In the battle for full service supremacy, I find I am being upscaled by measurers using those expensive Mag Nails. It is a good looking nail and I figure the city people are less likely to fool with it if it looks like a real survey marker. At 75, I am suffering from the Green Bananas Syndrome: i.e. I hate to pay a bunch for something I might not stay capable of using up. Does anyone have a cheap source for ChrisNik Mag Nails?
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You can have mine. I almost never use them anymore because they never survive a Michigan winter due to the snowplows. It just doesn't seem like there is any point to using them if they don't last longer than the spray paint.
Has anyone else in the northern states figured out a way to make them survive a winter? It doesn't seem to matter how deep I pound them in. I'm thinking it might be a combination of the freeze-thaw cycles and snowplows.
I do still use them to do a one-person measurement of a calibration course. But for that I can use the same nails over and over again.
I haven’t had a problem here in CT but I generally only use them for cal courses.
As for supply, when I see a survey team out working I’ll explain what I need them for and ask if they can spare some. Generally walk away with anywhere from two to a handful.
The do stick up significantly higher than a regular concrete nail. Wondered about that. Sounds like using them to hold a washer worsens winter survival odds.
We've been using PK and concrete nails with washers for years. I chip a depression in the blacktop deep enough that the nail head is below the road surface. Never lost a nail head. 
I attached a sketch. For concrete I use a star drill to make a hole about 1/2inch deep. I fill the hole with paint.
Honestly, is there any point in using them for anything but a cal course or an international caliber race?
I live in the south, so conditions are different, but I've had success with fluted masonry nails and 2" small hole washers.
Snow? Plows? What are they?
