nail/spike suppliers

monkey_trousers

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 Jan 2008
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597
bf494.co.uk
been googling furiously and haven't found a supplier yet for unfeasibly big nails

need to source some nails/spikes that are 12" long

any ideas oh wise and wonderous ones ??
 
Just another thought, if you have no luck with suppliers you could try making them from rod with washers welded on the end. If you are having any other stuff galvanised send them off with it to be hot dipped.
 
the lads in question, were driven through the knees (nailed through the knees sounds like a mafia punishment!), through the deck beam and then finally into the frame

overall, for 70 years old they were in pretty good nick, but are a little 'waisted' at the point where they broke through the deckbeam and into the frame, the first 8" is more than good enough to go back in elsewhere IMHO

to behonest, I'm amazed I even got em out!

considering a bolty type solution, bolt through the new knee and beam, and out the other side of the frame and bolt em up...

or is that just a silly idea?

only need about 8 of them, maybe 10 at the most
 
Boilts might be a better idea, then you couyld drill out the holes, drive in the bolts, with some mastic type stuff around them, then the galvanising wouldnt get damaged and bolt them up with galvanised nuts/big diameter washers, rivet over one nut and then its a giant nut and bolt, much better solution than erfing big nails. Plus of course infintely adjustable to pull it all together.
 
A better way to form a head would be to clamp the rod in a plumber's tube-flaring tool (the female part, with the whacking great countersink), and then peen the end into a nice, domed head. Put the head at the deck beam end, with a curl of caulking cotton under it, and there you are!
Peter.
 
I'm with Scotty on this, bolts are the way to go, for me the other big advantage of bolts is that you wont have to hammer the boat to death driving nails in.
 
yer not wrang!

given up on the nail hunt, bolts all the way! just been 'donated' some M16 stainless threaded bar in metre lengths....


of course the problem I'm now going to have is finding a nice long drill bit....


and then when I've got me foot and a bit long bit in the drill, I'd wager there'll not be enough room to get the chuffing thing in between the beams to drill through!
 
Long drill bits are available, however they are expensive. You can get cheap drills, welded to some straight steel stock, slightly smaller then the drill, I used to braze mine on. Get a few made or make them yourself, because you will probably twist a couple off, be careful and "feel" your way through.
You can also get extensions, for blade type bits, if you can use those.
 
I don't know if I should admit this but when I needed some long drill bits in the past for wood I found them hard to get hold off. A cheap way round this was to buy some cheap masonery drill bits ( which are easy to get as long drill bits) and regrind the tips to the angle on a wood drill bit.
It did the job.
 
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stainless threaded bar


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I thought general advice was a no no to stainless in oak because the acidity of the oak attacks the stainless? I thought it was galv or yellow metals in oak?
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
stainless threaded bar


[/ QUOTE ]

I thought general advice was a no no to stainless in oak because the acidity of the oak attacks the stainless? I thought it was galv or yellow metals in oak?

[/ QUOTE ]

now you come to mention it.....

might get away with it though, M16 is pretty muckle big stuff and was planning on packing the bored hole with sika as well
 
Burgundy is right, although as you say, packed with sika and 16mm is BIG stuff, I would not be unduly worried about it.
I would reccomend you use some thread lubricant on the threads for the nuts, as SS does have a prediliction to galling and siezure, especially as you put a bit of torque on it to pull the lot together.
 
I did think as I typed it that 16mm would most likely be fine long after us lot are gone....

Scotty made a good point about preventing galling and a careful eye to avoiding crevice corrosion would not harm.
 
never got a price back from them when I emailed, might do it again as quantities have changed - I'm going to shove at least 50% of them back in they are in such good condition!
 
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