Replies

1. 
   basswood | Mar 02, 2009 02:45am | #1

   I have a collection of casing nails that I accumulated 10-20 years ago... haven't used more than a few in the last decade. For large exterior casing, where I once used casing nails, I now use trimhead screws.

   Virtually all interior trim I fasten with nail guns. If I have to frame more than a few walls, I use a nail gun. Still fun to swing a hammer, but I have to make money at this.

   BTW, I think nail guns split wood less than hand driven nails, IMO. Also makes it easy to keep things held and tacked in position (with one hand available to hold material and the other with the nail gun. Hand nailing involves trying to hold material and the nail with one hand and swinging a hammer with the other hand... the hammer blows can misalign things before the nail is set... not so with a nail gun... hold in position--and BANG-- nailed in place. Done.

   I do like splitting firewood by hand though... on my own time.

2. 
   lettusbee | Mar 02, 2009 03:04am | #2

   I still have a few pounds of ea size, that I bought years ago before I could afford nail guns. 

   I Keep em with me at all times, cause I do small jobs, and sometimes it is easier to carry a handful of nails to the project, instead of a compressor, hose, and two guns.  
   A lot of my work involves replacing minor pieces of trim, like one casing leg, on the third floor of an apartment, or high up in an office building.  So it makes sense. 

   Course when I get a cordless finish gun, that'll be the end of that. :)

   Along with casing nails, I often use a push drill when I need to predill.  I use the push drill alot when install door hardware as well.  It is fast, easy to carry, and stays on point more easily in some circumstances.  It is also fun to hand it to the rookies when they ask to borrow my "Cordless"

    

1. 
   Matt | Mar 02, 2009 03:09am | #3

   Ah yes...  the old yankee driver...

3. 
   jimAKAblue | Mar 02, 2009 04:33am | #4

    I used to buy 16d hot dipped galvanized casing and 8d hot dipped galvanized casing by the 50# box all the time but I haven't pounded one of those in the last five years that I can think of.

1. 
   Piffin | Feb 24, 2012 09:07pm | #19

   Hi Jim

   When was the last time you actually drove any kind of a nail?

   LOL

1. 
   DanH | Feb 24, 2012 10:10pm | #20

   I split a nail the other day.

4. 
   dovetail97128 | Mar 02, 2009 08:33am | #5

   I still keep some handy for the odd job that I don't feel like dragging a gun out for.

   They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
1. 
   EricPaulson | Mar 02, 2009 03:33pm | #6

    Nails: The nails used by carpenters, illustrated in Fig. 161, are of four different kinds, as follows: Common nails, A, which range in size from 3d (3 penny) to 60d box nails, other nails for common use being generally of this type.

   Finish nails, B, which range in size from Gd to lOd, and are used for moldings, picture frames, and other places where it is required that the nails should be as nearly invisible as possible. This shape of head may be set beneath the surface with the least danger of splitting the wood. The smaller sizes of this type of nail are called brads, or sprigs, and range in sizes from 3/8" to 1 1/2" and are of different sizes of wire.

   Casing nails, C, used for fastening casings, or inside finish, though the finish nails are often used for this purpose. The heads of these nails are supposed to enter the wood without tearing it, making only a clean round hole.

   Flooring nails, D, the most essential difference between this type of nail and the finish or casing nail being the size of wire from which it is made, which will, in most cases, allow the nail to be driven into moderately hard wood without the necessity of boring a hole for each nail.View Image

   Fig. 161.

   A, common nan.

   B, Finish nail, or brad.

   C, Casing nail.

   D, Flooring nail. 

5. 
   IronHelix | Mar 02, 2009 03:40pm | #7

   In the old hardware store (1916-1987) that I grew up in there were bins of finish nails and bins of casing nails.  Casing nails were a heavy version of a finish nail. Sort of like box nail versus a common nail.

   When I came into the business in 1972 the sales of the casing nails were almost nil. Those bins contained the same original inventory from 1972 till 1987 when the store was closed due to the "Wal-Mart Effect" on small town businesses.

   I had branched off into a lumberyard operation in 1979 and moved those casing nails to that business when the Hardware store closed.  When I sold the lumberyard properties and liquidated the inventory in 2002 there were still casing nails to be sold, including a 50 # wooden kegs worth.

   In all the years in the lumber yard I do not recall ever seeing a wholesaler listing any casing nail as an available item of inventory.

