Finishing nails are often used for interior finish carpentry or on surfaces where fastener heads need to be hidden.
Stainless and galvanized finishing nails are two of the most often used types of these fasteners.
Their common applications are for woodwork where appearance is very important.
These fasteners have smaller heads and diameters compared to other types of nails.
They are hammered almost flush with the surface of the wood, with the head driven below the surface.
Specific types and sizes of nails with different finishes work for all kinds of purposes.
Choosing the right fastener is actually easy since sizes are standardized.
In the United States, for example, pennyweight is the unit used to measure nail sizes.
Pennyweight refers to the cost of buying 100 nails of the same size.
To choose the right size, one needs to bear in mind that the length of the nail should be three times as long as the thickness of the piece of wood where it will be used.
To convert the size to pennyweight, one only needs to subtract half an inch from the original fastener length and then multiply it by four.
Galvanized finishing nails are preferred more often because of their many advantages.
They are cheaper than other types.
They are very durable and are corrosion-resistant.
These fasteners undergo chemical processes where they are coated with layered zinc.
Zinc does not react with rust and is very inexpensive.
The galvanizing process also makes zinc permanently stick to the steel, thereby ensuring maximum durability for a very long period of time.
Because of these properties, galvanized nails can be recycled easily and reused repeatedly.