What were wooden nails called in Rus'?
The question of what wooden nails were called in ancient Rus' is still open to modern historians. There is an assumption that they were called differently, depending on the purpose for which they were used. Thus, these products were used in the manufacture of shoes and fastening parts of wooden buildings. The names, we note, were very unusual.
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What is a wooden shoe nail called?
In those days, people made shoes from what they had on hand. For example, the sole was attached to the head (the so-called upper part of the shoe) using small sharp wooden sticks, sharpened in a special way. It is noteworthy that such shoe nails did not have a head, but they were driven in quite carefully, since they could easily break in the process.
Thanks to their sharp ends, these miniature fasteners looked like knitting needles, only made of wood. However, over time the name was simplified, and People began to call shoe nails “matches”.
The name stuck and accompanied people for many centuries. Surprisingly, even today in remote villages you can hear the word “matches” from a grandfather who has seen life. At the same time, he will talk about shoe nails, and not about those wooden sticks with a flammable head that we are used to.
Wooden nails for outbuildings
We all know that in Rus' they built huts without a single nail. However, this statement is not entirely true.Nails were used, but they were very specific: they were made of wood and looked like small, neat sticks.
Such fasteners had several names. Historians know the following:
- skoloten;
- oppressive;
- nog.
For their manufacture, certain types of wood were used, most often maple, pine, oak, and birch.
Such fasteners looked simple. They were round or rectangular pins that were used to connect logs in a log house.
A person who is far from carpentry most likely will not notice the difference between a dowel and an ordinary small elongated block. However In ancient times, making a wooden nail was a real art, and maintaining the correct thickness and the required length became especially important. Such fasteners were used not only in the construction of wooden houses. They were often used in shipbuilding.
By the way! Nowadays, wooden dowels are also used in the construction of bathhouses and wooden outbuildings. In addition, today metal dowels are widely used, although experienced craftsmen call such a fastening element unreliable due to the tendency of many metals to corrode.
Although wooden nails may seem like a curiosity today, they were a common building material in ancient times. They were called differently, but every carpenter in Rus' knew what to do with such a fastener.
Such historical information will not hurt us at all: when we know at least a little of what our ancestors lived, we develop spiritually and learn to appreciate the achievements that humanity has achieved today. An important skill, isn't it?
Not a shunt, but a tongue and groove
This is also how the furniture was assembled. For example a stool
The stools were assembled using frames, upper and lower, but this is a completely different principle for assembling carpentry.
Wooden nails for fastening wooden walls near the hut were prepared from willow with the bark stripped off and dried on the root. This is what I was forced to do in my childhood. And if willow nails were not prepared before the start of construction, then the old carpenters advised making them from spruce branches of the required thickness.
Wooden nails for shoes (especially boots) were used not only in the “old days”, but also in not so distant years (in the 50-60s - a common thing. And in some regions of the Russian Federation they are still used to pad the soles, together with glue... according to orders)
There is also a dowel and a shunt. Where is the difference here? And nails were prepared for the log houses from hard wood: oak, maple, ash, larch, and the logs were laid with the north side on the street, and not either way. And the log house must stand for 3 years before being allowed under the house. And they tried to make the bottom from madder larch, and the top from cedar or pine. Aspen was not very respected, although in a house made of aspen you won’t get a headache and you will sleep soundly.