Replies

1. 
   DanH | Jul 21, 2013 08:56pm | #1

   From what I recall of Bucks County, if you go into the right bar you can meet just about anything. 

2. 
   rdesigns | Jul 22, 2013 09:20am | #2

   Local codes always prevail, but the wording of nearly all codes sends you to the manufacturer's instructions. Paslode and other makers say that they want 3 16d clip heads where the code wants only 2 full headed 16's. 

3. 
   finefinish | Jul 22, 2013 09:40pm | #3

   Penny origin

   Hey guys,

         I don't know about the code in PA for clipped heads, but I had a little tidbit about the origin of "penny" when talking about nail size.  It denotes length, not gauge, and the number denotes how much that length nail cost by the hundred.  So 100 - 3 1/2" nails cost 16 pennies in England a few hundred years ago and 100 - 3" nails cost 10 pennies.  Man inflation really sucks!

1. 
   DanH | Jul 22, 2013 09:42pm | #4

   I thought everyone knew that!

1. 
   finefinish | Jul 22, 2013 09:50pm | #5

   Yeah me too, but not all of us are total geeks for this stuff!  Just kidding Dan.  I've heard a lot of tradespeople give different explanations for the origin.  Number of stacked pennies = length, cost for a single nail, etc.  

2. 
   MarkH | Jul 23, 2013 05:30am | #6

   Yeah, but there was a whole lot of labor in those nails back then, and a penny was pretty hard to come by.  I bet nails now are much better deal than then.

   Penny did mean length, and gauge was not too relative since the smithy used his own judgement there, but there were common nails, box nails, finish nails, spikes etc. that defined the shank thickness.  I never did buy the cost per hundred nails explanation though.  That sounds fishy.

   I think the stack of pennys measurement could be true, but those pennys would have to be about.22 inches thick.  It's a mystery to me.

1. 
   tr888 | Apr 22, 2021 08:55am | #7

   During the middle ages the 'penny' system for nails did indeed refer to the price in pence per hundred but by the late 16th century the penny names for nails had become merely nominal and the price of a hundred four-penny nails, say, could be less than four pence. But it was the "long hundred" which was 120. During the high middle ages in England (circa 1300) both "hundreds" ( 5 score and 6 score) were in use at the same time but as Roman numerals came to be displaced by arabic numerals as the late middle ages came to an end and the early Renaissance began, the duodecimal system of measure fell into disuse.

   P.S. I came here looking to see if clipped nails were to code in Delaware County PA, but then I saw a remark that you need to use more of them, if you follow the manufacturer's instructions. I'm building a shed and shopping for a framing nailer.