Are these Square Nails?

[clamdigger]

I am relatively new to the sport. I havent found anything old yet. 1 wheatie. Today I stumbled upon these at a supposed civil war site. Are these square nails? The larger one was about 9 inches down the smaller one around 5. I had to go get the kid from school, should I work this site over good? How is the best way to clean these up? Lots of questions, I know. But who better to ask. Thanks!

 

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[bigfish31]

Yes, those are square nails. I don't think they are worth cleaning, unless you want the pratice. And why not work that area if it's open. Good place to start.

 

[Montana Jim]

The nails are a clue to the age of the site. If folks were there dropping nails - they might have been dropping other things. Some folks see these nails as trash, some as relics...

Are they worth anything monitarily? No

Are they a wealth of information? Yes

I'd detect the site for a while... absolutly.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Looks like this square nail. I prefer using electrolysis for iron.

 

[clamdigger]

You guys are great, somebody told me soak them in motor oil? Yes or no.

 

[DiggerBug]

This link should help with dating nails.

"All About Nails" http://www.appaltree.net/aba/nails.htm

Square/Cut nails date approx. 1820-1910. Go back to the site and hunt it thoroughly. There should be some goodies there.

 

[bluestem]

I'm not saying don't look further, but I've got a square nail site right out my front door and I've never found anything but square nails. I don't mind, large to small, I love them all. I keep them in a tin and consider every one a prize, but square nails does not always = goodies.

I've never heard of the motor oil treatment. I've just left mine rusty so far. I like the looks of big cypresshunter's. I may try the electrolysis.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

When a old building burned down, you will have many nails left behind.

I didnt use electrolysis on either of those nails. The iron nail was somehow preserved and is a good example of what a square nail should look like. The other is a broken brass shipwreck nail.

Electrolysis does work great on removing corrosion and preserving the remaining iron.

 

[Monty]

Motor oil is really a preservative and will keep the nails from rusting further. But it probably won't do much as far as removing the crud. It will soften the crud a bit, but not really deep clean as others have suggested by using the electrolysis method. Monty