Found out a 16 penny nail holds about 60 lbs of pull, so I tested it in my shop

Stella Perry · 2026-10-13T06:55:05.585047+00:00

Honestly I always just guessed at this stuff and went with whatever felt right, but a guy named Dale who runs the lumber desk at my supply yard in Boise handed me a little chart printout from the APA and it said a 16d common nail in side grain holds around 60 lbs in straight pull. I didn't believe it, so I clamped a scrap of 2x6 to my bench, drove in five of them, and hung a bucket off a hook until it let go. Every single one popped somewhere between 55 and 65 lbs, close enough that the chart is clearly not junk. What really got me was the shear number, which is way higher, like 100 lbs plus per nail, and that's the direction that actually matters in most framing. I've been overbuilding little garden gates and shed braces for years because I thought nails were basically useless in tension. Now I know they're fine for holding things down, they just stink at pulling things apart, which changes how I set up my hangers and brackets. Dale said he's had that chart taped to his counter for 12 years and maybe two people have ever asked about it. Has anyone else actually pull tested their fasteners, or am I the only one who got this far into the trade without knowing the real numbers?

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Found out a 16 penny nail holds about 60 lbs of pull, so I tested it in my shop | Carpenters - Thought Shares