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In woodworking and construction, a nail is a small piece of metal (or wood, called a wooden nail or “trunnel”) that is used as fasteners, as peg for hanging something, or sometimes as an ornament. Typically, nails have a sharp point on one end and a flattened head on the other, but headless nails are available. Nails are made in a variety of forms for special purposes. The most common is wire nail. Other types of nails include pins, nails, brads, spikes and cleats.

Nails are usually driven into the workpiece with a hammer or nail gun. A nail holds materials together due to axial friction and lateral strength. The tip of the nail also sometimes bends or pinches after driving, so as not to pull it out.

The first nails were made of wrought iron. Nails date, at least, from ancient Egypt – bronze nails found in Egypt date back to 3400 BC. The Bible contains several references to nails, including the story of Judges Jael, the wife of Heber, who drives a nail (or tent) into the temple of the sleeping Canaanite commander; providing iron for nails. King David for becoming the Temple of Solomon, and in connection with the crucifixion of Christ.

The Romans made extensive use of nails. For example, the Roman army left behind seven tons of nails when it evacuated the Inhtutil fortress in Perthshire in the United Kingdom in 86–87 CE.

The term “penny,” as it refers to nails, probably originated in medieval England to describe the price of a hundred nails. The nails themselves were valuable enough and standardized for use as an informal medium of exchange.

Up to about 1800 artisans, known as nail guns or nailors, made nails by hand – mark the surname Naylor. (Workers call slitters that cut iron rods to a suitable size for nailing machines. Since the end of the 16th century, hand tools have disappeared with the growth of a longitudinal cutting mill, which cut iron rods into bars with a uniform cross section, saving a lot of manual labor.)

During the American Revolution, England was the largest producer of nails in the world. Nails were expensive and difficult to get in the American colonies, so abandoned houses were sometimes intentionally burned so that used nails could be removed from the ashes.

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