Tremont Nail Company forged and cut nails

I want to give you a case study — the history of nails. Nails have been around for thousands of years. The Romans forged nails by hand. [Tom passes around forged and cut nails from a Massachusetts firm.] The reason I want to tell you about nails is because it gives you a history of where materials manufacturing has been and where it's come. There's a book, a series of PBS articles on metallurgy — they wrote a book on it, called Out of the Fiery Furnace. 1986, Pennsylvania State University Press. The impact of metals on the history of mankind.