Antique Hand Forged Nails

Take Apart Some Vintage Construction

There was a time when you didn't just go to the hardware store to pick up a box of nails for your project. Instead, you had to go out to the barn where the forge was, drag it out and light it up. Then you waited for the sticks to turn to coals, and then you could begin to make your hand forged nails.

It would make sense to keep going, putting in a whole day making a good stock of these nails, because of the work it would be to get set up. I'm not sure what time of year would be best, but it would be hot work, so maybe it would be a winter time chore.

Typically, antique hand forged nails are square, which shows how they were made. They aren't drop forged as nails are today, in the thousands, in a huge metal manufacturing plant.

Nope. They were each individually made, heating up the metal to red hot, then banging it into shape on an anvil, before snipping it off into a bucket of water to cool.

Finding a whole handful or two of these antique hand forged nails shows how uncaring people are, to donate the whole tub of stuff, in which these were hiding, to be sold (or given away in the end) at the 70 Mile Yard Sale.

It makes you wonder how much other great stuff was thrown away into the landfill at the close of the busiest day on Prince Edward Island.

I don't know what I'll do with these, but I'm sure I can come up with a project to incorporate them. I might do some research. Maybe a cactus? Or a porcupine? Or I could see them as flower stems on one of my multi media pictures, like the one here.

However I use them, you can be sure they will be thoroughly admired, and wondered over.