   FWIW..........Iron Helix

    

1. 
   jimAKAblue | Mar 02, 2009 04:31pm | #8

   The framers in the Metro Detroit area used the 16d casing nails to install the exterior doors and windows, the vast majority of which had wood brickmolds. The "hacks" nailed them with spikes. The "real" carpenters used cupped casing nails and set the head for the painters who would fill them.

   Nowadays, the guns sink the headed nails that are used and that works fine too. So, I would say that casing nails went out of vogue when the guns came in. I started using guns exclusively in 1990 and that last box of casing nails stayed with me a looonnnng time.

6. 
   andy_engel | Mar 02, 2009 05:27pm | #9

   What is this "hand nailing" you speak of?

   Andy

   "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein (or maybe Mark Twain)

   "Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom

   "Everything not forbidden is compulsory." T.H. White, The Once and Future King

7. 
   ram40 | Mar 02, 2009 11:38pm | #10

   We could have used you on the hand nailing post.We are a dieing breed.But as far as casing nails goes,I've never heard of them.For casing I use bright 8d and any casing with a big backband I use 10d.Also I predrill and use 4d for nailing the casing to the jamb.

1. 
   spike999250 | Mar 03, 2009 12:59am | #12

   Sorry i didn't get involved in the debate, it seemed to be getting heated and too long winded for me.  I own air guns but still love to hand nail.  I can do this because i am no longer in business, and only do work for myself  at home or as favors.   I recently did some trim work for my uncle,it involved of this vine  and leaf moulding and i was able to hide the  finish nails in the dots and leaves in the pattern.  The nails disappeared and nothing had to be filled.   I think i would have spent more time trying to align the gun and get the same effect.  Plus i find it easier to be able to tack something with a finish nail, check alignment, then nail home. i just like to hand nail, i feel nostalgic about it, to me there is just something about driving a finish nail through trim.  Maybe i'm sentimental about it because my dad gave me my 13oz plumb at an early age.  . Even though i am from a younger generation, i still am old school in some ways,I carry a stick rule in my pouch, a push drill in my finish box, i build wooden horses, have read and own the Audels books, and although i am rusty at it, can read  and use the framing square.

   Edited 3/2/2009 5:01 pm ET by spike999250

1. 
   basswood | Mar 03, 2009 03:08am | #13

   I bumped a Framing Square thread for you.76191.1 I hope you like it.

1. 
   spike999250 | Mar 03, 2009 03:42am | #14

   Basswood, i am a little illiterate on the computer so what exactly is the BUMP, and how do i get to 76191.1.  Thank you  Spike

1. 
   basswood | Mar 03, 2009 04:51am | #16

   A bump is a reply to a thread to bring it back to the top of the rotation, without actually adding anything to the discussion.The thread number can be plugged into the Advanced Search function (see upper left of screen above the thread and folders list) to find the thread.

   Edited 3/2/2009 8:52 pm ET by basswood

8. 
   DanH | Mar 03, 2009 12:02am | #11

   The only "casing nails" I've ever seen are essentially galvanized finish nails, for exterior work. I think the local HW stores still carry them, under that name.

   The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
9. 
   husbandman | Mar 03, 2009 04:31am | #15

   I several sizes on hand, but hardly use them. Last thing I used a bunch of 16d galv casing for was to nail on hardi trim that I pre-drilled.

10. 
    oldtimerhamer | Feb 23, 2012 05:51pm | #17

    Judging by the postings there is a generation disconnect. Finish nails are for molding such as interior casing. "Casing" nails had a larger connical head and were always 16 penny common. Many window and door companies specifide  using "casing" nails for installation. Bethlem Steel was the maker of these nails. I never split a piece of brickmold or 5/4 stock using these nails. When I was a working carpenter I could drive a 16D common with a tip and bam bam. 16D casing nails with a bam bam bam nail set bam- to prevent "rose-buds".  Finish nails, hand driven or pnematic gun driven  are never recommended for exterior trim. 

11. 
    Piffin | Feb 24, 2012 09:02pm | #18

    I still have some casing nails.  Used rarely

    IIRC, they are galvanized 12d with heads slightly larger than finish nails. What we use now are ring shanked SS nails from maze

12. 
    oldtimerhamer | Feb 29, 2012 08:30pm | #21

    Once a carpenter always a carpenter-all facets, framing, finish trim, cabinetry, stairs and now just furniture and currently redoing my daughter's house- doors, windows cased arches, hardwood floor patching. Using both 16 oz and 20 oz hammers and pneumatics.