Ever wondered about our most basic of fasteners: nails and screws? Well, here's the best article about them that I've ever read. Here's the beginning:
attaching members in wood frame construction. Usually, nailing is
used as a structural connection and appearance is not a factor.
Exceptions to this are nails used for cladding, decking and finish
work, where care in the selection of the type of nail can lead to
enhanced appearance.
Screws rely on their threads to develop resistance to withdrawal.
Nails are faster to install but rely mainly on friction to resist
withdrawal. For this reason, designs should ensure that nails are
loaded laterally and that withdrawal loads are kept to a minimum as
shown in Figure 1 in the previous section."
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