Copper planking tacks

[Dave Nelson]

Any of you builders, or restorers for that matter, ever use copper tacks to plank up your canoes? I haven't seen any posts on this topic. Brass seems to be the standard, but I like the color of the copper in the rib clinches and they seem to be less brittle than brass. Maybe not as strong. I've tested a few on scraps of rib and planking stock and they seem to work great. The few suppliers I have found (Jamestown Distributors, Faering Design, Canadian Tack and Nail) seem to have a variety of names for their copper tacks, such as "copper cut tacks", "copper clench nails", "copper clout nails", even "canoe tacks". ! can't tell if they are different products or not. What say ye?

Dave N

 

[Dave Osborn]

Check to be sure, but I think Rollin Thurlow mentions a limited quantity of copper canoe tacks on his website.

 

[Dan Miller]

The copper tacks you are looking at are different than canoe tacks - they are much heavier.

Copper canoe tacks are available - I bought some a few years ago from Bill Clemens (who has retired), and as Dave mentions, perhaps Rollin.

I've been working on placing an order with the manufacturer, but it is a significant investment, and has been moving slowly.

Dan

 

[mccloud]

I have been working on an all wood 'Peterborough-type' canoe, and the copper nails I used for rib replacement were 3/4" x 16 ga, which I bought from Dick Persson (http://www.buckhorncanoes.com/). Getting them shipped from Canada added appreciably to the cost. For my purpose nails of this size work fine, but I would use something slightly smaller on a wood/canvas. I had given a couple of my nails to Northwoods at 2015 Assembly and asked if they could find something similar, but do not know if that has happened. Tom McCloud

 

[Dan Miller]

Now that I am home again, I can post a photo that compares the type of nail Tom is talking about with a canoe tack.

On the left, 16ga copper nails, on the right copper cut canoe tacks. Note they are significantly different. The former are better suited for Peterborough-style all-wood canoes, where the nails are driven straight through the quarter-inch planking and three-eights-inch hardwood ribs, and knocked over and clinched after the fact. The latter better when they are being clinched while driven, as when building wood-canvas on a metal-clad mold or using a clinching iron.

I doubt you will get a proper clinch using the copper nails for canvas canoe construction.

(Heh, I see I got shorted on one of my copper nails )

 

[Mark Z.]

Am I the only one who thinks the canoe tacks are on the right and the nails are on the left?
Mark Z.

 

[Dan Miller]

dyslexia strikes again. I'll edit the post.

Thanks!

 

[samb]

I've used copper tacks as in the photo for 2 cedar canvas repairs involving new planking and a cedar canvas build. They are fairly easily available in the uk where neither brass nor copper nails are. On the repairs I just held another hammer on the inside to turn and clinch the points and on the build the bands of the form did it for me (but I went over everyone to make sure) After a few weeks oxidising, you couldn't tell the difference from inside the boats between original brass and replacement copper from the colour, but just that they were thicker.

Sam

 

[Dave Nelson]

OK, guys, thanks for all the replies. I just ordered some of Rollin's copper tacks, which he says are the same 11/16 and diameter as the brass tacks, so for my purposes, this thread can be put to bed - until I get a chance to try the cu tacks after the holidays. BTW, here are some pictures of more copper tacks I found online, just to prolong the confusion.


Dave