Square-Cut Nails

Cut nails have two features lacking in wire nails:

1. They are near constant thickness but tapered in width. Aligning the parallel sides of the nail with the grain, the square tip shears fibers and the nail then bends fibers downwards as well as compressing them as it is driven. The fibers then act like a featherboard on a table saw, preventing the nail from withdrawing.

2. Because the square tip shears the fibers, there is no wedging action across the grain; you can nail near the end of a board with no splitting. A wire nail tends to split the wood.

The decorative wrought head and common rose head are ideal for rough-sawn siding, face-nailed floors, batten doors, and framing. While both brads are popular for cabinetmaking, the slender headless brad excels at furniture repair and picture frames.

Approximate nail count per box listed in brackets below.

The wrought-head nails have a black oxide finish; the others are unfinished steel.