Which Stainless Nails for Oak Weather Board

[nozzaamazon]

Hi I'm about to fix my oak featheredge weather board to my house after reparing the frame and need to buy the nails.

Should I use should I use stainless steel
Annular nails or other
and round head or lost head nails? :?:

Thanks

Mat :?:

 

[Penners]

Sorry to see that your post got ignored originally. I don't know why!

The high tannic acid content in oak can tend to rust ferrous fixings quite quickly, so stainless steel, brass or galvanised nails would be a good plan.

Here's one source: http://www.fastfixdirect.co.uk/code/navigation.asp?fType=Fasteners&MainCategoryID=11

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Penners is quite right about oak being aggressive to iron / steel nails. Stainless should perform better, but a cheaper option may be nails which have been hot-dip or spun galvanized - these are often used for building / repairing working boats. Note that nails which are 'zinc plated' are not the same thing as the plating is very thin and gives very little protection.

An alternative would be bronze ring shank nails, often sold as 'Gripfast' nails. Again these are used in oak for boatbuilding. Not sure about relative costs though.

Good suppliers include Anglia Stainless and GTC-Direct - google them for contact details.

If you're using anything over about 3mm dia. I'd recommend drilling a pilot hole first. This will avoid splitting and allow the nail to develop much greater holding power than if it is simply driven in. Say 2.5mm pilot for a 3mm nail.

 

[Flyfisher]

A trick I've often used is to take the points off nails to prevent splitting the wood. I believe the theory behind this is that a sharp nail will be driven between the wood cells/grain and force them apart, resulting in splitting, whereas a blunt nail will 'crush' its way through the wood and not force anything apart, hence no splitting. But I've not tried this with wood as hard as oak.

 

[philmac1944]

I used stainless steel ringshank nails for secret nailing oak flooring.
Available from Wickes. It is a good idea to blunt the nails; as you move
along just place the head of the nail on the last one you drove and give
the point a light tap with the hammer.

 

[nozzaamazon]

Thanks for feedback 1 last question...

Lost head or round head?

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Round head nails will give greater holding power. Lost heads are only used where (as the name suggests) it is cosmetically desirable to have the nail head sunk into the timber surface. The pay off is that the smaller head is less able to resist pulling through as the timber moves with seasonal / humidity changes.