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Straightening Nails and the things you think about

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JPSmit

JPSmit

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This morning I was pulling nails out of the baseboards of the apartment - you may recall a much earlier conversation about the apartment kitchen - we are in the home stretch! At any rate, one nail broke so, I used another as a punch to push it out - and, had to straighten the nail. I can`t remember the last time I straightened nails - though I clearly remember my father putting us to work straightening nails. Certainly my kids never have and, while it is arguably a `character building activity`I am Ok with them not needing to build character that way. :smile:

That said, there is something wonderfully peaceful about a rhythmic quiet task on a sunny fall afternoon. Oh, and one piece of 3 foot long baseboard has 14 3 inch finishing nails, 14! what were they expectingÉ
 
Oh, and one piece of 3 foot long baseboard has 14 3 inch finishing nails, 14! what were they expectingÉ
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contractor paid by the nail?

In the 70's, my Dad & I built his entire A-frame lake house from salvage lumber.
(talk about pulling nails....)
took us a few years, but looking back, it's a good feeling, for some reason.
saved money & enjoyed working together.
 
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The aforementioned nail straightening happened while closing in a car port into a kitchen - the sub floor was made out of a dismantled Box Car (My dad was with CNR) - I wonder now about that wood - likely better quality wood than anything else in the house!

This work I am doing has a fair bit of recycling - the baseboards because they are unique and studs because, being built in 1940 they are true 2X4`s - so, I need the old ones to match.
 
14 nails in a three foot baseboard... pneumatic nailer by any chance? Sometimes when the tool makes the job really easy, it is easy to overdo!
 
Popeye said:
14 nails in a three foot baseboard... pneumatic nailer by any chance? Sometimes when the tool makes the job really easy, it is easy to overdo!
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No. ordinary finishing nails - done in 1949.
 
Over one summer vacation from college, I had a number of jobs. One was as a carpenter building houses. We were told to use "one nail per joint". These were Korean War surplus rusty nails in a barrel. You hammered on them and they would all bend. I lasted 2 days hammering nails. Then they switched me to carrying shingles up a ladder to the roof. I lasted one day doing that in 100 degree heat. Finally, I got my dream job - driving the 1935 Ford truck from house to house delivering supplies. The truck would overheat and I would have to fill up the radiator with water from a spring. But a week later, we were all fired - the union stepped in. Today, those crappy houses are selling for over $600K. The developer went broke before the houses were completed.
 
It really irritates my wife when I straighten nails but I can't help it. That is a trait I learned from my frugal grandfather. Besides, it's easier than trying to dispose of them in such a way that they can't end up as a threat to my tires.
 
Hard to straighten nail from a nail gun, that's my style
 
Reminds me of the old scene shop days when we used clout nails to fasten 1/4" plywood corner blocks and keystones to fasten 1 X 3" rails and toggles to 1 X 3" stiles to build frames for scenic flats. A clinch plate was placed under the joint and the longer, square nails hammered in until they folded back into the wood on the other side. No one would ever remove, straighten and reuse those nails again.
 
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