Key to Age of Antique Metal Nails

Context, Head, Shank, Details Help ID Age a Nail

Antique Nail & Spike Aging Questions and Inspection Points

1: Nail / Spike Location

Where was the nail, spike, tack found: Country, city, building, lake, river or stream

For example the the first mass produced nails appeared in Europe in the 1400s; The First Nail Making Machines appeared in Europe around 1590 as Slitting Mills.

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.

1775-1783 American Revolution: American colonists shifted to local production of nails and nail import from England was reduced.

2. Age of nail's surrounding materials - contextual information

If the nail was found in a building, what is the age of the building and when were renovations or additions made to the building?

Also what type of building was it: home, barn, commercial structure, deck, wharf, ship, boat, or even an antique aircraft?

What is the history of the area where the nail or spike was found? See our examples below

at ANCIENT ROMAN NAILS

at INVERNESS CANAL IRON TOOLS & SPIKES

and at ESOPUS MEADOWS LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND SPIKE - using historical context of surroundings to guess the purpose and age of iron nails artifacts.

Take a look at this little antique cut-nail - it's twisted so you may be fooled but this is a machine made but small cut nail.

Look at where it's found: this is a strip of wood lath.

So we can be pretty sure that this is a lath nail. The increase in width below the cut nail head followed again by decrease tells us something about the manner in which this cut nail was sliced from the iron blank and thus more about its age, as we'll explain below.

Now if this lath scrap is, for example, from an old house I restored at 28 West St. in Wappingers Falls NY (known as "the bleachery") we know when that house was built and thus we can make a pretty good guess that original wood lath in the home dates from around the U.S. Civil War, perhaps 1865 to about 1880.

Incidentally if you look closely you'll see the saw cut kerf marks faintly visible on this wood lath.

More help: SAW & AXE CUTS, TOOL MARKS, AGE

After making what use you can of surrounding mud, dirt, debris to understand the nail's context and history, get the crud off to get a better look at the nail.

Also see NAIL & HARDWARE CLEAN-UP

Also see RAILROAD SPIKE AGE - CONTEXTUAL CLUES

3. Nail Application or Use

Earliest hand-wrought spikes and nails appeared principally in wood frame construction; later nails were also used for decorative purposes, nailed in patterns, for example.

Photo: hand-wrought sprites. Notice the irregular width? Note the absence of heads?

Example: Clinched nails:

Was the nail clinched - hammered through with its end bent-over?

If so, is the nail hand wrought or machine made?

Cut nails made in North America before the 1830s would not have been used for clinched nailing (ends would break off)

On this page we continue with more keys to determine the age of old nails and fasteners.

If you want to identify the probably nail type or its intended use

see NAIL ID & AGE: HAND FORGED NAILS - hand wrought nails made by hammering

see NAIL ID & AGE: CUT NAILS - machine cut nails including early hand-operated nail cutting machinery, some with hand-forged heads.

More help: AGE of a BUILDING, HOW to DETERMINE

More help: WINDOW HARDWARE AGE

4. Color, Condition of & Marks on Wood or Other Materials Surrounding the Nail

A look at saw cuts and tool marks on wood, for example can date when the lumber was manufactured.

More help: see these articles on tool and saw marks and other lumber age details:

• FRAMING AGE, SIZE, SPACING, TYPES
• FRAMING MATERIAL AGE
• FRAMING METHODS, AGE, TYPES
• SAW & AXE CUTS, TOOL MARKS, AGE

Take a look at any stains around the nail where it penetrates wood, plaster, fabric, or other materials.

Older hand-wrought nails were often less prone to heavy exfoliating rust and will leave less-dark and less-extensive rust stains in their surrounding material.

