August 25, 201213 yr Okay I gotta pipe in here on the nails. Make your header with a tapered hole with the widest portion at the top and the area where you head the nail no more than 1/4 inch thick. draw a long smooth SQUARE taper for the length you want the nail to be minus about 1/8 inch. cut the nail around 3/8 to 1/2 inch beyond where it goes into the header from the top and cut it almost off and bend it at about 30 degrees. Put it back in the fire with the point of the nail up and reheat. Take it out at a yellow heat insert in the header and twist off and put the header over the hardie or pritchel hole and drive the nail down to make the head. Turn the header upside down and lay it across the anvil with the nail hanging over the anvil. start your next nail. As you are tapering the second nail the first one should fall out on its own. A lot of the old books show the taper the other way and it just doesn't work as well as the way I described. Tom Clark and I argued about it for years until he convinced me this way works best. I have literally made thousands of nails this way and as long as you don't try to head it cold it will work every time. I would guess the taper to be about 5 degrees I have never measured it. This way there is no shoulder needed the shoulder will be made on the top of the header. I mean this as educational not confrontational I hope it helps.
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