Nails..Did you know?

[woody1]

The penny system of designating nail size originated in England many years ago. Ten penny, four penny, ect. derived thier names from the fact that one hundred nails of that size cost ten pence, four pence, ect. Today the penny size represence not cost, but the definite length of nail measued from the head or under the head to the tip of the point. the term penny is still shown by using the Englis pence sign-d.

taken from Nippon Seisen Company, Ltd Nail Catalog

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Yes I did know all of that.  But did you know that a 10 penny nail and take out a $20 dollar blade.

[DanG]

Well, I didn't know that, but I had idly wondered about it in the past.  I just never wondered hard enough to do any research on it.  Now that I know, I can impress others who haven't bothered to learn about it with my vast knowledge. ;D 8) 8)  While we're on this subject, why do we refer to a 16 penny nail as a 16d?

[DouginUtah]

Dan,

I know! I know!

d is the abbreviation for pence.

"100 small nails that sold for 4 pence were called 4d nails (4 d is the abbreviation of 4 pence)."

[Radar67]

Dan, as stated in the first post, the d is the english sign for pence, or penny in our case.  ;) :D

[Dave Shepard]

You beat me to it Radar. I was going to hot link the first post for DanG. ;D

[DanG]

Well who the hell reads the original post anyway?  If he had wanted me to know that, he should have known that I don't read anything before I respond to it, and he would have put it further down in the thread where I would see it! ;) :D :D :D

[Dave Shepard]

 :D :D :D

[barbender]

10d=$20 how true Arkansawyer :D

[J_T]

How about a 16 box nail :D ;D

[isawlogs]

How does one come up with a "d" as an abreviation the " pence "    Must of been a relative to the one the came up with " K " for a thousand   :-\ :

[Corley5]

or lb for pound 

[Dodgy Loner]

How does one come up with a "d" as an abreviation the " pence "

The name penny comes from the Old English pennige, sharing the same root as the German pfennig. Its abbreviation comes from the Roman denarius and was used until decimalisation in 1971.

Must of been a relative to the one the came up with " K " for a thousand   :-\ :

From the Latin kilo, meaning a thousand, but of course you you already knew that one ;)

or lb for pound 

The origin is in the Latin word libra, which could mean both balance scales and also a pound weight, for which the full expression was libra pondo, the second word being the origin of our pound.

Amazing how much of our language was influenced by the Romans, huh?

[Tom]

So.... It's the Germans we can blame for the silent "p" when used with an "f".  What a physser? :D

[woody1]

Or "K" for a strikeout in baseball.  ??? :

[Warbird]

I think you guys have hit the nail on the head and driven this one home.  ;D

[Dodgy Loner]

Or "K" for a strikeout in baseball.  ??? :

I've always wondered about that myself, and you inspired me to do a little research.  It seems that early sportswriters Henry Chadwick and M.J. Kelly are largely responsible for the scoring system baseball uses today. Chadwick already had "S" slated for "sacrifice." So a strikeout became a "K", after the last letter of the word "struck."

[Tom]

I know that y'all probably get tired of my touting the Wood Handbook, but there is a world of information to be gleaned from its pages. The fellows that wrote it put a lot of hours into it, it's very obvious.   It's one of the first places I go when I have a "wood" question.  If there is no answer, it usually will lead me to an answer elswhere.

Read what it has to say about nails in the Fastener chapter, seven.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch07.pdf

[isawlogs]

 Dodgy ...  I always thought that KILO was an abreviation that needed a suffix to it .. kilometer then it would be 1000 meters ... kilogram / 1000grams ....ect.  a kilo in weight is 2.2 lbs.  But I have been known to get facts screwed up a time or two wiff stranslations .

[Dodgy Loner]

In today's usage, the term kilo is, indeed a prefix (unless you're a drug dealer) ;), but the etymology goes all the way back to the ancient Greek word khilioi, which was their word for "thousand"...or so my sources tell me :D.

[DanG]

The druggies are getting even lazier now.  These days it is just "ki". :

[pigman]

Now, DanG, how would you know that fact. ;D

[DanG]

Well, I...eerrr...ya know, ahh ya see...ummm, well...

Hey Pigman! Did you know you now have 2400 posts? 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[isawlogs]

Well, I...eerrr...ya know, ahh ya see...ummm, well...

Hey Pigman! Did you know you now have 2400 posts? 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

   Are we politeticaly correctily tryingaly changing da subject  ??? 

If so , you sure picked a good way . Congratulations Pigman , keep adding to those .  8) 8)