• Machová, Dita, Jan Baar, Zuzana Paschová, Petr Pařil, Jana Křenková, and Jozef Kúdela. "Color changes and accelerated ageing in oak wood treated with ammonia gas and iron nanoparticles." European Journal of Wood and Wood Products 77, no. 4 (2019): 705-716.
• Selwyn, Lyndsie, Clifford Cook, W. Ross McKinnon, Ron Fairman, and Sylvie Labroche. IRON STAIN REMOVAL FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPOSITE ARTIFACTS MADE OF WOOD AND IRON [PDF] Journal of the Canadian Association for Conservation = Journal de l'Association canadienne pour la conservation et la restauration 38 (2013): p-31.
• Farber, Eduard. "Chemical deterioration of wood in the presence of iron." Industrial & Engineering Chemistry 46, no. 9 (1954): 1968-1972.
• Marian, J. E., and A. Wissing. "The chemical and mechanical deterioration of wood in contact with iron. Part 1. Mechanical deterioration. Part 2. Chemical decomposition. Part 3. Effect of some wood preservatives. Part 4. Prevention of deterioration." Svensk papperstidning 63, no. 3-6 (1960): 47-83.
• Whitney, Wi R. "THE CORROSION OF IRON." Journal of the American Chemical Society 25, no. 4 (1903): 394-406.
• Williams, R. Sam. "Weathering of wood." Handbook of wood chemistry and wood composites 7 (2005): 139-185.
• Zelinka, Samuel L., Rebecca J. Sichel, and Donald S. Stone. "Exposure testing of fasteners in preservative treated wood: gravimetric corrosion rates and corrosion product analyses." Corrosion Science 52, no. 12 (2010): 3943-3948.
• Zidan, Y., El Hadidi, N.M.N., Abo Elgat, W., EFFECT of IRON RUST on ARCHAEOLOGICAL WOOD (Gun No. 7/14) [PDF] Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt,

5. Physical properties of the nail or spike itself can give nail age & age of building or furniture or tools

Take a look at the nail size (length, diameter), shank, point, head and tip

5.1. Nail size

Earlier nails were often larger spikes used to replace treenails in post and beam or other wood construction; later smaller hand made nails appear even for use in securing wood lath for plaster walls.

Example: ask when plaster was first used in the area where your hand wrought or cut wood-lath nails were used.

Early small nails:

1806 - Blanchard Tack Making Machine - 1806

5.2 Nail head properties

Is the head round and flat (modern), round and hammered (antique to modern), or obviously irregular and hand-wrought?

Is the nail head formed by hand on a machine-cut shank?

Photo: hand-wrought nail head

In North America:

• 1700 - onwards: North America Rose Head nails
• ca 1770 - 1800 & later: L-headed brads
• 1790 - 1820: In North America early machine cut nails with hand-wrought heads: 1790 - 1820
• 1805 - present: Nails made completely by machine, nail head, first appeared as sprigs and brads -1805 - continuing to the present. (Nelson US NPS)
• First generation cut nails show cut from common sides; nail heads hammered on in a separate production step.
• 1810 - 1820: cut nails made cut from opposing sides; heads hammered on as a separate production step.
• Before 1830: irregular and possibly off-center head,
• Before 1830: head was hammered to permit counter-sinking
• 1815 - 1830s: first machine made nail heads.

Above: a machine made shingle nail.

Photos above and below: machine made nail heads may include lines or may resemble rose-head nails but with a very regular appearance as they were machine formed in identical shapes.

Below: machine cut nail with a wrought head.

• After 1830: nail heads uniform & convex on both sides\
• After 1882: extensive use of steel rather than iron in the production of blanks for the fabrication of nails
• 1890 & later: nail making machinery had advanced to produce cut nails at high volume and low cost and at improved reliability. (Hardware Merchandising 7 Feb 1890)

More help: See NAIL BURRS discussed at

More help: NAIL MAKING MACHINES 1790

More help: NAILS, HAND WROUGHT

5.2 Nail shank as an indicator of nail age & splits or direction of iron fibres

Is the shank obviously hand wrought with hammer marks?

Is the nail shank obviously cut with straight or straight-tapered sides?

If the nail (or spike) was cut, are the cut marks on diagonally opposite sides of the nail? The type of cutting can set the nail age.

Illustration: splits in this antique nail probably indicate direction of its iron fibres - parallel to the shank dimension - discussed below.

See more

at NAIL SPLITS & CRACKS vs AGE

• Nail shank shape and markings:

Is the shank square - more-common in nails hand-made before 1800

Is the nail shank roughly rectangular but not square - common in nails from 1800 to present in wrought and cut nails

Is the nail shank round? - typical of modern wire nails drawn from wire and machine made; usually wire nails also show clinch marks under the nail head where the wire was held during machine forming of the nail head.

5.3 Nail point:

The point or sharp tip on early cut nails and hand-wrought nails was often made by filing. Is the point on your nail symmetrical or irregular suggesting hand-sharpening?
Photo: flat-hammered tip of a hand-wrought iron spike.

