screws in 1800s ?

[GROOVY]

I wonder what type brass screws were available in the mid to late 1800s? flat or oval head?
These are for an Adirondack Guideboat, also still looking for tiny brass tacks (in ounces per thousand) 1/4" 2oz.

[Bruce Hooke]

If you are really interested in screw history, pick up a copy of One Good Turn, A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw by Witold Rybczynski. I just took a quick look at my copy to refresh my memory and it seems like it was in the late-1700's when machines to make wood screws were first developed (in the English Midlands). By 1810 machine-made screws were being produced in Rhode Island and throughout the 1800's numerous advances were made in the process as demand rapidly grew and prices dropped. It was not until the 20th Century that the Robertson and Phillips heads came along...

Since many of the early uses of screws were for fastening down metal to wood (such as hinges to a door), raised head (as in round headed) screws came first, and were followed by flat-head (countersunk) screws in the early-1800's.

I realize that this does not answer your question, but it does set the context...

[Sam F]

FWIW, I disassembled some mid-19 the Century hardware from a cabinet a few years ago. The wood screws were all flatheads with hand sawn slots more or less centered. These iron screws were also blunt ended like a machine screw with little or no taper and no point at all. There was no forcing these babies in without pre-drilling the hole!

[ssor]

When I was a kid we had some "Tee" handle screw awls. Looked a bit like a modern tapered drill with a short threaded point. When I saw them they were quite dull and shop worn.

[Canoeyawl]

Gimlet ;
A small hand tool having a spiraled shank, a screw tip, and a cross handle and used for boring holes.

[GROOVY]

Thanks,
I am going with the flat head slotted screws then.
Funny how Dwight Grant could get the copper tacks in his time , gussing I'll try the tacks at Faering Design.....