Oak door - nails or studs?

[Tom]

Right, my joiner is pestering me for nails for my door. I've been trawling around and can find rosehead nails, which he has suggested, made in either steel or hand forged iron. Which should I be using? Also, are nails the same as studs? Sorry for my dimness on the subject!!

What would people recommend and where can I get them from? Whatever I use I want them to look chunky, old and as 'original' as possible. Any ideas or pictures gratefully received.

Thanks
Jaqy

 

[middi]

Try "hand forged ironmongery" from the period house group( http://www.periodhousegroup.com)
tel. 0845 6023402/01427 871467

 

[Jon Maine]

Depends, could have been small headed roseheads, humungous roseheads, studs probably a later thing.

We have a nailing pattern of about 3" diagonally between the clench nails on our external doors.

I have a supply of machine made but nice small roseheads and large headed handmade plus handmade studs if you like them.

What is the construction of the door? Ours are cross planked and moved like crazy initially but then returned to a fairly flat state.

Post a link to what you like inc the size and l will see whats available.

 

[Lime]

Do they do them in uPVC?

 

[Tom]

The uPVC windows are coming out next year and will be replaced with Oak

Jaqy

 

[Tom]

Depends, could have been small headed roseheads, humungous roseheads, studs probably a later thing.
We have a nailing pattern of about 3" diagonally between the clench nails on our external doors.
I have a supply of machine made but nice small roseheads and large headed handmade plus handmade studs if you like them.
What is the construction of the door? Ours are cross planked and moved like crazy initially but then returned to a fairly flat state.
Post a link to what you like inc the size and l will see whats available.

Jon, thanks for your reply. I'll have a better look later and let you have a link. It's a cross planked door. The wood has been air dried for 25 years as 12" x 12" x 16' and then for 6 months after it was planked. Thanks again.

Jaqy

 

[biffvernon]

But why do you want to add nails? This door doesn't need them as it is not that kind of construction so they would just be fake. Be honest and leave as is.

 

[Moo]

I agree with Biff. The door looks perfect as it is.

 

[Jon Maine]

What we found with our crossed planked doors was that they were all nicely dried timber to start. However as a door they then took on more moisture and swelled a bit changing the shape of the door entirely ( as wood swells across the grain the inside has approx 2 x the dimension of the vertical external planks across the grain). We initially thought that we could make the gaps between the boards wider to help matters but this was not the case as the boards are so well fixed to each other with the clench nailing pattern that they remained the same shape. It was only after doing around 6 months that they actually settled down and stay a fairly consistent almost flat shape.

I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has experience of cross planked doors.

Is your door complete already? i.e. are the nails or studs for embellishment or to hold the leaves of the door together?

Mine are what hold the two leaves together. The door does look good as it is and adding nails through both leaves can cause problems, However should you still wish to add something studs would be less challenging to the structure of the door.

 

[Penners]

I tend to Biff's point-of-view. The door looks absolutely beautiful as it is. If you do add rosehead nails, they will inevitably cause runs of rust staining down the face of the door, which would be a shame.

However, it's your door! If you want to add some nails to make it look "authentic"(!) then I think they should be proper rosehead nails. I suspect that studs are phoney. And the nails should really be clenched at the back.

 

[Tom]

I need tha nails to hold the door together! Inside, it's horizontal boards and it's only glued at the moment and held in place with wooden braces. The nails will go from the outside and be clenched over inside. I've decided against studs as they would be fake and probably look very wrong.

Jaqy

 

[biffvernon]

Oh right. Then you need

from our own dear Old House Store

 

[Tom]

Excellent!! Thanks, Biff. Are these black? Should they be black? If not, will they tarnish and look old over time? I'm just a bit concerned that these are a bit shiny but if they'll dull down that'll be fine.

Jaqy

 

[Jon Maine]

Excellent!! Thanks, Biff. Are these black? Should they be black? If not, will they tarnish and look old over time? I'm just a bit concerned that these are a bit shiny but if they'll dull down that'll be fine.

Jaqy

They will rust, they will stain the oak too. It wil take a while for them to settle down and for everything to weather in and look old in harmony.

The other consideration is that nails were traditionally wrought iron which is far more rust resistant, because of this I choose to use galvanised roseheads from the crown nail company, we treated them in mordant solution which blackened them, they now don't look so black but also dont look so galvanised too.

We used 75mm nails through 44mm of board and clenched the 30mm over turning just under 10mm into the door and having a 20mm staple showing. You need to hold something heavy on the head of the nail whilst clenching e.g. large lump hammer head to stop the head working out the door whilst you clench the nail in. We bent the nail over after bending its tip and found the point of contact, bent it back piloted a small hole and then clenched the nails over.

 

[inwood]

We bent the nail over after bending its tip and found the point of contact, bent it back piloted a small hole and then clenched the nails over.

Ouch, that's gotta hurt!

 

[Jon Maine]

I wont tell you what we did to the ones we didnt like :twisted: