The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-10-19
Economy in Using Nails.

There is often aagreat lack of economy
shown in the use of nails for different
kinds of work Sometimes the fault is
with the foreman and sometimes with
the workman. Ten-penny and twelve
penny nails are frequently employed
when siX-pennies would subserve more
satisfactory, as well as more ecOnOm-
ical purpose. Every workman who has
occasion to use nails of various sizes,
should provide q neat nail-boX, having
about six compartments, for as many
different kinds of nails. A suitable box
for holding nails may be made of thin
boards, eighteen inches long by ten
inches wide, with flaring sides, and a
division board through the middle. 1t
should be provided with a suitable han
die in the upper part. and such q nail
box will always be found more cOnven-
lent than some old dish that may be
turned over at touch.
If a workman is not sufficiently inter-
ested in choosing nails of the most suit
able size for a given piece of work, the
intelligent boss should point out to him
the advantages of using nails of proper
size. When one is mailing down floor
ING, for example, it will be found mat
ter of economy to use eight-penny nails,
especially if the joist or sleepers are
hard timber. Whenever an eight-penny
nail will hold board or stick of timber,
it will be more economical to use eight
penny than nails of a larger size. In
many instances, when a workman is
mailing on siding, the studs, posts or
beams, in certain places may be unu-
sually hard and gnarly; in all such
places, a six-penny nail can be driven in
with facility, whereas, a ten-penny nail
viii double up and very likely split the
siding or casing before it is driven half
its length.
When balloon frames are being erect
ed, the sides of the joists are often
nailed to the studs with thirty-penny
nails, which argues a great lack OF
| economy, as more than an inch in
length of every nail will protrude be-
You'd the stud. By employing for this
purpose ten-penny nails which viii
| barely extend through the jOist and
stud, and driving in two or three more,
/ the joint will be rendered much sitter,
/ even by the use of a less weight OF
nails.
There is also a great lack of economy
when more nails are used than are alb
! solutely necessary for the well doing OF
/ the work, though nails enough to hold
| the work permanently together will be
]
whatever may be used beyond a re-
quisite number may be computed as Sc
much clear loss.
The jOists of a building are often
placed only twelve inches apart, Work
men frequently drive two nails through
every board into each jOist One-haH
the number of nails would serve the de
sired purpose quite as well, thus saving
not only the nails but the time en-
ployed to drive them.
When making picket fence, for ex-
ample, two ten-penny nails are frequent
" employed at one end of q picket
where one eight-penny nail would an
swer quite as well, if q ribbon was
nailed over all the piekets, with a few
thirty-penny nails reaching well into the
rails or runners of the fence. The same
economy may be exercised when one is
putting on battens over the joints o.
vertical siding If the studs are suff
GENTLY hard to hold nail as well as
hemlOck, small Fights may be employed
rather than tens. And this sort o.
economy may be exercised in numerOu;
kinds of mechanical operations with adj
vantage to the work itself and with profit
to the proprietor.
During the operation ofbuilding bOarC
fences, where the posts are made O
hard seasoned timber, it is a common
occurrence to see workmen using large
ten-penny and even twelve-penny build
nails at great disadvantage, a
such nails, in most instances. cannot b.
driven half their length into hard wood
Economy in time, in material, also, anC
in completing the work in a more sub
stantial manner, would argue in favo
of using short and strong fence nails il
lieu of long and slender building-nails
| IechnOkOgtSt-