The first nails were entirely hand forged from a piece of wrought-iron bar into a tapered point about 6″ (150 mm) long, with a head hand-formed by hammering flat a piece of untapered original stock.

What started as junk nails became a massive, razor-sharp katana hand-forged in fire by a master who turned scrap into slicing ...

Nails were made by forging them individually, by cutting them from a sheet of metal or by drawing them through special dies. Forged nails (1780 to 1835) were individually hand-shaped by blacksmiths.