Nailed It

It’s unknown when exactly nails were invented. With that said, archeologists have found nails in Egypt dating back to around 3,400 B.C. The term "penny", as it refers to nails, probably originated in medieval England to describe the price of a hundred nails. Nails were expensive and difficult to obtain in the American colonies, so that abandoned houses were sometimes deliberately burned down to allow recovery of used nails from the ashes. Today's nails are typically made of steel, often dipped or coated to prevent corrosion in harsh conditions or to improve adhesion.