Nailing

“ Suspicion of nailing should be entertained if the shoeing be recent, the hoof appear too small in relation to the body-weight, the walls have been thinned by rasping or have been broken away, or if the nails have been driven too high or very irregularly. ”

“ The manufacture of nails was one of the household industries of New England during a large part of the eighteenth century. James M. Swank, in Iron in All Ages, quotes from Nehemiah Bennet's description of the Town of Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts (1793) : "Nailing, or the business of making nails, is carried on largely in the winters, by farmers and young men, who have little other business at that season of the year." ”

“ The criminal's hands and feet are nailed to a door or cross. The nails are made red-hot and driven through the palms of the hands and the front of the foot. Hot nails are used to staunch the bleeding. A hole is made through the back of the cross through which the queue is put to keep up the head. Sometimes the head is held up by nailing the skin on either side of the neck. ”

“ Therefore bid every living creature that is on the hill take off the nail from the little finger of his right hand, if a man; if a bird, or beast, of the right foot or claw. When each has done this, bid him blow in the hollow of the nail with the right eye shut, saying these words, 'Nail become a canoe, and save me from the wrath of the moon.' The nail will become a large canoe, and in this canoe will its owner be safe. ”

“ Boat nails rivetted over burrs, clout-nails which are clinched, or plain copper nails will serve equally well, according to the purpose for which they are to be used. Where a nail is used to hold two pieces of wood together and does not pass entirely through, wire nails can be used to advantage, but if the nail goes entirely through both pieces, which is necessary to insure great strength, or where two thin pieces of wood are fastened together, rivets and burrs or clout-nails should be used. ”

“ However absurd it may appear, we shall give examples of this superstition:—A person with broad nails is of gentle nature, timid, and bashful. Those whose nails grow into the flesh at the points or sides are given to luxury. A white mark on the nail bespeaks misfortune. Persons with very pale [Pg 378] nails are subject to much infirmity of the flesh, and persecution by neighbours and friends. People with narrow nails are ambitious and quarrelsome. ”

“ Most of the nail is fast to the finger, but at the outer edge there is a little space between the nail and the finger, and if we are not careful this little space gets filled with dirt, and then the nail has a black band across the top, which looks very ugly. When the nails are long, the band is wider, and, although the dirt is under the nail, it shows on the outside, because the nail is transparent, that is, it can be seen through. ”

“ By means of a cam, the heading die is now slidden laterally opposite to the end of the nail in the holding jaws, and by another cam, upon the main shaft, the die is forced forward, which compresses the end of the nail, and spreads out the nail into the form of a head. As the main shaft continues to revolve, the cams pass away, and allow the spring to throw the jaws of the vice open, when the nails fall out; but to guard against the chance of a nail sticking in the jaws, a picker is provided, which pushes the nail out as soon as it is finished. ”

“ To edge the boot with overlapping nails, which may become a smooth bar, is ineffective, and even more likely to produce a slip on rock than if the sole were left altogether unprotected. One good rough nail rightly driven in and rightly placed is quite enough to ensure a perfectly safe stance under a well-balanced body; and on much modern slab climbing one nail-hold is all that is sought or obtained. The neater the action the fewer the nails needed. ”

“ I now replaced the nail and regulated it attentively. A person passing out through this window might have reclosed it, and the spring would have caught—but the nail could not have been replaced. The conclusion was plain, and again narrowed in the field of my investigations. The assassins must have escaped through the other window. Supposing, then, the springs upon each sash to be the same, as was probable, there must be found a difference between the nails, or at least between the modes of their fixture. ”

“ Those in the first canoe, which came along-side, were fishers, and exchanged some fish for pieces of cloth and nails. In the next, were two men, whom, by their dress and behaviour, I took to be chiefs.--These two were easily prevailed on to come on board, when they were presented with nails and other articles. They were so fond of nails, as to seize on all they could find, and with such eagerness, as plainly shewed they were the most valuable things we could give them. ”

“ I should guess also that this person’s feet had some marked peculiarity, since such pains had been taken to conceal the footprints. Then the cast of the hand here encourages speculation. Fingers long, slim, and delicate, save at the nails, where, with the exception of the little finger, are to be found unmistakable signs of the habit of biting the nails,—see, here are the hang-nails,—but, strange to say, the nail of the little finger has been spared, and suffered to grow to an unusual length. ”

“ The making of a nail, however, is by no means one of the simplest operations. The same person blows the bellows, stirs or mends the fire as there is occasion, heats the iron, and forges every part of the nail: in forging the head, too, he in obliged to change his tools. ”

“ Accustom the birds to having a bath dish put in for a time every morning. Should the feet look soiled, or the nails be too long, take the bird firmly, but gently, in your hand, and hold the feet in warm soap and water, to remove all dirt and soften the nails, the extreme points of which can be cut with a pair of sharp, fine scissors. Take care not to go above or too near the end—the end of the nerve that can be seen running through the upper part of the nail ”

“ At this critical instant, while we hold our breath, a naked man, whose name I am sorry I cannot give to an admiring American public, appears on the bow with a rope in his teeth; he plunges in and makes for the nearest rock. He swims hand over hand, swinging his arms from the shoulders out of water and striking them forward splashing along like a sidewheeler—the common way of swimming in the heavy water of the Nile. ”

“ There is no rule for the management of the nail of greater importance than that which prescribes the pressing back of the edge of the scarf-skin which forms the boundary of the base of the nail. This margin is naturally adherent to the surface of the nail, and has a tendency to grow forward with it and become ragged and attenuated. ”

“ In doing this we should see to it that the nails are made smooth, and even, but are not hammered harder than is absolutely necessary, because the lighter one can hammer the nails the better they will be. ”

