How to Get Tiny Brass Brads to Work with 1/4" Teak?

[Steve H Graham]

I have to fasten some thin teak (4.5 by 1/4 thick) to mahogany-veneered plywood inside a boat galley. It's to dress up a hole around a microwave oven. I got the teak ready, but I'm not sure I can get brads (the fastener that would match the old ones) to go through it. The old fasteners are barely visible from the outside. It looks as if they took tiny brass brads, snipped the heads off, and nailed them in. The closest thing I could find was 18 x 3/4" brads, and they don't seem to like being driven through this hard wood.

I don't want to use glue, and apart from that, I heard that it doesn't work well with teak.

Suggestions? The boat is a 1978 Hatteras yacht, if that helps.

[HANK METZ]

Take one of the snipped brads, chuck it in your drill and bore, it's a custom sized bit. There is a relationship between gauge and maximum length with brads, just as with nails. To hold a small brad, snipped or not, cut strips from an old cereal box, about 1/2" wide x ? long, push the brad in, position and drive.

[Steve H Graham]

Thanks for the great tips. I have managed to do it with a hammer, but that was just a test. If it won't work on the boat, I'll try your methods.

[Paul Murphy]

The #18 pins I use are .049" wire.
A #56 wire drill is .0465" dia.
Use a mini-chuck made for small bits:
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2000784/1080/Drill-Chuck-Mini.aspx?refcode=10INGOPB&gclid=CPXhsZjkwMACFQGRaQod_B4Arg
A very small warrington hammer works well to tap the pins in, protect glass/surface with cardboard.

[Charles Lent]

Get a brad driver. It looks kind of like a wood handled screw driver with no bit. In the end is a hole, into which you insert the brad. A magnet inside will hold a steel brad, but using brass brads will work. You just can't tilt it downward. You place the end with the brad against where you want the brad driven and then push.When you meet heavy resistance, the brad is installed and is flush with the surface. The outer shield keeps the brad relatively straight and retracts as you press the brad in. Reload and repeat for the next brad. These brad drivers are a bit difficult to find, but the better "real" hardware stores will either have them or will be able to get you one in a few days. The people at the Borgs won't even know what you are talking about. Amazon has several of them listed from just a few dollars to about $25.

Charley

[Jamie Buxton]

Tiny brass nails are often sold under the name "escutcheon pins".

[HANK METZ]

Be advised, brass plating of driven fasteners made of ferrous material can often be deceptively called "brass", and is a common mislabeling practice, and is the last thing you want in a marine environment; a magnet gives the definitive answer of a suspect fastener.