School: Knockaville (roll number 14185)
- Location:
- Knockaville, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: C. de Búrca
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- XML “Old Crafts - Nail Making”
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- Nail-making.
The local blacksmith made the horse-shoe nails with the hammer on the anvil. He converted worn old spades into long rods from which he hammered the nails into shape from the red-hot iron. When old spades were not available he often used old worn horse-shoes.Nail-makers had what was known as nail-rod, that is a piece of iron several feet long and about a quarter of an inch in width. This was heated and well-beaten and shaped on a small anvil. The required length was cut off by a sharp chisel, which was fixed on one end of the anvil then the shank was placed in a die and the head of the nail hammered into shape.
The nail-makers sold the nails in Mullingar on the market-days. Nowadays the nails are bought in the hardware shops.