Architrave - door stop

[Dave123456789]

Hi the little strip of wood that stops the door came off so i used some panel pins but they look horrible and the head of nail shows badly.

Is it normally glued in? Or nailed in with a particular type of nail whereby you can’t see the head?

I need to poke the nails out and start again the right way - any advice pls?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Stop laths (or in the Midlands "banging strips") are normally nailed in with 16ga pins these days, but that requires an appropriate 16ga 2nd fix nailer. Before nail guns were commonly used they were generally fixed using either panel pins or small lost head nails which would be punched under (i.e. set below the surface of the timber) with a hammer and a nail set (a specialised type of punch, widely available). The resulting hole could then be filled with linseed oil putty or Brummer stopping (if being overpainted) or a pellet of coloured wax mixed to match the surrounding colour if the timber is stained and lacquered (see floor repair waxes, Briwax, Konig UK, etc).

You normally don't glue these strips - the Midlands nickname of "banging strips" gives the reason away: doors can and do bang into these strips and glued joints without additional mechanical fastenings are likely to just fail in short order

 

[Dave123456789]

The lost head nail seems my best bet!

These seem long though 4cm??

Also the head doesn’t look like it’ll get “lost”??

GALVANISED LOST HEAD NAILS SKIRTING ARCHITRAVE 1 1/2" 40mm | eBay

Suitable for architrave / skirting. galvanised steel. brad nails. a nail that can be punched below the surface.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The lost head nail seems my best bet!

These seem long though 4cm??

You can get these in 1in, 1-1/4in and 1-1/2in or 25, 30/32 and 38/40mm. The trick is to go to a real ironmonger, or search somewhere like Amazon (who do sell 30 or 32mm lost head nails)

Also the head doesn’t look like it’ll get “lost”??

You need the right tools to install, i.e. a hammer and an appropriately sized nail set. It's the nail set which sinks the nail head (if you think about it, nails couldn't ever self sink - well maybecat Hogwarts, but not in the real world). A set of three Stanley nail sets will set you back about a tenner - still a lot less than the £400 odd I paid for my Hikoki 16ga 2nd fix nailer

A note about nail sets: nail sets are not punches. Punches have flat ends, will slide off nail heads (and damage the workpiece) as well as potentially injuring the user. Nail sets have hollow ground ends and are designed to sit atop nail heads, making them a lott safer to use