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WROUGHT IRON Cut nails
A cut nail made from wrought iron
We can make cut nails from Wrought Iron.
All wrought iron nails
are made suitable for clinching when possible, but the poor quality of the old wrought
iron supplied to us can cause problems. It is important that potential customers are aware
of this issue.
Nails can be made from
35mm x 3.2mm (1 3/8" x 1/8") up to 100mm x 6mm (4" x 1/4"). The shape
can be from -
other older designs -
such as a Clout
Nail with its flat head
the customer's own
required design which is often an old nail removed from a particular building being
restored (please supply a sample,
picture or drawing)
When nails were
handmade, they were made of wrought iron. Today, handmade nails are tend to be
formed by a blacksmith from mild steel.
The wrought iron cut
nails are made from re-rolled puddled wrought iron plate.
The material is
presented red hot to the cut nail machine which then puts the metal under pressure when
forming the shank and head. As the process is not too dissimilar from a blacksmith working
the wrought iron in a fire, the finished nail has the same colour and clinching properties
(subject to the quality of the material) as a handmade iron nail.
There are said to be
two main benefits to using iron nails.
The use of accurate
material for restoration work i.e. replacement of existing iron nails.
Some people argue
that wrought iron has a slower rate of corrosion compared to nails made
from mild steel, as evidenced by the many items of wrought iron work still around today
which can be anything up to 300 years old, but others disagree.
If the nails are left
untreated, they will corrode in time. If further protection is felt necessary painting or
oiling on a regular basis is evidently recommended. On no account should these nails be
galvanised as this can damage the iron.
Notes
'Puddled'
wrought iron is a mixture of nearly pure iron with up to 5% siliceous (glassy)
slags, which take the form of linear fibres - giving the metal its characteristic grain.
This material is mass-produced iron from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
For handmade
wrought iron nails try blacksmiths Chris
Topp & Co.
You can learn more about iron
from the The Real Wrought Iron
Company.
Copyright © Glasgow Steel Nail
Co Ltd 1997- All rights reserved
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