Aspects of the mechanics of driving nails into wood

For nail driving, some aspects of the effect on penetration of the hammer mass, the speed at impact, the nail size and section shape and the driving direction in relation to the wood grain are reported.A 6 in. long, 0·236 in. dia., round nail was strain gauged to show how the strain in the nail varies with time during an impact.An analysis, which reasonably accounts for the experimental results, is developed for predicting the strain pulse in the nail, the amount of penetration by the nail and its time under strain.Maintaining the same kinetic energy input at each blow, it is found that the larger the initial penetration, the smaller is the further penetration.The effect on penetration depth of the material backing to the piece of wood is reported.The variation of the Euler buckling load with the nail penetration for a specific type of wood and nail dimensions is given.