Carpenters need to know how to drive a nail at an angle. This technique is called toenailing and is often used to join pieces of wood that meet at a right angle.
When toenailing, you have to be careful not to split the wood, which is easy to do when you’re nailing so close to the end of a board. You can often avoid splitting the wood by dulling the point of the nail. Place the nail head on a hard surface and tap the point several times with your hammer. Instead of spreading the wood fibers and splitting the wood, the blunt point will simply break the wood grain as it penetrates.
To toenail two boards, hold the nail at a 60° angle and start it about 3A in. from the end of the board that’s perpendicular to the other (or you can start the nail straight in, then pull it up to the correct angle). Then drive it home into the adjoining piece of wood.
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