Dating Old Nails

[Ebenezer]

I wonder if anyone could put a rough date on this nail? It came out of an old beam which was removed during some renovations. There a quite a few of them. The house is dated as 'early 18th C' on the British listed buildings website but also read somewhere it being referred to as late 17th. I don't know how accurate nails could be dated if at all!?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I would say that they are very likely to be early 18thc I've found similar over the years whilst working on in a couple of houses around that date.

 

[Flyfisher]

That looks like an early 18th century nail to me, 1708 I reckon, April sometime and probably made on a Tuesday. :wink:

OK, not very helpful I know. For my penance I've looked on the web for some info and found the following, though I'm not sure exactly how helpful they'll be:

http://www.harpgallery.com/library/nails.htm

This discussion includes a number of useful-sounding links, though I've not read them:
http://www.metaldetectingforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12373

http://www.glasgowsteelnail.com/nailmaking.htm

One thing I did learn was that some nails are explicitly dated and called 'date nails'. It seems they were widely used in railways, so not really relevant to period properties, but interesting I thought.
http://www.pacificrailroadsociety.org/publications/WheelClicks/November2010.pdf

This booklet looked ideal until I realised it was American, so I don't know how applicable it would be for UK nails. Could be generally interesting though:
http://hisp305.umwblogs.org/files/nail_chronology.pdf

 

[DJH]

I've dated a view things in my life but never nails!!

A problem with dating fixings is that they could have been used at any time, even recycled and reused many years later. Is there an exhibit about 'nailmaking ' at Bromsgrove Rural Museum?

Doug

 

[Ebenezer]

Thanks for your replies. I knew it might be a long shot to actually accurately date a rusty old nail but thought maybe all you knowldgable folk might have some insight!

Thanks for all the links Flyfisher. Ill have a browse through them.

 

[Penners]

The problem with such nails is that they have been made for hundreds of years, and continue to be so today.

So pick a date (although I'd say that FF is way out - that's a Thursday nail if ever I saw one).