More help: NAILS, AGE & HISTORY - topic home where we give a chronology of types of nails from 300B.C. to the present. Be sure you also review that article when looking at your own found nail or spike.

...

Ancient Roman Nails

Photos & Information about Ancient Roman Nails

On 2022-01-07 1 by David Platt

I wonder if you might help me identify this nail. It was found in Kent, UK, between Northfleet and Southfleet where Roman remains have been found previously.

There is no sign of burrs so does not appear to be ‘cut’ form sheet, it is, rather, wrought (hammer marks seem to be present on shaft).

The head is irregular and tapers into the shaft. No presence of ‘low pyramid’ head and the grain seems to run along the entire nail length, no stamping present on the nail.

[See Mr. Platt's nail photo above - Ed.]

Moderator Response to reader @David Platt,

Some nice details about ancient Roman nails can be read in

Dungworth, David, MYSTIFYING ROMAN NAILS: CLAVUS ANNALIS, DEFIXIONES AND MINKISI [PDF] in TRAJ, Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal, Contact: https://traj.openlibhums.org/contact/

Excerpt:

Introduction

Iron nails are found on almost every Roman period site in Britain but their ubiquity and apparently straightforward nature has meant that they are at times taken for granted and even ignored .

On some occasions publications may do little more than note that nails were recovered durin g excavation.

There is of course the famous hoard of iron nails from the fortress at Inchtuthill where nearly a million nails (10 tonnes) were found in a single pit . (Pitts and St. Joseph 1985).

The Roman nail cache found at Inchtuthil, Perthshire (UK) are also discussed in this nice Australian article:

• BURIED NAILS RESIST CORROSION for 2000 YEARS [PDF] (2019) Australian Corrosion Association, 30A Jessie St, Preston, VIC 3072 AUSTRALIA +61 3 86087900 Email: aca@corrosion.com.au- retrieved 2022/01/11 original source: https://membership.corrosion.com.au/blog/buried-nails-resist-corrosion-for-2000-years/
  More about Roman nails - (ancient)

and see

• Sharp, Evan Galen, A COMPARISON OF ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN METAL STRUCTURAL FITTINGS [PDF] (2011). Theses and
  Dissertations (Comprehensive). 1029. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1029
• C. Mapelli, W. Nicodemi, R. F. Riva, M. Vedani, E. Gariboldi , NAILS OF THE ROMAN LEGIONARY AT INCHTUTHIL [PDF]
  Abstract:
  
  This study is focused on the nails found at Inchtuthil, Perthshire (UK) dated back to 87 A.D.. The investigated nails were analyzed to characterize these objects.
  
  After the sectioning of the sample, an accurate optical microscopy examination has been performed in order to study the different structural constituents composing the microstructure. SEM-EDS analysis allowed to quantitatively characterize the chemical composition of non-metallic inclusions, while the SEM-EBSD examination revealed the crystallographic textures featuring the examined alloy.
  
  This information, coupled with the measurements of the micro-hardness suggests a new hypothesis on the plastic deformation process adopted for the realization of the observed nail.
  
  Excerpt from Introduction:
  
  The nails found at Inchtuthil, Pertshire, are one of the most interesting and consistent findings performed in the 20th century about the Roman steelmaking production1,2,3). The Roman fortress at Inchtuthil covered around 20.000m2 and was probably capable of holding some 5.500 men.
  
  The nail have been found in a pit 3.6m deep and covered under 1.8m of clean beaten earth.
  
  This operation has probably been performed on 87A.D. in order to avoid that the nails can fall into hands of the Scot tribes, which prized the iron based products more than the silver and gold ones for the intrinsic potential of this material in the production of weapons and structural devices.
• Strickland, Michael Harold. ROMAN BUILDING MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION METHODS, AND ARCHITECTURE: THE IDENTITY OF AN EMPIRE [PDF] Thesis, Clemson University, 2010.
• Glasgow Steel Nail, "Roman Nails" [web article] , Glasgow Steel Nail Co 457 School Street Mansfield Massachusetts 02048 USA Tel: +1 508-339-4500 Email info@glasgowsteelnail.comwebsite: http://www.glasgowsteelnail.com/romans.HTM
  Excerpt:
  
  Iron nails of all sizes were made by the Roman legion's blacksmiths in their workshop (fabrica) by smelting the iron ore and forming the nails by hand, producing a square tapered nail with a large head. The larger nails were used to hold the wooden stockade around the fort in place.
  
