horse-nail

If I had lost my money and all other resources had failed, I was not afraid to make a horse-nail or turn

Seven Wives and Seven Prisons; Or, Experiences in the Life of a Matrimonial Monomaniac. a True Story L. A. Abbott

-- When the services of a skilled smith are at hand, one of the readiest methods of performing this is to draw the edges of the crack together with an ordinary horse-nail.

Diseases of the Horse's Foot Harry Caulton Reeks

If I had lost my money and all other resources had failed, I was not afraid to make a horse-nail or turn a horse-shoe with the best blacksmith in California, and I could have got my living, as I did for many a year, at the forge and anvil.

Seven Wives and Seven Prisons Abbott, L. A. 1870

However, the-old gentleman, being stubborn as a horse-nail, persisted; the wife, still grumbling, calmed down; and the one joint of meat became an institution.

Hodge and His Masters Richard Jefferies 1867

a horse-nail from the patrimony of the blessed saint.

Hereward, the Last of the English Charles Kingsley 1847