A Man's Guide to Understanding Nails & Screws
August 17, 2011, By Ryan Tetzlaff 0 comments
When is it appropriate to use nails, screws or bolts? How do you know what the difference between an 8d and 10d nail is? Why can’t I just buy wood screws for everything?
Here's the lowdown on the right tool for the job:
Nails
Nails are one of the oldest and most commonly used fasteners in the world. They come in many different sizes and widths, but each has common features. Each type of nail has a head and a shank.
Nail heads can come in different sizes and shapes, which can be used in different applications. Most heads are flat, but some brad and finishing nails have a small head slightly larger than the shank that can be used to countersink them. The nail shank in most cases is smooth, but there are spiral and ring-shaped shanks for use in hardwood and softwood applications, respectively.
One thing that I always had issues understanding was nail terminology such as 10d, 12d and so on. What the heck is a "d"? In short, "d" stands for penny. It makes perfect sense now. Maybe not…
The penny measuring system dates back to England and indicated the price of 100 nails of a specific size. In the US, this penny measuring system still is used but obviously prices have inflated a bit since the 15th century. The rules for figuring out nail size is a bit sketchy but can be understood if you memorize them. Maybe you’ll decide not to memorize and just look at the box of nails instead.
Each "d" adds either ¼” or ½” to the length of the nail. 2d starts at 1” and increases ¼” until you get to 10d. 11d is skipped but 12d is 3 ¼” and then jumps to 16d and again to 20d. After 20d the nail sizes go up in increments of 10d – 20d, 30d, 40d and so on—with each increment adding ½”.
