Nails (hardware) megaConverter #12
INFORMATION PAGE

Introduction and Overview

This megaConverter is intended to provide a count of nails per weight of various standard hardware nails for the construction and building industry. Not every type of nail is included and at first only one manufacturer of nails will be referenced. Other manufacturers may follow, although it is expected their sizes will not vary greatly. Nail sizes are not standardized yet, other than the reference to length by the penny designation. This designation came from Britain where each size originally cost so many pennies or pence per pound. The symbol for pence "d" is still used when referring to the size of nails. The gauge of nails is defined by the US Steel Wire Gauge. See Wire Density megaConverter #13 for a description of the actual diameter of the various gauges.

Nails come in many different types. Some are thick and heavy, such as Common nails, for driving in heavy lumber. Some are thin and light, such as Box nails, for driving in thin lumber to prevent splitting. Some have big heads, like Shingle nails or Roofing nails, to prevent them from pulling through the material. Some have small heads, like Brads, to allow them to be driven flush. Some have serrations, like Pole Barn nails, or are coated, like Cement-coated nails, to make them harder to pull out. There are other specialized types of nails for all sorts of uses, too many to include here. Your local hardware store or lumber yard has descriptions of many they carry and some that they do not, but can special order.

* Much of our written history still refers to things in common units. The Bible does not refer to meters or kilograms, but to cubits and stadia, or shekels and drachma. Wouldn't it be nice to know what they were talking about way back then? Now you can use megaConverter! For a more complete listing of ancient, foreign, and obsolete measures, download our 'megaSpreadsheet' of conversions in MS Excel format.

Note: Because of round-off errors, converting from very large units to very small units or vice-versa may not be accurate (or practical). Conversion factors can be found by converting a quantity of 1 unit to another unit several steps above or below the first. You may need to string several conversion factors together to find the factor from a very large unit to a very small unit, and then you can use a calculator with sufficient digits to find your answer.