Thread: Is there such a thing as a two-way nail?

Some people collect them, ebay them, you might make enough to buy some real systainers

I was after something like that a few years ago and ended up making my own. I ground the heads off a bunch of nails and sharpened them on the bench grinder.
They make great steel dowels.

Hope that is of some help, but then you've probably already figured that one out anyway.

Forgot to mention that I pushed one end in first before hammering the timber over them on the other end.

The problem is that if you are using nails as opposed to say a few mm of brad just to locate the boards, you will have to align them all perfectly or your pieces won't go together.

Imagine one nail at one angle and another at the opposite angle to see what I mean!

If you just want to locate the bits while the glue dries, use wire brads,knock them in to one piece, and snip them off a few mm from the surface with a pair of side cutters.

cheers,

P

I would not use PVA glue, I would use Selleys Durabond and clamp the boards together until the glue has cured, about 4 hours.
Wolffie

Originally Posted by Batpig

Is there such a thing as a two-way or two-ended nail (as in two sharp ends with a flat head halfway in between)?

The flat bit in the middle may create a (smal) gap - is this what you want.

As ToyBoy says I would just use regular nails as dowel. Drill holes, snip heads off nails, ease into the hole, apply glue and pop other board on top.

Dear Fellas,

Toyboy - I've got nearly two dozen of them to do and each one will have four boards on the bottom when I'm done with them, so I didn't really want to come into grinding that many nails. But a good idea nonetheless.

Bob - A good option to having to grind, but I don't have a drill press.......... yet...

Midge - sounds pretty darn not too shabby...

Wolffie - I just bought a litre of PVA! (but I'll look up Durabond nonetheless, because I'm going to be knocking up some Shaving Cabinets pretty soon...)

Burnsy - You're quite right. It appears that an example of those that I have recently went on Egay for $31! Some of mine are in much better "nick" than that one... I guess I could sell off the good ones and make Syst... I mean, ah, Stuff Modules, by picking out the good bits of the remaining bad ones...

Thanks everyone.
Batpig.

You lazy bugger.

Alright, what about getting a length of fencing wire or good old wire coat hangers and cutting them to the required length?

Predrill the holes in one side and shove the other bit on top to mark it out......then predrill these ones, and presto, they'll all fit.

OR.....dunno any more fantastic, brilliant and amazing ideas, but give me time.....

Don't you just love 'think tanks'?

I used to do similar, way back when. (Before I bought a biscuit joiner. )

At first, I simply drove the nails a few mm into piece A, snipped the ends with a pair of cutters, glued up piece B and then pulled it all together using sash clamps to keep both planks planar.

I'd made a blanket box this way and a BIG bloke sat on the lid, breaking it along the joint. That's when I discovered that the nails pointy ends drove into piece A much, much further than the snipped ends went into piece B. As Midge said, it's great for holding in position while glue dries, but not much more than that.

For a while after that I'd place the two pieces into the sash clamps without glue, so the clipped ends marked piece B and I could remove the piece, predrill some holes at the marks and then glue up.

But it's a lot of fiddling for little gain... as I said, I ended up buying a biscuit joiner instead.

Dear Skew, the boards are a bit thin for Bickies...

Just thinking about it now, though, I might borrow my brother's Bolt Cutters and see how sharp a stub they leave when cutting the head off a nail. Might be sharp enough to do the job, and thereby save a fair bit of grinding... I've got plenty of nails (and old wire coat-hangers too, for that matter), that's for sure...

Thanks everyone,
Batpig.

you used to be able to get "wiggle" nails
these were about 10mm long, 15mm wide and shaped like a miniture piece of corrugated iron.

but for the quantity you want to glue up I'd use a plain glue joint and make a jig the hold the boards aligned while I clamped them together.


ian

Originally Posted by Batpig

Dear Skew, the boards are a bit thin for Bickies...

At that thinness (as opposed to thickness ) I agree with Ian: I'd just glue 'em using a good yellow PVA. With modern glues the joint is often stronger than the wood... and I've a feeling that your pieces would be much more likely to snap along the grain.

Still, a bit of reinforcing wouldn't hurt if you're of a mind to take the effort.