This Poll idea comes from Florian Hess, a member of the Karsruhe team who won the Co-Op world title two years in a row (2016-17). One of the main skills that makes Freestyle Frisbee unique from other disc sports is the nail delay; the act of spinning the disc on one’s fingernail. To enhance this skill, most players wear fake nails. As such a number of nail “suppliers” have sprung up. That is to say, several players make fake nails and sell of give them to other players. Still, other players make their own nails. This poll asks the question, which nails do you prefer? Let us know in the comments why. See below for a more detailed description of each nail.
[poll id=”31″]
Heinnails (made by Matt Gauthier) and Yarnails (Made by Dan Yarnell) are made from dental acrylic. They are very hard and durable. Hein Nails come from molds so there are different, consistent sizes. Yarnails are made individually and so have more variation but also more art…colors and designs.
Lou Sommeral makes Bonenails, which are carved from bones. They are very nice, and look really cool. Lou dies them and the bone has natural pores.
Manicured nails, where people go into a nail salon and get fake nails that are extra thick. These stay on all the time so there’s no need for glue before jamming.
Alinails and Toby nails are made by Ali and Toby. I don’t know how they do it. Maybe they can comment.
I’ve not heard of Shellworthnails but my guess is they are made from sea shells.
Krazygluenails would be ones made from Krazy Glue tubes. Players cut them out from the tube. Many years ago, this was the primary nail in use.
Self made would be any that you make yourself. Let us know how you do it.
Other are any that don’t fit the categories above. Let us know what we missed.
I will comment:
“Toby nails”, or as i like to call them: “glastic nails”, are made of polycarbonate (a very hard type of plastic, the same which CDs are made of). They are not molded, but cut by hand out of industrially made tubes of different diameters, leading to different curvatures. So it is similar to the krazy glue tube technique, only with mich harder material. They make a clinking sound like glass when they fall on a surface, hence the name.
“Shellworth Nails”, refers to the nails made by Philipp Scherworth. These are made from cellulose acetate, a material which is produced out of natural cellulose fibers and acetic acid. This material is also used to make frames for eyeglasses. It can be bought as plates, cut to form and bent under heat to obtain different curvatures.
other organic materials that i know have been used is epoxy resin and nylon (Udo), and PTFE, also known as Teflon (Toby).
I heard that there are also experiments with inorganic materials. Dan Yarnell hat made some ceramic nails, i have seen James play with them.
Thx Toby, for the well explanation of the Acetat Nails (Shellworth Nails)
Swedish plastic. The PVC material used in electrical installation pipes in Sweden is extremely suitable for making nails. It is easily shaped, and polishes to a mirror surface almost instantly, using just a notebook. An eight foot pipe of 3/4″ diameter is about five bucks and truly lasts a lifetime. Additionally this plastic is hard but impossible tp crack at jamming temperatures. Strongly recommended. Grab me at any meet amd I will give you a handful.
Hein Nails are the best! I used the Swedish plastic from Åke for many years before Matt Gauthier began making custom nails. Now, I use exclusively Hein Nails, of course. 🙂 The Swedish plastic is great, but I will say that it does eventually wear down, which does not seem to be the case with Hein Nails which last forever! Also, it’s a lot of work to create nails from the Swedish plastic. First you cut them out (you need really strong tools) and then you need to do a lot of filing to get them just right, but once completed it is worth it, and they last a very nice long time.
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