Overview
A smith makes a wrought nail by drawing a bar of iron to a tapering square shank, then fitting the shank into a heading tool and hammering the end flat to form the head. The shank is four-sided and slightly tapered, the head is a little irregular and often has a pyramid or rose shape, and no two nails are identical. The nails look right on country furniture, chests and cupboard doors where a visible head is part of the design.
Types and sizes
- Rose-head nail, a faceted head that shows on a plank door.
- Clout / clasp nail with a broad flat head for fixing hinges and straps.
- Clench nail long enough to be bent over on the back of a board.
Sizes are by length. Modern reproduction wrought nails are made by a blacksmith, or machine-forged and darkened, and cost many times as much as a wire nail.
Where it is used
Pennsylvania German chests and cupboards, where large strap hinges are held with wrought nails (see Strap hinge), and country-vernacular boxes and carcases. Hardware catalogues for reproduction work list them by length and head shape.
Choosing and sizing
Choose a length about three times the thickness of the thinner board. Wrought iron is softer than modern steel, so it bends before it breaks; a clench nail can be turned over for a permanent joint. Do not use them where regular wire or screws would do.
Installation
- Drill a pilot hole about two-thirds of the nail's thinnest section; the tapered shank grips as it drives.
- Drive the nail square to the surface with firm blows, and stop when the head seats; hammering a seated nail loosens it.
- For a clench, drive the nail through and bend the point back into the wood across the grain with a hammer.
- Leave the head proud; it is part of the look. A coat of wax prevents rust.
Wood movement and species
Wrought iron corrodes; in damp or tannin-rich oak it blackens the wood around the nail (see White oak), which many reproduction makers accept as the look. Hand-forged heads over a strap are fixed to the carcase through the strap's holes; if the carcase side moves with humidity, the nails must not pin both ends of a wide board together.
Common mistakes
- Nails driven without pilot holes in dry hardwood: the board splits.
- Wrong head type for the look.
- Nailing a lid and its frame rigidly: the lid splits as it moves.
Related
- Cut nail: the machine-made equivalent.
- Strap hinge: typically fixed with them.
Styles it suits
Suitable for
Fixes into: softwood, hardwood.
Poor choice in
The reasons are in the wood movement and species section above.
In our designs
Our example designs model this as WroughtNail, placed with a hardware_mount join.
Sources
Updated 2026-10-03. Sizes and ratings are typical trade figures drawn from the sources above. A load rating is the maker's rating for one product, not a property of the type: check the maker's own sheet, and test a fit on scrap before cutting good wood.