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When driving nails in hardwood you may experience the
misfortune of having a large crack appear, or even a piece of your
timber break out at an edge. In addition any nail driven in hardwood
will set due to high friction caused by the wood cells around the driven nail
(similar to the build-up up of friction when you drive a pile in the
subsoil).
The resistance of the nail shank to withdrawal for a piece of hardwood
is therefore very high and needs a lot of force to take out. So, you may
wonder what will happen if nails are used to connect prefabricated
hardwood parts which need to be taken out during the dismantling
process:
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| This will happen: |
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and that is the main reason that we do not use any
nail in our hardwood prefab structures, though there are a few
solutions, however, these are time consuming, expensive and do not
guarantee an undamaged connection.
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click on the picture for an
enlargement
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Remedies may be:
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 | Dip the the nail in petroleum jelly (*), which reduces the
friction of the driving process, and can decrease the probability of
the wood splitting.
(*) Some wood species will show ugly black stains
after an application with petroleum.
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| Pre-drill a hole slightly smaller than the nail's shaft
diameter. This will reduce the pressure of the nail penetration
and shafty friction without decreasing the nail's grip on the wood.
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| Use the smallest diameter nail which will do the job, however,
this can only be done when these ugly steel connector plates will be
used and tens of nails be driven thru the plate holes.
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| Blunt the point of the nail with the hammer. This is done by
placing the nail on a hard surface with the point facing up, and
tapping the sharp end with a hammer. The nail will then cut its way
through the wood grain, rather than wedging a pathway. Though this
puts all the material displacement along a single plain, rather than
dispersing it all around the point of the nail.
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| Where end nailing is necessary, angle the nail so that it can be
started farther away from the end, but the nail will still get a
bite into the other wood part it is being nailed to.
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| Back any nail out if a crack begins to appear while driving it.
A tiny crack is a sure indication the wood will split if you
continue. |
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However, you will certainly agree with
us that it is a much better method not to use nails, but pre-drilled
screws or treads as to avoid that cracks occur or parts will split or
break off, which is so often the case when nails in hardwood are used.
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