About this deal
If we exclude nails coated with a galvanized or other material, mo Splits in a rusted or damaged nail shank illustrate the direction of iron fibres in the iron and can indicate the nail age. Across-shank = before 1830; parallel to shank = machine-made cut nail. More help: NAIL ID & AGE: HAND FORGED NAILS - using reproductions of antique cut nails by the Tremont Nail Co.
Close-up magnified, even stereo-microscopic examination of nail details that can give cut lines (the article above translates cut nail marks to give age ranges), hammer marks, etc. Very nice, looks hand wrought. Are there any splits in the nail that would indicate the direction of the iron grain? That can be a clue to age. Magnetic = iron. If it wasn't detected by some equipment that may be due to a small total mass and a lot of rusted content.
Wooden nails - Tree Nails or Treenails, Post & Beam Construction
So you didn't worry how much came through because you could just bend it over. I haven't been able to find any info on them. Keep in mind that nails were often imported from one area to another. For example in North America nails were imported to the Colonies from Europe. So you may find a machine made nail in an area where there was no nail making machinery at all. Thank you for the helpful photos of your antique nail. My estimate of the age of your nail is 1830 or a bit older, with an "earliest" date of 1815.
Thank you. That was my suspicion. It's cool to have found such a personal item from the original homestead. Nail head characteristics: head is hand-hammered, two to six facets, 4-faceted rose-head nail was most-common Nelson, Lee, Nail Chronology As An Aid to Dating Old Buildings, Technical Leaflet 48. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1968 Went out metal detecting with my kids today along the Delaware river a little bit north of Philly. Aside from an intact Remington 30 cal. bullet from 1919, the most interesting finds were the old nails. I am particularly interested in identifying the large spike but if anyone sees anything else they can tell me about please do. The large spike measures 10" in length. The spike itself is square but the head is round(ish) or possibly a rose head. Any info on a potential time frame or likely usage would be awesome. We give a chronology: the history of nails, types & methods of fabrication, and we describe antique and modern cut nails focusing on tree nails, wrought nails, and cut nails used in wood frame construction or interior finishing or carpentry work.
Above are nails used to secure accordion lath - a plaster base found in a rural U.S. post-and-beam home in Wyoming County, New York.