape the head with four or five fast, hard hits, or more if I wanted a very fancy or special head. Swirl the end of the header with the nail in it around in your quench tank, then tap the nail out of the header on the top or side of your anvil.

Never leave the cut hardy on the anvil, unless you are cutting at that time. This is one of the problems I have with "one heat" nail making. It is just not safe.

If you are still having trouble, I suggest you ask more specific questions.

[billp]

OK I think I got the idea will see what I can work out thanks
billp

[ThomasPowers]

All the header's I have used have the *top* of the header to be the smaller size hole and the bottom larger.

Note for some size nails you can make the drift from square cut masonry nails.

[Sukellos]

I'm with Tom.
All headers I have used or seen used had the small of the tapered hole upwards so that the nail hangs free in it as you're heading.

I guess it will work either way, though. If it's one thing you ought to get out of reading this forum, it's that there is always more than one way to do the job.


Youtube link shows one way to do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQG9DW78Rs&feature=related

[Sam Thompson]

If you make a cone-shaped header with the hole down the centre, like a little flat-topped volcano, you can strike at an angle to give a more three dimensional shape to the head.

[billp]

Thanks for the video Sukellos that really did help as I learn better by watching the reading. I was trying to make my nails without a header with no luck and I see why now. So I guess the first order of business is to try and make one like you all have suggested.
Thanks again guys I knew I could count on you for help.
BillP

[pkrankow]

Here are a few links that may be helpful. It is a shame blueprints are not online at this time.





When you size our header, use a cut or forged nail, file tang, or use some nail stock drawn down but not cut that has been quenched from high heat to do your final drift to size. (This is a "single use" drift, I later made a nail out of mine.) You can form the hole by punching or drilling a round or square hole. Drifting will square it up nice. Clean the top with a file to remove any burs that may have formed.

Hope this helps
Phil

[Frank Turley]

May I play the devil's advocate? When the nail has a tapered shank, why does the header hole need to be bigger on the bottom than the top of the tool?

Now with a rivet header, yes. The hole should have a taper and be bigger on the bottom. The rivet has a parallel sided shank, so it would choke in the hole without the taper. The taper allows the rivet to be released from the tool more easily after heading.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

[ThomasPowers]

Frank; on most of my nails a bit of the shaft right at the top gets extruded through the top of the header making a small section with parallel sides. A tapered hole in the header does seem to help prevent this from locking during use.

Sure wish I could see your demo at the June SWABA meeting; but I'll most likely be in Chile during it.

[pkrankow]

I have read at least one article recommending that the top 1/3 to 1/2 of a forged nail have parallel sides so that it will stick in the wood better. Dunno if this is helps or not.

My nails also extrude when I head them, but I have only made a few dozen so far.

Anyways isn't it easier to form a hole with tapered sides than a hole with parallel sides through forging?

Phil

[bigfootnampa]

I have read at least one article recommending that the top 1/3 to 1/2 of a forged nail have parallel sides so that it will stick in the wood better. Dunno if this is helps or not.
Phil

Phil;
IME my hand-made nails are permanent fasteners. I believe that they hold more strongly than modern screws and there is no way to compare them with regular wire nails from the hardware store... they easily hold at least 15X more strongly! I don't have much parallel area on my shafts either so while there may be a difference it would never appear in practical use. In fact I theorize that the long tapered shape is a contributor to this amazing holding power. I think the textures are also important and that the scaled surfaces are helpful. I have some that hold hooks (two nails each 1 1/4" into the wood) on the back of my bathroom door and despite the large size of the hooks and the fact that they overhang the recess of the flat panel door, they have never loosened even a tiny bit. I had thought about clenching these since the door thickness (1 3/8") severely limited my nail length. In the end I decided to try it this way and made short nails with way oversized heads (for decoration) and they have never even wiggled. This door is only fir BTW... oak would be no challenge at all.

[CBrann]

From my reading, handmade nails, or cut masonry nails, shear through the wood fibers and bend them in the direction the nail is driven. Modern wire nails push through and separate wood fibers, easier to take out. From Eric Sloane's books, it seems like families would burn their homes sometimes when they were moving to retrieve the iron hardware... nails .,. hinges etc.. take it for what its worth
Cliff

[ThomasPowers]

There was a recent discussion over at anvilfire on the topic of if burning buildings for nails actually occurred. Some folks dug out the original statuettes on it!

[Frank Turley]

A suggestion. I have used a Presto Brand correction pen for drawing a concentric circle or square around the hole in the top of the header. This gives a clue as to whether to use angle-correction blows or not to keep the head centered on the tool. These are the kind of pens sold at office supply stores. I have tried the other brands and have not been happy with them.

As an addendum, you may be interested that a Presto white mark put on cold iron will last and be visible into an orange heat.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I read somewhere that standard nails were made in 5 strikes of the hammer. Can anyone verify that?

[bigfootnampa]

I read somewhere that standard nails were made in 5 strikes of the hammer. Can anyone verify that?

Maybe you mean for the nail HEAD? That would be about right... I've never heard of or seen a whole nail being forged in that few strikes. Personally I never count the strikes for my nail heads either, when they look right I stop.

[Sam Thompson]

Nails were sold as '1,3 or 5 clout' depending on the shape of the head. The smaller sizes were easily made in one heat, often by women working (paid at piece rates) in a shed at the bottom of the garden.