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A nail set is a tool used to drive the head of a finish nail flush or under a work surface. It is useful for finishing work like installing moldings and trim. Nail sets come in sets of three to five different sizes and have a handle and a tapered tip. They are used to set finish nails and are made of hardened metal. Some nail sets have added features, like rubber or plastic grips. A popular type of nail set has a hole in the center with a spring-loaded pin to prevent slipping and marring the wood surface.
A nail set, sometimes called a nail punch, is a special tool made of hardened metal, usually steel, that is used to drive the head of a finish nail flush or under a work surface. A set of nails can sometimes be used as a punch, making a small hole, or dimple, in the wood as a guide for driving a nail. Nail sets aren’t typically used for construction work like framing a house, but they are extremely useful when doing finishing work, like installing moldings, baseboards, and other trim, both interior and exterior.
Nail sets are usually sold individually, but are also available in sets of three to five different sizes. A standard set of three should be sufficient to handle the most common sizes of finish nails. Generally between 4 and 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) long, a set of nails has two parts: the handle and the tip. The handle, rarely thicker than a standard screwdriver handle, is 1/2 to 2/3 the length of the tool. The tip of a nail set is tapered from the handle to a point narrow enough to fit the head of a finish nail. Different manufacturers sometimes add various features to enhance the look or value of these tools. Most, for example, are all metal, with raised ribs or cross-hatching in their grips to keep the tool from slipping. Some are made with rubber or plastic grips installed on the handles for comfort and also to reduce or prevent slipping.
Nail sets are most commonly used in finishing work. Molding and other trim work is attached to walls or ceilings with finish nails: relatively short, thin wire nails with heads only slightly larger than the diameter of the nail. These are hammered through the molding to secure it to the wall or ceiling, leaving the nail head just barely proud of the surface, i.e. just slightly protruding. Then, the point of a nail set is placed into a dimple in the nail head made for that purpose, and the nail set is struck with the hammer once or twice to drive the nail head flush with or below the surface of the wood, “setting it”. If the nail head has been driven below the surface of the wood, the small remaining hole is filled with an appropriate filler and allowed to dry before being lightly sanded and the finish applied to the moulding.
Most nail sets are made from a single piece of metal, but some are more elaborate. A popular set of nails has a hole in the center that extends the length of its body and contains a spring-loaded pin that protrudes through the hole in the back of the set of nails. The hole is placed over the nail head and the user strikes the protruding stud with a hammer, driving the stud forward, striking the nail head and driving it into the surface of the wood. The benefit of this type of nail set is that the pin hitting the nail has no chance of slipping off and marring the surface of the wood, which is sometimes a problem with one-piece nail sets.
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