A nail is a metal shaft, pointed at one end and usually with a head at the other, that can be hammered into pieces of wood or other materials to fasten them together. In the making of common nails, steel wire is fed discontinuously between a pair of gripper dies, which hold it while a hammer forms the head. The grippers part and the wire moves forward; nippers then shear the shaft and pliers form the point. Other forms are masonry nails, stamped from a nail, and U-shaped staples.