Author Topic: guess which is harder, a nail or a screw? (Read 2077 times)

paul case · « **on:** November 24, 2009, 03:25:58 pm »

i was sawing a walnut log for a customer that i suspected was a yard tree today and hit a screw on the second cut. ruined the blade, but it had been sharpened 7 times. on the opposite side of the log i hit a 10 penny nail just dulled the blade(not a new one) i was able to sharpen it and was back to slicing in about 5 or 6 minutes. the srew and the nail were both cut completely in two and both were about the same size . the screw was a sheet rock screw and when i got into it there was a terrible noise, but with the nail it didnt sound and different. i think the screw was much harder what do you think? pc

Tom · « **Reply #1 on:** November 24, 2009, 03:32:40 pm »

I think you are probably right. A nail is usualy nothing but a piece of pointy wire. A screw is moulded or cut.

I've not hit a file yet, that I know of, but the hardest thing I've hit was a screwdriver shaft. The band didn't go through it, but every tooth was ripped off.

I think that cut nails are pretty hard too. I've hit a few of them and they act a lot like the screwdriver shaft. Cut nails are what most folks call concrete nails or flooring nails. They are wedge shaped, flat nosed and mighty hard.

How fast you are going when you hit the nail seems to make a difference too. If it is slow enough that the tip of the tooth contacts the nail and is able to begin cutting it, there seems to be less damage. If you are really flying through a piece of wood and the tip of the toothe misses the nail, the nail ends up, intact, in the gullet and resting on the face of the tooth. Something has to give and it usually is the tooth.

woodmills1 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2009, 05:55:17 pm »

drywall screws are heat treated/ and or hardened, they ruin blades

ladylake · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2009, 06:48:16 pm »

Didn't have too guess, screw are hard, most nails aren't bad except for pole barn nails. I hit a pole barn nail once at a angle that turned every tooth into a U shape on the same side of the blade. If I ever figure out how to post pics I'll put one up of that blade. Steve

Dave Shepard · « **Reply #4 on:** November 24, 2009, 07:22:44 pm »

Hardest thing I've hit is ceramic insulators. Don't even scratch them. I did saw off 7 1/2 inch bolts in one pass. They were soft.

Screws are much harder than nails. Brittle, as well.

jwoods · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2009, 07:54:29 pm »

..same experience as Woodmills1.

Ianab · « **Reply #6 on:** November 24, 2009, 08:25:15 pm »

Wait till you find a spring steel Tine off some piece of haymaking equipment. Never hit one with the mill, but you cant chainsaw through one like a nail or piece of wire. I imagine they would have the same effect on most any sawmill. (dead stop)

Ian

Chuck White · « **Reply #7 on:** November 24, 2009, 08:37:33 pm »

Sheet-Rock screws are without a doubt, harder than nails!

They will smoke a blade real quick!

Banjo picker · « **Reply #8 on:** November 24, 2009, 08:54:23 pm »

I don't have to guess either...sheetrock screws will usually get about 2 feet of teeth on a band...It may take a little bit for the symptoms of a nail to even show up...Tim

Magicman · « **Reply #9 on:** November 24, 2009, 09:34:27 pm »

Quote from: Chuck White on November 24, 2009, 08:37:33 pm

Sheet-Rock screws are without a doubt, harder than nails!

Just try to drill one out in your workshop and you'll find out for sure. Probably will break the bit off, and then you'll have two problems......

Thankfully, I've never hit one in a log.

Dave Shepard · « **Reply #10 on:** November 24, 2009, 10:11:13 pm »

They usually come in groups of four. Spaced about the sized of a Posted sign.

paul case · « **Reply #11 on:** November 24, 2009, 10:26:24 pm »

yup they are blade ruining little dudes . only took 1 dave,and i only found 1. thats enuf. pc

ladylake · « **Reply #12 on:** November 25, 2009, 04:42:55 am »

The carbide teeth on my table saw don't like sheet rock screws either. Steve

Al_Smith · « **Reply #13 on:** November 25, 2009, 05:19:02 am »

Quote from: Dave Shepard on November 24, 2009, 07:22:44 pm

Hardest thing I've hit is ceramic insulators.

Hmm when I was youngster the roof of the local sawmill looked like it had been strafed by a WW2 fighter plane . They hit insulators and other junk with a big circle mill several times .The carbide inserts flew off of that big blade like machine gun ammo .

Papa1stuff · « **Reply #14 on:** November 25, 2009, 06:21:23 am »

just hit one day before yesterday , just cut off the tip of it but sent the saw in to a upward climg

woodmills1 · « **Reply #15 on:** November 25, 2009, 06:22:00 am »

I hit a screw driver in a spruce once

treecyclers · « **Reply #16 on:** November 25, 2009, 08:53:38 am »

The hardest thing I ever encountered while sawing was a concrete block with bricks still attached.
Someone decided to put some concrete and bricks into the high hollow of a tree to prevent the bees from nesting in it, I sawed the log, and found it.
What a neat but eerie sound.
Needless to say, the blade was trashed.
SD

Bibbyman · « **Reply #17 on:** November 25, 2009, 09:00:00 am »

Hardest thing we've ever hit ~~was a~~ were porcelian insulators.

We did hit a nail in a log the other day with a new 7° blade. It cut the nail ok but broke off four teath. I suspect it was some kind of hardened nail.

Papa1stuff · « **Reply #18 on:** November 25, 2009, 11:10:44 am »

Bibbyman,how may teeth can be missing and still be able to use the blade?

Magicman · « **Reply #19 on:** November 25, 2009, 08:41:27 pm »

The worst thing that I have ever hit was that "T" fence post, which was driven into the log over 40' from the butt.

stonebroke · « **Reply #20 on:** November 25, 2009, 10:50:04 pm »

How did a t post get forty feet up into a tree?

Stonebroke

Magicman · « **Reply #21 on:** November 25, 2009, 11:06:27 pm »

It took me a while to figure it out. Since I bucked the logs up, I knew that nobody was screwing with my head. I cut a 20' log off (which was the butt cut) and sawed it. The next log was another 20 footer, which I sawed. The third log was 16'. I had sawed about 4' when I hit the post. This put the T post at least 45' from the ground. It was broken off beneath the bark, which is why I didn't see it. It was driven in rather than "grew" in. You can see the torn wood fibers around the post.

Bottom line. When the tree was cut, it fell across a fence which drove the post into the tree. When the skidder hooked up, the post was broken off inside of the tree.

customsawyer · « **Reply #22 on:** November 28, 2009, 05:49:11 am »

The hardest thing I haven't been able to cut is a cotton picker spindle. They like to use them down here as steps for the deer stands.

dail_h · « **Reply #23 on:** November 28, 2009, 05:17:58 pm »

I was resawing some beams from an old shoe factory one time. Sewing needles driven into a beam will take "all" the teeth off a bandsaw most quick. Doesn't even scratch the needle(sigh)

sgschwend · « **Reply #24 on:** December 12, 2009, 05:21:35 pm »

Here is my first insulator. The saw teeth rubbed off and certainly the saw could not continue. The saw was wedged tight, I could only brake the blade off. The insulator was at the 18 year ring versus a 70 year old tree.

My saws normally can cut through even a 1/4 bolt size piece of steel, such as the lag bolt holding the insulator, but the ceramic end was a killer. I have also hit 1/2 rebar and that kills the blade too.

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Author Topic: guess which is harder, a nail or a screw? (Read 2077 times)