On Wednesday, August 23, 1995 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, John R. Swain wrote:
Subject: Nail Nomenclature?
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Summary:
Keywords:

Can anyone solve a debate that started at our shop. Why are nail sizes
refered to as "penny"? More than that why is "penny" abbreviated as "D",
e.g., 12D or 16D?

Anyone have any clues?

I WAS TOLD THAT THE "D" WAS SHORT FOR " DRACHMA" - GREEK COIN