Thread: Gauge of brads

Hello,
I don't know if I just want to bleat and get it off my chest, or see if anyone has a similar gripe and maybe find a solution.
I use a lot of small brads, which I call panel pins, in the stuff I make. I always have a stash of 12, 15, 20 and 25mm pins on hand. I think I've even had 10mm, but my fingers don't like hanging onto things that small when hammering! I'm in the middle of a batch of small wooden toys for Xmas sale and was running low on the bigger pins so went off to the local hardware store... not Bunnings but a chain none the less. I eventually located a few small packs and didn't take too much notice of the details.
Got home, and after the usual stuff, managed to get into the shed, beer in hand and Jay McShann on the stereo, everything is good with the world. Decanted the pins into the relevant boxes and ready to go...except these panel pins are more like nails! Split the first piece of moulding I went into, they are so fat! Checked the packet and they say 1.6mm, and there was no choice in the shop. I got out the vernier and sure enough the new 25mm pins are 1.6 and the 20mm are 1.2mm diameter. The older stock is 1.1mm, for both! Much nicer, slender and useful items for small work.
Now I'm sure if I went to every hardware store in town I might find some pins of different dimensions, but I doubt I'll find somewhere with a range of diameters, ie for different tasks. It just seems like a dumbing down of choice, of one size fits all mentality.
Why the thicker nail? Less prone to bending when hammered by the average Joe?? Average modern timber (MDF, finger joint pine) doesn't split like rosewood and silky? No one cares about such details?!
And the strangest thing for me is that for nearly everything metal in this society the trend is to make it smaller, thinner and weaker, so as to save costs on production. Here the manufacturers are adding nearly 1/3 the amount of steel to each nail, which seems pittance until its multiplied out.
Anyway, that's my winge for the day! I dug through the boxes and used the old stock in preference, so managed some progress. And the Oettinger pils was very nice!

Cheers