Hi All,
If you’re like me you use a lot of nails when you make shoes. I thought I would share the nails I’ve tried and continue to use and would love to see what others use for particular jobs.
For lasting I’ve recently settled on 5/8 inch clinch nails after trying wood attaching nails, blued brads and 16ga 3/4 inch nails. I still use the 3/4 inch nails for initially placing the upper on the last because 1) I’m going to take them out almost immediately so I dont want to use a nail that will clinch and 2) I have a free hand to hold the nail while I set it. Blued brads are sharp which is nice but they slide out and bend easy and the head is too small for accurate hitting. I’ve found clinch nails are very nice for lasting because with one hand I can put the razor-sharp point in the leather and then I can use that hand to hold the last again while I hit the nail. The only issue is that they tend to clinch if driven in pretty hard, which means removing them is a little more difficult than I like. What nails do you use for lasting?
For attaching heels (after glue) I use threaded nails of 5/8 to 7/8 length. They are very hard to bend and they hold like crazy, which is really nice. Still, they can be hard to drive into soling leather because they are so fat. All the cobblers I’ve worked with exclusively use threaded nails for securing heels that have washers, and also use them for nailing into the heel stack through the lasting board.
For holding the upper to the last during lasting (which I rarely do thanks to good patterning) I have used the 16ga wire nails but I think I’ll be switching to clinch nails. It’s hard to get the wire nails in and the hole they leave is kinda large.
I would love to hear what others use and for which purposes. For lasting in particular I like clinch nails but feel like there might be something better. Thanks,
@OldspeedMFG so glad to have you here! Great post!
Usual disclaimer that I’m just a beginner here.
Lasting
Wire Brads
For lasting, I have had no trouble using wire brads from the hardware store, even for 5-ounce-plus leather over 3-ounce lining. My go-tos are 1-inch-long, 17 American Wire Gauge, stainless steel wire brads from ACE Hardware:
Jeff Mandel up in Portland says he’s had no rust or staining trouble using even cheaper galvanized brads, even when spraying uppers during lasting. You wouldn’t want to drench them and then leave on the last for a week, but I don’t think Jeff’s doing that, and I wouldn’t, either.
The brads have skinny heads, which makes them easy to crowd in closely through tight heels and toes. I’ve handwelted all my original pairs so far, so I might be a bit more concerned about clearing wrinkles further in over the feathers on my insoles than folks doing stitchdown, Norwegian, or other constructions where the upper gets lasted under just to get turned out again.
Others
I have experimented with other lengths of wire brads. It is sometimes nice to have 7/8-inch-long and 1+1/4-inch long brads around. For example, I might choose a shorter 7/8-inch-long brad to tack at the back height. If I do a row of tacks through a tight toe, and then go back to do a second row in the pleats created by the first, it can be handy to use taller 1+1/4-inch brads. They stand above the shorter 1-inchers from the first row, and are also even easier to bend over if I want to do that.
It’s cheap enough to buy a $4 pack of each. But I could certainly do with just the one-inchers. An inch is enough for bending over. It’s also enough to hold with my finger and hammer in without constantly battering my fingers.
I also keep some inch-long, 17 American Wire Gauge, stainless steel nails with round heads in my kit:
These I basically only use for wiping with string or wire. I like to drive them in a bit further for that, and I tell myself it might help keep the string or wire from sliding off the top.
Finally, I do have a box of D.B. Gurney 7-ounce “hand shoe tacks” that I threw into an order from Maine Thread long ago. They’re a great product, and I can see why the Spokane boot companies have little blue and brown boxes all over their benches. The cut points go in really, really easy, and the shanks are very sturdy. I just haven’t found I need them, and can do without the expense. If I’m feeling fancy and remember that I have them, I’ll use a handful to set my initial drafting pulls—toe, balls, heel seat after hoisting. I’ve never used them as hard tacks, to leave in a shoe.
It just occurred to me, writing this up, that the Gurney hand shoe tacks are clearly galvanized, not stainless. Another point for galvanized.
Side Note on Organization
I’ve enjoyed having my nails sorted out in 8-ounch plastic deli containers:
Eventually the rims crack and break, but it takes a good long time.
I see lots of folks with the nifty old cast-iron, flower-shaped carousel cups. But I live in an earthquake zone and would have nightmares about one spilling over.
Heeling
I’d be really talking out of school here. I’m still experimenting, and half my experiments so far have been wood pegs rather than metal.
I’ve got a box of Gurney “Hand Rubber Heel Nails” for washer heels, like Vibram 100s. They seem to work very well.
I also ended up with a cheap box of Gurney “Iron Shoe Nails”, which are long, headless spikes of iron. They seem to hold, but I don’t think I’ve figured out how to use them. I vaguely recall driving “pilot holes” with a pegging awl and then driving them through.
Final Note on Gurney
I really wish Gurney put more information on common uses on their website, or had a catalog where they lay it all out. I’ve done what I can pulling notes together into a better reference form here: D.B. Gurney | shoemaking.wiki
If you’re interested in their products, definitely check out their notes on weight and length designations in their FAQ. I also copied those notes to the top of my wiki page.
