took load of hand nails to the scrap yard

---I cleaned out the shop of several pallets of hand nails I cannot see ever using. I got paid $1,100 at the scrap yard for 13,000+ pounds or about 9 cents/lb. That worked out to about $4.50/50lb box. I was happy to get paid for getting rid of them. Lanny

RE: words from the past that younger people puzzle over

Icebox Xerox occasionally, mimeograph

ice pick( helps to fit that BLOCK of ice in the icebox)

on the other hand my oldest son recently told me that watching me use a computer is like watching someone attempt to start of fire by slamming 2 rocks together. stephen

Actually- i did once own a keg of nails. My dad gave them to me-and he had gotten them from HIS dad. Grandpa died in the early 50's

a keg of 8d casing nails-all rusted and clumped together. Keg was approx. the size of a drywall bucket-a little taller maybe and a little skinnier.

dad had another empty one he used as a trash can in his studio- I was planning to do much the same- but by the time I got the rusted out lump of metal out of the keg- the whole barrel just collapsed, LOL stephen

---The nails were 5's 6's 7's bright. Not used for roofing. Some 16 ga finish nails which we used for facias but I have been using 16d ga lately and just got tired of the space all those nails were taking up. I got most of them for $1/box at auction along with more valuable nails that I kept. ---At the last auction 660 boxes of 1 3/4 coil went for $6/box. I took all the 1 1/4 for $8/box. I just don't use enough 1 3/4 so I passed on those. I also got all the N-21 stainless for about $25/box and I priced them at $228. We use them for treated shake roofs. A box of 10m will do about 20 sq of shakes. A typical roof is 24-30 sq so 2 boxes of stainless is $450 which is real overhead. I hate having to shell out $450 for staples for one roof even if we do have some leftovers for next time. Lanny

thats alot of nails

Right now, the 'crew' is only two of us, a pigletshead is all it takes to get us plastered. But I know what you mean about routine things from the past being a puzzlement today. I had the kid that works for me cleaning the shop last week, He came upon two chrome spouts for oil cans and had to ask "what the heck are these for?"

Don't believe him, Stephen. I heard him order a hogshead of liquor for the crew on friday. They begged for a cask of rum but he didn't want to spring for it. Language is revealing. I belong to a generation too young to buy nails by the keg although I believe I saw them in an old hardware store when I was a kid. I want to say a hundred lbs. Nowadays most nails are 'boxed' in that Asian cardboard that turns to paste if the dew gets on it. But that was the reference when I broke in. A ctn. aka 50# box was called a keg. It dawns on you slowly if you're not paying strict attention. When I step up to the counter I order a carton; when I ask a guy to load up the truck, I say a keg. "Keganails." Strange. Bye-gone age. It must be time for me to plug in an old western and make myself comfortable.

The only place I remember seeing nails-by-the-keg is Warner Brothers cartoons. I'm old, but not old enough.

Egg- where on earth are you buying nails by the Keg?

gotta fess up here. I am 47-and i don't think i have ever encountered nails for sale by the keg.

50# boxes-and even those are getting hard to find in HD galv.

I did go through a period last summer where i went a couple months without ever firing up a compressor- those were happy weeks indeed. did a new slate roof, some slate repairs, some tile roof repairs, some redwood siding repairs. stephen

Based on Murphy's Law, you're bound to get a huge job now that will require you to go buy exactly what you threw away to do it. In today's economy, you do what you have to to keep busy. ;)

I keep the following hand-nails in stock, approx. one keg each: 3/4, 7/8, 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/2, 3, eg &/or hdg. 1 1/4 also ss. & 1 1/4 1 1/2 cu. 3d reg, 3d fine, 5d, 6d, 7d, 8d, 10d, 12d, 16d. 3's are hdg, eg, and cu. 6's are eg, hdg, and ss. 8 &16 are hdg, eg, and vinyl coated. Yeah, we stock stick nails and coil nails too, but....... What do you do when you restrict yourself entirely to pushing them in with air? (I know Lanny doesn't do that, btw) A carton costs a lot these days. Four bucks is an outrageous steal. When I first started buying them they were ten bucks a keg. There is just something fundamentally important about being able to handle yourself and produce a good volume of work without being utterly dependent on hoses and compressors. You have to have air, you even need a palm nailer, but it is a sad, sad day when you go to buy a box of hand nails and find they stopped making or stocking them.

I remember buying roofing hails by the pallet too. A long time ago.

Kind of like throwing out brass plumbing fittings because everyone uses plastic now. But understandable.

Were they the old hot dipped galvanized that would tear up the new guys fingers? :)

I'm glad you are happy, but find it a bit sad actually. What size, shank, and metal were they?