Kardtects

Kardtects Card Houses and Friday Fun Facts on Nails

card houseThe Kardtects Card House Building sets use the classic method of just balance and texture to allow anyone to create truly massive structures.

Yet, with real buildings around the world, still the most universal device found somewhere in a houses construction is the metal nail, hammered into place either by hand or machine.

Here are 15 fun facts about the common nail;

  • Nails are secured in objects by the laws of friction, and they can bear a secured object’s force due to their sturdiness.
  • The Ancient Egyptians crafted nails of bronze around 3400 BC, while copper ones were also used in ancient history, and at a later stage they were created from iron.
  • Originally, nails where individually handmade items, generally built from a rectangular iron piece, normally by a family member for self-use, or by a local a blacksmith for commercial purposes.
  • First real mass production of nails by machines didn’t take place until via the use of machines took place from the 1790s. Yet, as a successful commercial venture, the nail production industry was only viable by the late 1800s.
  • Various metals can be used to make nails, from bronze, brass, aluminium, iron, and copper, and the steel ‘wire’ method of making them is now the most frequently used material and process.
  • The most commonly available nails range from 1 to 7 millimetres in diameter (0.04 to 0.28 inches) and 2 to 21 centimetres (0.8 to 8.3 inches) in length, and there are a wide variety of different types which are used for various and specific purposes.
  • The average house has around 20,000 to 30,000 nails used in its construction.
  • The length of a nail is either called a ‘rod’ or ‘shank’
  • Nails are divided into three broad categories based on their length. In general nails under 1 inch (2.5 cm) in length are called ‘Tack’ or ‘Brads’. Nails 1-4 inches (2.5-10.2 cm) in length are simply called ‘Nails’, while those over 4 inches (10.2 cm) are some-times referred to as ‘Spikes’.
  • The length of a nail is measured in a unit called the penny. This term comes from the use of nails in England during the late 1700s when it referred to the price of one hundred nails of that size. For example, a “ten penny nail” would have cost ten pennies per hundred.
  • The symbol for penny is “d,” as in 10d. This designation is believed to go back to the time of the Roman Empire when a similar form of measurement for hand-forged nails involved a common Roman coin known as the
  • Today the term penny only defines the length of a nail and has nothing to do with the price. The shortest nail is 2d which is 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. A 10d nail is 3 inches (7.6 cm) long, and a 16d nail is 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) long. Between 2d and 10d the nail length increases 0.25 inch (0.64 cm) for each penny designation. Beyond 10d there is no logical progression to the lengths and designations.
  • Nails were once so valuable that in 1646 the Virginia legislature had to pass a measure to prevent colonists from burning down their old houses to reclaim the nails when they moved.
  • The first machine to make nails from metal wire was introduced in the United States in about 1850, and this technique is now used to make most of the nails today.
  • The demand for mass-produced commodity nails is dependent on the fluctuations in the housing market, which varies with the economy. The demand for specialty nails, on the other hand, is expected to continue to grow and be profitable. New building materials, such as composite wood-fiber and cement-based siding and roofing, require new specialty nails. New corrosion-resistant coatings for nails are also being developed. Yet another unique new nail market is the result of the increase in building restoration and preservation. One nail factory in Massachusetts makes old-fashioned cut nails.

Watch how a Kardtects Card House is put together without any nails at all! It’s simply ‘The Kardtects Lean’!