The size of nails is denoted by a numeric value and penny - dating form the days when one could buy 120 nails for 2,4,6,8,10 or more pennies. The abbreviation for penny is "d"
The parts of the nail are the point, the shank, and the head. Points can be sharp or tapered or blunt. Shanks can be twisted or ribbed. Heads can be oversized (like tacks), barely there(finishing nails, or doubled for ease in extraction. Nails can be made of iron, steel, High carbon steel, or aluminum.
When nails join two pieces of lumber 1/3 of the shank should go through the piece closes to the head of the nail and 2/3 of the nail shank should be in the other board.
HOW did 'd' become the abbreviation for penny?
The 'denarius' was an old Roman coin and as the centuries passed, the abbreviation 'd' eventually became associated with the old British penny.
In current usage in the United States, a 2d nail is 1 inch long. Each 1d increase is a ¼ inch increase in length up to 12d. A sixteen-penny nail is a ¼ inch longer than 12d, and the remaining sizes, beginning with 20d, are multiples of 10 and are each ½ inch longer than the preceding size. Common, box, and sinker are types of nails and refers to the diameter of the shank and the presence of a pattern on surface of the head - crosshatching keeps the hammer from slipping when driven on sinker nails.
Nails used to be pressed from sheets of steel or iron, now they are carbon infused steel and often coated with glues, zinc or other coatings for adhesion and or corrosive resistance capacities - nails having no coating are refered to as "bright".
So you choose the nail to the purpose you intend to us it for.
If you are framing a house with 2x4s - most people would use 16 or 20d adhesive coated sinkers.
If you are nailing together a deck that is of pressure treated lumber , corrosive resistant zinc coated galvonized spiral cut 12 d nails woould be long enough and strong enough and resistance to pulling out and rusting or staining the deck with rusty residue.
If you were installing moulding around an interior window finishing nails would be prefered as their small heads would not detract from the beauty of the wood you are trying to dispay.
If you are joining 4x4 posts to railroad ties to cover your garden's hotbeds 60d spikes would be big enough to hold securly to the crossties.
If youare building a temporary scaffold out of 2x4s you would use 16 d doubleheaded nails.
If you are putting down plywood sheeting on a wall ribbed tacks would work well to grab tight and hold pressure over time.
Now a test..
1. If you are nailing plywood subfloor that is 3/4 inch thick to 2x8 floorjoists inside your house
what it the smallest nail you should be able to use?
2. If you are nailing 3x4 pressure treated landscape timbers to fenceposts outside what is the smallest nail you can use and what kind of nail?
3. If you are building a wooden box out of thin 1/4 inch plywood nailed to 1x1.5 inch boards what kind of nails should you use and what size?
ANSWERS (1) 3/4x3=9/4 or 2 1/4 inches or 7d nails - odd numbers are rare so you would most likely buy 8ds but you could always buy bigger nails and space them a little further apart since since plywood doesnt split easily. Also the coating is not important so you could have common or bright withouany ill effets in this application.
(2) 3x4s would actually be only 2 3/4thick so for optimum you would need a nail that would be atleast 8.25 inches long you are talking 70 or 80 d spikes.
(3) This is a job for a 2d nail and even as tiny as they are protruding points will need to be bent over (called clinching)
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