>>Another trick, not so easy done with a cut nail, is to pre-bend the nail
for nailing on a curve.

We called it U-turn nailing. My dad said you used to be able to get them,
but we had to make our own by filing the point to a single flat bevel.
Audel's
(Vol. 1, page 44) calls it "side point." The nail drives down through the
top board, into the board beneath, does a U-turn, and comes back out right
next to its own head where you clinch it over. Saves going around to the
other side of the mill-house wall to clinch the boarding nails, which you
don't want to to when the mill hangs out over the river. You control
whether or not it comes back out and how far from the head by adjusting the
angle of the bevel. Those boards were never coming apart.

Those new to this list can read my "bent nail ethic" story on the Front
Porch at http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/frontporch/front.htm



John
by hammer and hand great works do stand
by pen and thought best words are wrought

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