  They were also used to bind the timber roofing of the fort buildings. At the Roman fort of Inchtuthil in Perthshire, a hoard of over 875,000 iron nails weighing 7 tonnes was found.
  
• Villa, Silvia Alfayé, Chapter Twelve. Nails For The Dead: A Polysemic Account Of An Ancient Funerary Practice In: Magical Practice in the Latin West, Pages: 427–456 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004179042.i-676.83 Papers from the International Conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30 Sept. – 1st Oct. 2005
  Introduction [Excerpt]
  
  Italian scholars have recently re-opened an old debate about the func-tion of nails discovered in Greek and Roman cremation and inhuma-tion tombs.
  
  Although some are undoubtedly utilitarian, the widespread presence, in the Greek world as well as in the Roman Empire, of single nails in graves, especially cremation graves, suggests they were delib-erately buried with the grave-goods.
  
  Ever since the nineteenth century scholars have generally interpreted isolated nails of this sort as apotropaic, as talismans to protect the dead person from the dangers of the Afterlife.
  
  The alternative view has been that the dead were to be symbolically confi ned to the grave in order to prevent them from becoming revenants. Th ere has however as yet been no synthetic study of the main problems connected with the intentional deposit of nails in defunctive contexts in the Graeco-Roman world.
  
  The purpose of this paper is to off er a summary survey of the archaeological material, mainly in the western part of the Roman Empire, followed by evalua-tion of the discussion it has evoked.

Our best and most complete advice are in the steps given above on this page.

Ancient Roman nails will show signs of hand forging, are generally square with a tapered shank and a relatively flat head. But really visual inspection of the nail alone is not likely to be sufficient to date it to Roman times.

The context of where the nail was found and surrounding materials are helpful. You'll read in some of the research papers we'll cite on ancient Roman nails that examinations have been done of the structure of the iron using SEM, scanning electron microscopy.

In essence, as you’ll read above, when estimating the age, properties, use, and history of a metal fastener like a nail, spike, or screw, we look at

1. the item itself for clues about how it was made, of what materials, and in some cases iron fibre direction that can bracket age of manufacture

2. contextual clues: what we know from surrounding materials, location, history of the area, etc.

You have already determined some of this information which is great.

You may also find interesting this page:

HISTORY AND PHOTOS OF NAILS

Followup by David Platt - what was the metal grain direction in Roman nails?

In which direction did the metal grain go in Roman nail? I can see it as an advantage for a nail!
Being new to this I wish I could identify it conclusively - any tips? Thank you. - On 2022-01-09

Repl7 by Inspectapedia Com Moderator (mod)

@David Platt,

Adding from the page above,

For nails whose iron grain runs longitudinally or in the direction of the shank, that can be taken as consistent with 17th through early 19th centuries, Hand-Wrought Nails

Key to Nail Shank, Head, Tip Properties vs Nail Age

Informed by Phillips' "Revised Chronology of Cut Nails in New England: Wrought and Cut Nail Characteristics", (1993) cited in detail

at NAILS & HARDWARE, AGE RESEARCH

• 17th through early 19th centuries, Hand-Wrought Nails
  
  Nail shank characteristics: no burrs (found on cut nails), all 4 sides taper, iron grains run in the direction of the nail shank or longitudinally, nail shank rectangle is irregular in cross-section
  
  Nail head characteristics: head is hand-hammered, two to six facets, 4-faceted rose-head nail was most-common
  
  Nail tip: flat bill or pointed
  
  Watch out: modern reproductions of hand-wrought nails are still provided (2021) by companies such as the Tremont nail company.
• 1790 - 1820: first cut nails in North America
  
  Cut nail shank characteristics: regular in cross-section; Phillips noted that earliest cut nails are parallelogram in cross-section. iron grains run across the nail shank; two sides of the nail will be parallel, the other two sides will taper. (This is because the nail was cut from a pre-flattened blank). Burrs along the shank appear on diagonally-opposite edges.
  
  Machine-headed cut nails: If the nail head was machine-made, the neck is pinched under the nail head, then widens before tapering to a point.
  
  Hand-headed cut nails: 2 - 6 facets, usually Rose-headed w/ 4 facets; may be bent over to form a brad-head.
  
  Machine-headed nails, with head made in a step and on a machine separate from forming the nail shank, nail head is flat, thin, irregular, and may have rough jagged edges; nail head will be eccentric or off-set with respect to the shank.
  
