LignoLoc Wooden nails

[Warren Wilson]

I recently came across these LignoLock fasteners -- pneumatically-driven, wooden nails. They come in various lengths, from 1 1/2 to 2 3/8". The manufacturer points out that they are useful because you can plane and sand over them, re-saw them, it's just wood. They claim they hold as well as aluminum nails due to a process they call lignin welding, and when installed do no thermal bridging.

https://www.beck-lignoloc.com/en is their website -- but I am interested to know if anyone in here has heard of them or used them.

[Andrew Hughes]

Looks really cool. I’ve not seen them before.

[Jeff Bartley]

Interesting! Warren, if you try these please report back. I wonder if their use is relegated to only softwoods?

[Frank Pratt]

Interesting concept. I bet they would work in fairly hard wood. Several years ago I did a bunch of draw bore test joints to find the optimal hole offset. White oak pins into hard maple mortise & tenons. After completing the joints I sawed them all in half to do a post mortem. One of the joints had too much offset which broke the oak pin & the sharp end drove into the hard maple about an inch, just like a nail.

[Jamie Buxton]

Kinda pricy. A US source sells the framing nails in quantity 3500 for 15 cents per nail. That's about ten times what conventional steel framing nails cost.

Also, the manufacturer says they hold as well as aluminum nails. Who uses aluminum nails to build houses? Steel is the common material.

[Warren Wilson]

It seems they make the nails of beech - which I believe is harder than red oak. They also point out that the notion of “lignin welding” — the bond created between the driven nail and the surrounding wood from the heat generated by the friction of its entry — was only discovered in 1998. Because their promotional material refers to “structural wood,” I suspect it might only work on softwoods (but I personally don’t know anyone who uses a nail gun for fine woodworking, though I’m sure some do).

[Richard Coers]

It seems they make the nails of beech - which I believe is harder than red oak. They also point out that the notion of “lignin welding” — the bond created between the driven nail and the surrounding wood from the heat generated by the friction of its entry — was only discovered in 1998. Because their promotional material refers to “structural wood,” I suspect it might only work on softwoods (but I personally don’t know anyone who uses a nail gun for fine woodworking, though I’m sure some do).
Lignin welding may be new, but resin coated steel nails has been around a long time. The process of gluing the nail in the fibers is the same in principal through the friction in the nail driving.

[Thomas Eustis]

I build almost everything with Dominos. It would be a really cool method to pin through Dominos or tenons.

[Jamie Buxton]

I found a note in the manufacturers web site saying your should not plan on driving the nails into wood which is more than 500 kg per cubic meter. That pretty means they only go into softwoods like pine and redwood. Most hardwoods have a density above that. Even some softwoods are too dense; for instance Doug Fir is 530 kg per cubic meter.

[Matt Day]

You could those and say you didn’t use “nails”. Seriously though, they look cool. Thanks for posting.

[Mel Fulks]

Interesting idea, tornados drive much bigger stuff. But it's hard to aim them

[Lon Crosby]

Not a new idea. The thorns from a locust tree (black & honey) were the original nails. Don't even need a hammer - drive with a rock. Used extensively by early cabinet makers to lock mortise and tenon joints together. Make a tapered hole (with a tapered bit of course) and drive a thorn into it to lock the two pieces together. Slice of the excess with a chisel. The taper makes it easy to offset the holes to pull the joint together if you work was a bit sloppy. No need to make wood pegs and accurate holes. So head to the woods with a pair of side nippers. Watch where you walk and keep you eyes open.

[David Utterback]

Not a new idea. The thorns from a locust tree (black & honey) were the original nails. Don't even need a hammer - drive with a rock. Used extensively by early cabinet makers to lock mortise and tenon joints together. Make a tapered hole (with a tapered bit of course) and drive a thorn into it to lock the two pieces together. Slice of the excess with a chisel. The taper makes it easy to offset the holes to pull the joint together if you work was a bit sloppy. No need to make wood pegs and accurate holes. So head to the woods with a pair of side nippers. Watch where you walk and keep you eyes open.

News to me. Thanks! I have many in my back yard that are up to 6" long. If you trim them off, they come back longer and with more branching. I will give them a try.