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For example, one colleague has commented that in economically depressed areas such as early 20th century Italy hand-forged nails were more readily available than machine-made nails.

The wood fibres would often swell if damp and bind round the nail making an extremely strong fixing.

In Tudor times, we have evidence that the nail shape had not changed at all as can be seen by the nails found preserved in a barrel of tar on board the 'Mary Rose' - the Tudor flag ship of Henry VIII built in 1509 and recovered from the mud of the Solent in 1982.

I have been working on an entry entitled "Historical Review of Nails and Tacks" for the Painting Conservation Catalog, Vol.

II, being assembled by the Paintings Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation.

(this page contains the substance of an article entitled 'Traditional Cut Nails - worth preserving?

' written in May 2002 at the request of, and for inclusion in, the RICS Building Conservation Journal)For nail making, iron ore was heated with carbon to form a dense spongy mass of metal which was then fashioned into the shape of square rods and left to cool. After re-heating the rod in a forge, the blacksmith would cut off a nail length and hammer all four sides of the softened end to form a point.

Usually wire nails are ascribed an 1850s beginning date, but that date is both too early and too late.

While some wire nails were produced in 1819, no significant quantities were produced in the United States until the mid-1880s.

Eventually, in the USA, towards the late 1700's and early 1800's, a nail machine was devised which helped to automate the process. Flat metal strips of around two feet (600mm) in length and the width slightly larger than the nail length was presented to the machine.

The first lever cut a triangular strip of metal giving the desired width of the nail, the second lever held the nail in place while the third lever formed the head.