Box nails are generally available in lengths from one inch to three and a half inches. This means they are less likely to cause splits in the wood as they displace less wood, they also have less holding power, so are not generally used where structural strength is critical. These look like common nails, but are thinner. The largest common nails are colloquially known as spikes. Used for rough construction work, the common nail can be purchased in lengths varying from one to six inches (2d to 60d). The following are eleven of the most common kinds of nails.Īs the name suggests, these are your everyday nails. The steel may be plain or galvanized, the latter being the right choice for damp applications where a rust-resistant nail is required.
Nails are made of brass, aluminum, and copper, though most often of steel. Various nails are manufactured for specific purposes, with differently proportioned and shaped heads and shafts.
They vary in size and in other ways as well. Wire nails are indeed the rule today, but not all wire nails are the same. The word penny is often abbreviated in the British style by the letter d (for denarius, a Roman coin) - as in “3d nails,” for example, to identify “threepenny nails.” Nails shorter than one inch are generally identified by fractions of an inch rather than by pennies. The pricing structure has long since been abandoned (today, nails are sold by the pound), but the nomenclature of the penny survives. In an earlier era, one hundred nails of a certain size cost three pennies hence the name “threepenny nail.” One hundred nails of the next size cost four pennies, and so on. Dating from the days when nails cost a lot more than they do today, the term penny identifies the size of a nail. Nails are sometimes referred to by their length in inches, but more often the traditional terminology of the penny is used. The nail functions by displacing wood fibers when it is pounded into the workpiece, and the pressure exerted against the shaft by the displaced wood provides the holding power. These paints also provide a high degree of protection against corrosion when applied to steel.The parts of the nail are the head, shank or shaft, point, and the gripper marks – slight grooves incised into the shank near the head of most (but not all) varieties of nails. This paint is preferred where the combination of moisture and alkali cause the disintegration of ordinary paints and varnishes. Additionally, these materials are used for lining ponds and basins to prevent pond contaminants from seeping into the soil and causing groundwater and soil contamination.Ĭoncrete paint is produced by mixing varnish with dissolved elastomeric materials. This lining also protects the elastomer from abrasion and high heat. They can be used as the lining of vessels or tanks, coatings of materials and water-resistant roofing.Įlastomeric materials are used to produce a variety of products, for example: hoses, cable insulation, o-rings, seals and gaskets, belts, vibration mounts, flexible couplings, expansion joints, electrical parts, and automotive and airplane parts.Įlastomeric or rubber materials are also used extensively as membranes in acid-brick lined vessels to protect the steel shell from corrosive attack. It has a wide field of applications such as paints, coatings, linings and roofing.Įlastomeric materials are used to protect against corrosion. An elastomeric material has high tear strength, is dimensionally more stable in storage, highly waterproof and corrosion resistant. This can be seen when stretching a coiled chain, which uncoils and snaps back to its original coil state when the force is removed. Therefore, they regain their original shape after the removal of loads. In elastomeric materials, polymer molecules have weak interaction among them. An elastomer is a rubber-like polymer that demonstrates an elastic behavior at the time of loading.