  Nail tip: rounded
  
  
• Prior to 1830 Cut Nails
  
  As described at 1790 - 1820, burrs may be on opposing sides of the nail shank depending on the cutting machine
  
  Nail Shank of irregular width indicates prior to 1830
  
  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.
  
  See more at NAIL SPLITS & CRACKS vs AGE
  
  In North America before the 1830s the iron fibres in machine cut nails ran across the nail shank, causing the nail to break off if the user tried to clinch it's protruding end.
  
  Successfully bent-over or clinched cut nails= manufactured by machine after 1830
• After 1810 - ca 1840 Transitional Machine Cut Nail Properties
  
  Or by Phillips (1993), "Transitional Machine-Cut Nails, Post 1810 - c. 1840, possibly as early as 1807"
  
  Nail shank: regular rectangle in cross-section, iron grains run across the nail shank (horizontal in some texts), so attempts to bend over or clinch the tip will break off the nail.
  
  2 sides parallel, other sides tapered (again, because the nail was cut from a flat blank),
  
  Burrs will be on a common side, not on diagonally-opposed sides (Phillips 1993);
  
  beveled area under nail head extends no more than 1/4 of shank length
  
  Nail head: now made on same machine as cut the nail shank - a "one operation" machine performs both shank cut and head formation;
  
  these nails are usually thicker than earlier, more-regular in shape and size, & the nail head will be centered on the nail shank (as are modern cut nails).
  
  Nail tip or end: rounded

Sketch above excepted from Nelson cited in references. Nail photo courtesy of InspectApedia. reader "A".

Below: an early machine cut nail with side burrs. Notice the irregular shank width and the rounding of the shank under the head, probably from clamping.

Really? The observation that the taper runs down 1/3 or more of the shank length argues that the above photo is actually of a "modern" machine cut nail, post 1830.

Also at our yellow line pointing out side burrs you'll see what may be a longitudinal split in the nail; if so the iron fibres run lengthwise not across the nail, also arguing for a "modern" cut nail (1835 - 1890) - Ed.

• After c 1835 - ca. 1890 "Modern" Machine-Cut Nails (in North America)
  
  Nail shank: regular rectangle in cross section,
  
  iron grains run along the direction of the nail shank or long-ways (nail can be bent over or clinched without breaking),
  
  2 shank sides taper other 2 sides are parallel (cut from a flat blank),
  
  Cutting machine leaves burrs on two edges of the same side of the nail (as the blank was not flipped-over to make a second side cut), i.e. the cut nail burrs show that cuts were from same side
  
  Shank width is uniform / uniformly-tapered on both sides except that
  
  Shank bevel under the head may extend 1/3 or more down the length of the shank
  
  Nail head: machine-made, centered on the nail shank, or "concentric to the shank"
  
  Cut nail heads produced on a one-operation machine are thicker than older generation, are regular in shape and size
  
  Nail tip or end: square-cut
  
  May have been used for clinching
  
  Our photo below illustrates these cut nail features including splits along the shank length indicating the direction of the iron fibers. (Accordion lath nails in photo).
  
  

  

  Antique cut-nails provided by an InspectApedia.com reader: two cutting/stamping burrs appear on the same side of the nail suggest the nail may have been made after 1840.
  
  Photo below: the raised center rib along the shank tells us that this is a modern reproduction cut nail.
  

Photo below: machine made reproduction of an antique cut nail. Note the variation in shank diameter is irregular - the nail tapers below the head, then gets wider, then more-narrow to the nail tip. This was a machine cut boat nail.

Cut nail shanks that widen and then become more narrow again towards the point are dated by various sources as 1790 - 1820,

while cut nail shanks that taper at a uniform rate from under the head to the nail tip are generally dated as 1830 or later (in North America) or by some sources, 1810 or later. (Visser, U. Vt.)

More help: NAIL ID & AGE: HAND FORGED NAILS - using reproductions of antique cut nails by the Tremont Nail Co.

• 1850 & later: Modern round shank "wire" nails
  
  More help: WIRE NAILS
• 1950 & later: Modern nail-gun fasteners
  
  Thin shank, small head, round or cut sides, bonded together for use in automatic pneumatic or electric or gas-powered nail guns, including construction nails, roofing nails, staples, and wire brads; small brads also fired from spring-loaded or electric tools.