“ Many of the old nails which are only a little slack should be hardened at their clench by a few taps from inside, one hand holding a "dollie" against the head of the nail on the outside. Melt a pound of pitch in a gallon of boiling North Carolina tar and give her bottom a good coat inside, filling the lands or ledges well. ”

“ In making nails by hand, the „nailer“ heats the end of the nail-rod at his small forge, and brings it into the form of the spike of a nail by a few strokes of his hammer on the anvil. It is then cut to any required length on a chisel, leaving it still attached to the rod. ”

“ A common smith, who, though accustomed to handle the hammer, has never been used to make nails, if, upon some particular occasion, he is obliged to attempt it, will scarce, I am assured, be able to make above two or three hundred nails in a day, and those, too, very bad ones. ”

“ A sharp instrument, usually a chisel, is placed against the free edge of the nail so as to cut only through the nail itself and not into the nail bed, with the purpose in mind of removing a wedge-shaped piece of nail of just the size necessary to relieve irritation, and permit of proper drainage and dressing. ”

“ But perhaps the strongest illustration of the differing densities of these two media is furnished by an attempt to drive a nail under water. By an absolute law such an effort, if guided by sight independent of calculation, must fail. Habit and experience, tested in atmospheric light, will control the muscles, and direct the blow at the very point where the nail-head is not. ”

“ They have developed a new nail,—a long nail by which they can retain their hold on the fence while climbing. With this same nail they can burrow six or eight inches under the netting, and thus enter the fields that mean food and life to them. They are now laughing at man. ”

“ When a man's fingers have been amputated, imperfect nails sometimes appear on the stumps: I could as soon believe that these vestiges of nails have appeared, not from unknown laws of growth, but in order to excrete horny matter, as that the rudimentary nails on the fin of the manatee were formed for this purpose. ”

“ When you go to draw a nail, instead of the half-dozen hit-or-miss slips that are the usual fate of such attempts, the bar falls down in front of the nail as the claw grips it from the back. The nail is held in a vise and must come out willy-nilly. ”

“ Apparently in this case the nail is supposed to contain a portion of the life and strength of the person to whom it belonged, and if the nail grows it gradually absorbs more and more of his life and strength, and he consequently becomes weaker and weaker through being deprived of it. ”

“ If the injured member be plunged into very hot water the nail will become pliable and adapt itself to the new condition of things, thus alleviating agony to some extent. A small hole may be bored on the nail with a pointed instrument, so adroitly as not to cause pain, yet so successfully as to relieve pressure on the sensitive tissues. ”

“ When a person presses the chin, the breasts, the lower lip, or the jaghana of another so softly that no scratch or mark is left, but only the hair on the body becomes erect from the touch of the nails, and the nails themselves make a sound, it is called a 'sounding or pressing with the nails'. ”

“ If he travels after nightfall, the chances are his craft will steal unawares close to a black head above a swimming body. With both wind and current meeting the canoe, no suspicion of his presence catches the scent of the sharp-nosed swimmer. ”

“ There are many English women engaged in the occupation of nail-making. They work in glass-houses, glue-works, nursery-gardens, at ordinary farm-work. On some of the canals they manage the boats, open the locks, drive the horses, and sometimes even draw the boats with the line across their shoulders. ”

“ The plungers were made with globe or disk shaped collars, so adjusted or arranged that they would spread the spring jaws at the proper moment to allow the heads of the nails to pass. To depress the plungers, he arranged a cam, so formed and fitted as to have spent its force when the nail was driven to its place. ”

“ Mouton, whom I desire you will send for upon your arrival at Paris, will give you an opiate, and a liquor to be used sometimes. Nothing looks more ordinary, vulgar, and illiberal, than dirty hands, and ugly, uneven, and ragged nails: I do not suspect you of that shocking, awkward trick, of biting yours; but that is not enough: you must keep the ends of them smooth and clean, not tipped with black, as the ordinary people’s always are. The ends of your nails should be small segments of circles, which, by a very little care in the cutting, they are very easily brought to ”

“ MidHG. nagel, OHG. nagal, f., ‘nail’; corresponding to OSax. nagal, Du. nagel, AS. nœgel, E. nail, OIc. nagl, ‘nail’; Goth. *nagls may be deduced from the recorded vb. nagljan, ‘to nail.’ The West Teut. words have mostly the double sense ‘nail of the finger or toe’ and ‘wooden, iron nail.’ The former meaning, in accordance with the corresponding words in the other Aryan languages, is the original one (in OIc. there is a distinction between nagl, ‘finger-nail,’ and nagle, ‘wooden, iron nail’) . Teut. naglo- originated in Aryan noghlo-, or rather nokhló-; comp. ”

“ On nails driven into the walls are hung singular-shaped instruments, all keen or pointed with points as fine as a needle and edges as sharp as a razor; some shine like mirrors; others, on the contrary, are of a dull gray or murky blue. ”

“ Instances are by no means unfrequent in which the power of production of the nail at the root becomes entirely destroyed, and it then grows in thickness only. When this affection occurs, it is often remarkable what a mass the nail presents. ”

“ The nails must be kept very short and well brushed, and a piece of pumice stone should always be kept on the washstand for cleaning the sides of the fingers where the dirt seems to get ingrained in the skin. Biting the nails is a horrible habit and quite spoils the shape of the fingers. ”

“ This growth has a certain limit which the nail cannot pass, and which it attains when it exhibits at its extremity a cutting and sharp edge. As long as this edge has the appearance of having a part cut off, the nail continues to grow. ”

“ The nails are smaller in man than those of any animal. If they were much longer than the extremities of the fingers, they would obstruct the management of the hand. Such savages as suffer them to grow long, make use of them in flaying and tearing animals, but though their nails are considerably larger than ours, they are yet by no means to be compared to the hoofs or the claws of other animals. ”