I have looked all over the blueprints section but have not found a how to make a nail header. If I am missing it please link it to me. The part troubling me is the whole small square tapered hole thing. I have used them at other shops a bunch of times but always forgot to ask how do you make them. Or if some one has a trick or tip for making one , please share the details. Maybe I am over thinking this. Drill small hole and then square off and taper with file?:confused: as always thanks for the help.

just forge a taper the size of the nail that you want and drift out the hole.
i have used the tang on a file that was the right size as a drift.
these are probally not the correct way but they will work.

Mike Tanner

Using the tang of a file, boy I have buckets of them and they have tapers of all different sizes. I will give that a try. thanks. Dave M

just forge a taper the size of the nail that you want and drift out the hole.
i have used the tang on a file that was the right size as a drift.
these are probally not the correct way but they will work.

Mike Tanner

Surely punch rather than drift? Drifting would make a hole of uniform size (i.e. no taper).

Dave, I'm probably going to state the obvious but here goes....Make sure when you punch the hole have the bottom side of the hole larger than the top side. Sure makes getting nails out of the hole easier, otherwise you may have a rivited nailheader!
Also, when setting the head, make sure your metal is HOT, if done right you can lay the head of the nail against the anvil and this will cool it enough that it will fall out of the header with no problem, Or you can do as most everyone else does and quench. There you go...the entire post stating the obvious!

A RR spike makes a good header. Square and shape the head, take the pien of a large ball pien hammer and strike with another hammer to form the bottom relief of the header. Then either drill or punch the hole and shape as needed. The rest of the spike can be drawn out and elaborated and embelished as you so desire.

Edited September 1, 200817 yr by Thomas Dean
Where the heck is spell check on this thing!??

BP0189 shows how to use a header to make nails
BP0189 Nails

Blueprint BP0322 Nail Header

See attached photo for the detail you need.

Can't get to BP0322, Glenn.

I used automotive coil spring for my headers and drilled the pilot holes and then drifted them to shape from the bottom side with the tapered drift not driven all the way through.

Masonry nails---the old cut ones can be used as a drift.

Then I normalized them as they were to get a lot of abuse from my students.

Oh yes, make sure you punch a hole in the handle so you can hang them when not in use and you can also colour code them for size---I made the "standard" one for the stock I generally use and then one a size smaller so if they drive the nail *through* the first one they still have a chance at heading it in the second one.

I searched though my stuff for a photo I took back in 1993 in the Williamsburg blacksmith shop of their "historically correct" nail-making station and thought that I would share it.

You will observe a square anvil for pointing the nail, a hardy to help notch the pointed rod to a uniform depth, an interchangeable header held in place with a steel wedge, and to the lower right a lever to flick the nail out onto the floor when finished. They said that using this station they could easily make large numbers of nails with one heat per nail.

Edited November 21, 200817 yr by UnicornForge
attachment was lost due to being too large for uploading to forum

Excellent pic of the Williamsburg set up.

It shows how a logical production set up is done, at least in this instance. We may like to think blacksmithing is all about hand made unique work but the truth is it was and is about production. If you can't do it well and do it fast you aren't likely to make the mortgage.

I love these little tidbits, they're sooo educational.

Thank you.

Frosty

The picture was taken in almost total darkness, using a strobe and 1600 ASA film. I was amazed that the photographs came out so well. I have other shots of the nail-making station but I am not sure where they are. If I find a photograph that better shows the lever that flips the nail out of the header, I will post it.

I've had a bunch of antique dealers get mad at me when they say something was "made by a blacksmith" and I say "working in a factory!" as many of them did in the 19th century. Shoot Yellin had 200 forges working in his place in the 20th century!

Nice set up, glad i don't have to make enough nails to make something like that worthwhile!

I was at a yearly ironwork conference years ago and received an unexpected education on authenticating "antique" ironwork. There was a collection on display and a gentleman there showed me how to identify ironwork from the "Arts and Crafts period" that are commonly mistaken for colonial ironwork. He also took me to his truck and showed me a piece that he "counterfeited" for a shop in Gettysburg. When I said that his piece looked just like the forged iron stuff in relic shops in Gettysburg he said that it would look like the relics in Gettysburg because he made all of it.

Bottom line is antique and relic dealers often don't know or care if stuff is authentic.

I looked at a relic wheel in the Gettysburg shop called "The Horse Soldier" on Sunday and in my opinion was not a canon wheel as it did not even come close to matching the government specifications. I personally would not buy a "relic" in any Gettsyburg shop unless I was very knowledgeable about the object.

A dealer in a different town offered to buy fake relics if they looked good enough.

One of my most prized tools is a nail maker given to me By Steve Mankowitz, a smith from the Colonial Williamsburg Forge, it was a throw away from the Colonial Williamsburg forge, and when he demoed for us, I got to see him make one, in fact the welding splatter burnt holes in my new shirt, one which I still wear proudly today!! Remember if you sit in the front row of a demo, you might catch the flash!!

divermike
You wouldn't happen to have a picture of it would you!
Billy

Preferably the tool, not the shirt

I can't access blueprint bp0322. Is there any way I can get to this blueprint? Thanks

Here's a link to a nail header pictorial. Nathan Walker from Williamsburg did a class for our guild last year. Meeting & Class Videos - Tips - Techniques & Useful Information
Travis

Cindy,
I don't think anybody can!

Travis,
I have an old eMac. Could not watch the video but thanks for sharing it.

Billy

Edited August 2, 200916 yr by bsiler

I've done headers using round piece of spring steel. First I round the face somewhat and put a handle on it. Then I drift a rectangular drift from the back side. The tip of the drift should be slightly smaller than the size of the hole you want. This works for a header for large nails. If you want to do a header for small nails, then it is best to use first a large drift and drift it almost through (leave something like 5mm of material) and then use a small drift to go through. If you try to go all the way with a small drift, it will get glowing hot in no time.

I've done the holes both with drilling pilot holes and without them. Probably don't bother with drilling anymore.

I have a 5/8 x 4 inch common (grade 2 I think) bolt that I am thinking about making into a 1/4 inch nail header. I keep reading that use of spring or tool steel is recommended. Is use of hardenable steel really necessary?

Phil

Phil,

I believe the short answer would be no. The questions remaining to get a good answer are, how many nails do you plan on making? How often do you want to replace the header? If you are doing this as an exercise then use what you have at hand. If you are producing enough nails to build a smithy then you MIGHT want a more durable tool. I would make the first one from easier to acquire steel so you can make mistakes without frustration.

But that is me,

Brian

I need 6 good nails by Christmas eve to hang stocking on, so I probably need to make at least 20 or so to have choice of the best. I plan to make more nails, but not enough to build a smithy for a while. Replacing the tool after a few hundred nails won't bother me any, and I would probably replace with a tool steel tool at that time.

Yes this is more of an exercise in learning than anything else. I'll give it a go with this bolt and have fun at it. Thanks.

Phil

I made one here out of mild steel. I'm planning on using it for demos and some nails for a tool box. It's mild steel about 1/2" by 1" cut part way through and then bent over for a fagot weld. I drilled the hole and sized it with a round file tang based on a nail I started to tapper. I made about a half dozen and it seems to work well so far.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/making-nails-refinements-14316/index2.html#post146480

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/attachments/f7/18975d1259078638-making-nails-refinements-nailheader.jpg

Rob.