Alasdair

Just adding to the conjecture - possibly it was the heads that were required
eg as decorative rivets that would be soldered onto something tasteful, like
a ye olde copper jugge.

Denis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alasdair Brooks" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9:45 AM
Subject: Snipped nails


> As long as we're talking about nails...
>
> I'm cataloguing an artefact assemblage from a mid- to second half-19th
> century
> metal workshop in Tasmania (Port Arthur).
>
> Common within this assemblage are numerous copper alloy nail shafts from
> both
> cut* and wrought nails.
>
> These nail shafts have very clearly been snipped off from the rest of the
> nail.
> My initial reaction was that the nails had been snipped when removed from
> whatever they had been hammered in to, and the shafts then taken to the
> workshops to be melted down again.  However, on closer examination, it
> would
> appear that every single one of these snipped shafts is entirely
> straight - even
> when hypothetically snipped just below the head [this is admittedly a
> judgement
> call, based on the average length of the complete nails recovered].  This
> suggests that these snipped shafts are in fact from nails that were never
> used -
> at which point the initial reaction has problems.  Never mind the problem
> of
> why, if the shafts are being taken to be melted down, the heads aren't
> similarly
> being taken for melting.  There isn't a single nail head fragment in the
> assemblage, and I don't think that I'm looking at incomplete nail shafts
> for
> which a head hasn't been applied/formed yet [though I could be convinced
> otherwise here if someone has a compelling case].
>
> A small number of complete nails have also been recovered, some clearly
> used,
> some clearly never used, so they aren't much help.
>
> Any suggestions on interpretation from the more nail- or
> blacksmith-oriented
> amongst us?
>
>
> Alasdair Brooks
>
> [* note potential for confusion here!  I'm using 'cut nails' solely to
> refer to
> technology of manufacture, and 'snipped nails' to refer to the intentional
> cutting off of part of a complete nail regardless of manufacture
> technology]
>
>