Study In Old Wood
Closeup of an old house in Ironton, Colorado circa 1880s.
Ironton was once a “major” city in the San Juan Mountains between Ouray and Silverton. A thousand people, over 300 structures including chain stores, waterworks, and twice-daily railroad service, the town died when the mines did; the post office closed in 1920. The last resident died in the 1960s.
Now overgrown and subject to the ravages of winter at 9800 ft in the high mountains, it is easy to get to and a number of structures still stand. A few miles south of Ouray, it lies just off US550 and is easily reached with 2wd vehicles in nice weather. I wouldn’t take a passenger car to the townsite in rainy weather and only snow vehicles can reach it in winter.
The drive northwards from Durango to Montrose takes you through Silverton and Ouray. The old Ironton settlement still has several houses and locals are doing some minimal repair to keep them from falling down which is mostly roofing. The drive is exhilarating. There’s no side guard rails the entire way because it’s essential for snow plows to clear the roads and not be blocked by those barriers. That edgy quivering sensation in the groin area raises from time to time.
Them are cut nails, top pik. Iron, not steel. Forged. They won’t bend, but break. Very dense and heavy. No points, ends are squared off. Today, typically used to fasten pressure treated wood to concrete or masonry products. They are also very difficult and irritating and if you’re not careful, painful.
Summer 1972 (I was 17 and graduated that year) I worked with my dad building 3 houses in row that were the same floor plan, concrete block walls. You can’t nail drywall to concrete block walls so pressure treated 1″x2″x 8′ long wood furring strips are nailed to the concrete blocks at 16″ on center all the way around the inside perimeter of the house. Yeah, there’s quite a few of them. The drywall is then screwed to the furring strips and 1″ insulation is installed between the strips.
Like I said, the cut nails do not have points and it takes some power to get them started in what is very difficult wood to nail in the first place. Bloody thumbs and fingers are the norm.
Takes about 5 cut nails per furring strip, about 200 strips per house. But the fun doesn’t end there….it’s just beginning.
Next comes the 4″ wide pressure treated boards that are installed on each side of each window to be nailers for the drywall. Then, 8″ wide boards across the top of each window and door, again, nailers. Finally, 1″x2″ boards around the bottom of all exterior walls to nail baseboards too.
Then, lastly, window bucks must be installed at every window, in the jambs and head, that the windows will be screwed too. 2″x8″ pt wood must be installed in the jambs and head of all exterior doors including garage doors.
A thousand cut nails per 1500 square foot house is minimal.
I don’t particularly care for cut nails, because I know them very well.
One more thing. You can’t remove cut nails, you’ll break your hammer trying and if you try to use a crowbar, it will prove you to be a big, fat sissy.
If the cut nail absolutely MUST be removed you have to hit it hard, from the side, with a heavy hammer, and break it off. Right when the hammer hits the nail you must turn your head away to avoid getting shards in the mug.
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A few years earlier when I was plenty more stupid I nailed a cut nail into my dad’s driveway. Don’t ask me why – I was stupid. Then I tried to pull it out with the crowbar and I found out I didn’t own enough ass. Dam! Now what. That nail couldn’t be in that driveway when my dad came home. Period. He had little tolerance for dumb asses.
So I grabbed his acetylene torch with the cutting attachment. I heated that nail white hot and when I hit the handle to inject the oxygen there was an explosion and I was on my back in the front yard. WTF happened??? The concrete exploded! Yep, there was now an 8″ crater in the concrete where that cut nail used to live. OMFG, I’m ded. I seriously considered riding my bike to Argentina…maybe I could have met up with Mike Austin….
I’m a big, fat sissy. Crowbars – long crowbars – are good. But then, so are teenage boys showing off their muscles to operate said crowbar.