Author Topic: wonder why they call them side nails? (Read 8269 times)

blunderbuss · « **on:** November 18, 2011, 08:42:57 PM »

I went to the hardware store back in my real poor days needing some lock screws (nails) and bought just two nails to make screws with and the clerk ask if I were building a house.

Ben I. Voss · « **Reply #1 on:** November 18, 2011, 09:28:29 PM »

Well, i guess that solves that mystery! And here I just thought it was a quaint old English term.

James Wilson Everett · « **Reply #2 on:** November 18, 2011, 09:54:36 PM »

Ha! I don't know, but perhaps for the same reason we all call it a screw driver when everyone knows it should be a turn screw. Please don't drive the screws, turn them in! English is such a funny language.

Bwana Asifewe

Jim

billd · « **Reply #3 on:** November 19, 2011, 12:03:05 AM »

It should be called a screw turner!! But then again, I park in my driveway and drive on the parkway.

flintriflesmith · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2011, 01:01:51 AM »

As any good carpenter knows that the tool called a screw driver is really for taking screws out---a hammer puts them in.

blunderbuss · « **Reply #5 on:** November 19, 2011, 03:25:22 AM »

Then there is the hot water heater ,everyone knows hot water doesn't need heating

Kermit · « **Reply #6 on:** November 19, 2011, 03:26:59 AM »

When I was a younger pup and just starting my own shop, one of the suppliers reps stopped in with a deal on 3 1/2" screws. Real cheap. Just what we used for hanging cabinets. Had to buy a 40# keg though. Turned out to be worthless. No amount of pilot boring would keep those phillips heads from stripping out. Never saw such soft steel. Could have been white brass, they were so bad. I finally gave them to a friend who was framing a house. They became helical-shanked X-head framing nails.

Wouldn't work today since carpenters all travel with compressors, hoses, and guns. Rarely pick up a hammer, it seems.

Glenn · « **Reply #7 on:** November 19, 2011, 04:53:23 AM »

That's a new one on me. Never heard of the term "side nails" ...

flintriflesmith · « **Reply #8 on:** November 19, 2011, 05:54:38 AM »

They are also called "lock nails."

Glenn · « **Reply #9 on:** November 19, 2011, 08:12:57 AM »

Quote from: flintriflesmith on November 19, 2011, 05:54:38 AM

They are also called "lock nails."

LOL ... never heard of that one neither. All of these terms are totally new to me.

James Wilson Everett · « **Reply #10 on:** November 19, 2011, 03:13:20 PM »

This thread is really funny! Maybe ALR should open up a comedy discussion section. But, we are no different than the old timers who brought their smooth bore rifle into the tavern and then drank a half gallon of small beer.

blunderbuss · « **Reply #11 on:** November 19, 2011, 08:44:55 PM »

There is a parade in a small Texas town and a bunch of us take part in the parade when we were finished we went past a genuine old time saloon I mean pressed tin ceiling, brass rails and working model spittoons even the pretty lady on the wall behind the bar, every thing original. Well we were toting our ML rifles and pistols & hawks one of us went in to see where we could stack our hardware. The owner looked kinda supprised and said "well we want to see them bring them in and put them on the bar" so we did .We ask if we could get in trouble and he told us no one around here cares,don't shoot anyone and every thing will be OK. We agreed we thought we could manage that, so we settled down (with a few not so small beers) explaining our hardware to the folks in the saloon.

D. Taylor Sapergia · « **Reply #12 on:** November 20, 2011, 03:48:29 AM »

I've often made lock nails from 1/4" x 20 tpi carriage bolts...turned them down to # 10 and threaded them 3/16" x 24. Those bolts have a nice round head that is ideal for this use.

welafong1 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 20, 2011, 04:32:57 AM »

hi
in the 18Th century the screws and the nails where they mictick in size ? hope i spelled that right
thank you
Richard Westerfield

James Wilson Everett · « **Reply #14 on:** November 20, 2011, 04:59:02 AM »

In the 18th c screws - both machine screws and wood screws were not standardized at all, there was no interchangeability. So they were neither metric nor were they inch or English.

welafong1 · « **Reply #15 on:** November 20, 2011, 06:22:00 AM »

hi i seen some screw plates with handle on eBay i was wondering if there the same ones on this site
thank you
Richard Westerfield

James Wilson Everett · « **Reply #16 on:** November 20, 2011, 03:40:33 PM »

The screw plates on E-Bay are probably antique, just like some of the ones shown on this site. Generally, screw plates predate screw standardization and interchangeability. Try to get one in good condition that has some screw sizes close to what is used for gunlocks and "sidenails". There are some good photos of screw plates on some other threads here which date to the late 18th c - early 19th c.

jim Everett

blunderbuss · « **Reply #17 on:** November 20, 2011, 07:07:08 PM »

some time you can open your die or close close slightly it to make a fit for a original . Other wise make a new screw and re-tap

dannybb55 · « **Reply #18 on:** November 20, 2011, 10:56:22 PM »

This should really lead us to a discussion about local measures like the foot and the inch and proprietary industrial Gauges in the Colonial UK.
If you really want to get confused try to understand Spanish measurements. A vertical Vara was shorter than a Horizontal Vara. That must have been fun in a St Louis or Havana gun shop.

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Author Topic: wonder why they call them side nails? (Read 8269 times)

blunderbuss

billd

blunderbuss

blunderbuss

welafong1

welafong1

blunderbuss

dannybb55