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The guy behind the desk at the lumberyard recently told me that there are local contractors who never use a 16D nail. I said “So you’re telling me that there are houses being built in this county with all 12D nails??!!” He says “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
Rich Beckman
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Replies
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Rich,
The difference is between commons and sinkers. The traditional penny to length correlations are when speaking of commons (16d 3-1/2", 8d 2-1/2", etc.). Commons are rare and most use sinkers. a 16 sinker is 3-1/4" long, which is the same length as a 12d common. Most don't like commons (Blue included).
Jon
*Lotsa guys think a 12d galv box holds better than a sinker and is less inclined to split wood. I kind of agree with them.JonC
*Give me a 16d any day.
*If we're talking hand pounded here, I rank vinyl coated sinkers right up there with gassed and waxed for holding power. I've gotten blank looks from my suppliers the last couple of times I've inquired about cement coated sinkers. I'm a friggen dinosaur.JonC
*I like 12's because when ya nail 2 by's together the nail doesn't poke thru very much.
*Alloftheabove
*Here everything is 12D Air or 16D CC (cement coated) hand-driven sinker.
*Sinkers the My First Nail of the construction world. Big and fat just like those crayons and pencils from Kindergarten. Give me a box of 16D cc any day. Oh yeah shoot twelves wiht my guns.Jim
*Rich, The guy behind the desk is right, sorta. I've never pounded an entire house together with a nail that would be the equivalent of the 16d common. The commons are thicker shanked and longer than the same sized sinker. A 16 sink is the same as the 12 common as already stated above. Gun nails are also smaller. I've been framing with 3" .131's for about a decade now. Senco has literature that proves that the holding power of the cement coated is superior. The action of the nail going in heats up the glue and binds the nail into the fibers of the wood. Over a period of years however, the commons catch up and maybe surpass the holding power of the cement coated nails.The critical aspect of the nails is the sheer strength, in certain applications. In most of our truss specs, which rely on the sheer strength of nails, they specify 3" 10d nails. They do this because they recognize that the diameters of our gun nails equals a 10d common. The engineers then specify the amount of nails that are required and it is not uncommon to need 2 rows of three nails, 6" o.c. The volume of "extra" nails makes up for the thinner shanks. In the end, the sheer strength is equal, no matter how it's specified.Don't be alarmed and worry about these "smaller" nails not doing the job. Most of us that use the gun nails put a lot more than hand pounders. In the end, the product is just as strong and good as any. After all, how many nails does it really take to keep a stud in it's place until its boarded? blue
*12d in the guns and 16d in the hands. Dave
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The guy behind the desk at the lumberyard recently told me that there are local contractors who never use a 16D nail. I said "So you're telling me that there are houses being built in this county with all 12D nails??!!" He says "That's exactly what I'm telling you."
Rich Beckman