Copper nails?

mccloud

"Tiger Rag" back on the tidal Potomac
In Memoriam
If you attended Assembly 2016 you may remember the orange-painted all wood canoe that I brought. After riding on the roof rack for hours I noticed a gap had developed between the hull and outwales of this canoe, because some of the nails have partly let loose. The outwale had been attached using 16 gauge 3/4 inch copper nails that I bought from Dick Persson, but these nails are shorter than what had been used originally. Dick doesn't have 1 inch nails. So I bought 1 inch #15 nails from Jamestown, but the larger diameter is not a good thing when going through old, dry, brittle rib tips.
I've looked on the web sites of the places I've found brass hardware before but have not located 16 gauge nails. Where can I buy 16 gauge copper nails in 1 or 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch length? Tom McCloud
 
The #15 nail is going to give you better holding power in the rail but it does need to be predilled, (assuming its a hardwood rail). As for the rib tops, just predrill them for 95% of the diameter of the nail. That way there is almost no pressure to split the rib top and the nail head will still be doing its job to hold the rib top. You might want to also predill just a tiny bit for the diameter of the nail head to form a countersink space for the nail head.

Rollin
 
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