Tip of the Week - Avoid splitting wood when hand nailing

If you don't have an air driven pin nailer, brad nailer or finish nailer, which tend to not split wood, here's a technique my grandfather taught me for driving a nail through a piece of wood that will guarantee no splits.

Cut the head off of one of the nails that you will be using. Chuck it in your electric drill and use the point of the nail as a drill bit to predrill the holes through the the wood. The hole will be sized perfectly and the wood will not split. This works especially well for thin wood strips like might be usd for holding in door glass.

Another technique to avoid splits, although not as foolproof as the above method, it to dull the point of the nail with your hammer before you nail it. Now, you will be crushing wood fibers instead of driving a wedge when you nail.

My grandfather taught me those tips years ago...they still work. Another tip he taught me was, when nailing oak or some other hard wood, rub the nail over a piece of bee's wax or hand soap. I still use the nail in drill method quite often.

Now you got me thinking about him...he's been gone for over 20 years, but he sure did teach me a lot while he was around. He was a journeyman carpenter for as long as I can remember. He farmed part time and I learned quite a lot about using what you had and make do with it. Glad I took the time to learn what he was willing to share. :)

My grandfather was a stair builder. He worked with Oak all day and carried no power tools in his tool box. He drilled a 1/4" hole in the end of his hammer handle and kept it full of beeswax. When he needed to lube a nail the wax was right there.

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Originally Posted by Todd Burch

If you don't have an air driven pin nailer, brad nailer or finish nailer, which tend to not split wood, here's a technique my grandfather taught me for driving a nail through a piece of wood that will guarantee no splits.

Cut the head off of one of the nails that you will be using. Chuck it in your electric drill and use the point of the nail as a drill bit to predrill the holes through the the wood. The hole will be sized perfectly and the wood will not split. This works especially well for thin wood strips like might be usd for holding in door glass.

Another technique to avoid splits, although not as foolproof as the above method, it to dull the point of the nail with your hammer before you nail it. Now, you will be crushing wood fibers instead of driving a wedge when you nail.

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Todd,
My Grandfather did the same thing. I had completly forgotten about that trick.

Thanks,

Dean

Thanks for stirring up the ol' gray matter Todd ... it's been a long time since I learned that from my Dad, but it certainly does work. ;)

You also can take a pair of electrichans plyers and clip the point off the nail.

When I was running wires in buldings for sound systems a few years back, we use to use old wire hangers for drill bits to mark spots in walls or ceilings/floors to tell where we were at. Just cut it at an angle to leave a nice burr and you're good to go for a small drill bit that is easy to patch and/or fit into tight spaces.

Chris
I took your idea of the wire hanger one step further.
I was running a new phone line from the outside box to the inside office.
Brick outside the house to paneling inside house.
Drilled the hole through the cement between the bricks.
But drill was not long enough to extend through to the 2x12.
Cut a hanger, like you described, and smashed it with a hammer, then shaped it with a file. Tah-rah! a long drill.
Went through the 2x12 - no problem. How wide did I smash it - as wide as the phone wire was thick, and then a little wider - so that I could file appropriately shaped cutting edges.
Daniel :cool: