How To Remove Stubborn Nails

My 2nd job in construction—after I got through scraping a large stack of foundation formboards—was to remove the nails from a pile of salvaged 2x4s. It didn't accept long for me to discover how easy it is to break a wooden-handled hammer while pulling nails. At the time, I didn't own two hammers, but my boss did. Before he would let me borrow i of his hammers, he taught me a few tricks.

In its nail-pulling function, a hammer works like a lever. I learned that reducing the distance from the nail head to the fulcrum, or pin indicate, reduces stress on the hammer. You can do this in a couple of ways but by changing the hammer's position. Besides, a couple of mutual tools, such every bit a cat's paw and a pair of cease-cutting nippers, make boom-pulling easier.

For pulling end or siding nails, I similar to have a flat bar handy. I can put it under the hammer or nippers and avoid denting the forest.

If you spend any fourth dimension pulling nails, you'll quickly realize that the crude-textured surface on galvanized nails makes them much harder to pull out. They're also more likely to bend or break. For these reasons, I apply galvanized nails only when I am absolutely sure I won't have to remove them.

A hammer has more than 1 lever indicate

Pulling straight back is the hardest style. With a straight-clawed framing hammer, the fulcrum quickly moves to the front of the hammer, the point farthest from the blast. This is the least-preferred method for removing tough nails. Information technology requires the most effort and puts the almost stress on the hammer handle. Placing a block nether the head of the hammer volition help. It reduces the fulcrum's distance to the nail and makes it easier to pull out the nail.

Levering to the side is easier. Using the side of the hammer'due south claw as the fulcrum provides the almost leverage. Unfortunately, the nail will exist removed a correspondingly short altitude.

Reengage the nail. By reengaging the nail and levering the hammer dorsum and along, you can pull out the nail in increments.

Ane turn will work. Instead of rocking back and along, the hammer can be levered in one management. If the hammer handle can laissez passer by the edge of the forest, every bit shown at left, the nail can exist twisted out with i motion.

Lighter puller

A hammer and a cat's paw make up a pregnant chunk of my tool bag'southward heft. Luckily, Stiletto Tools (world wide web.stiletto.com) has found a way for me to shed some weight without shedding tools.

Besides their famously light hammers, Stiletto has introduced a claw bar (model TICLW12) that tips the calibration at just over 8 oz., near half the weight of the one I unremarkably bear. This lighter titanium tool is pound for pound much stronger than steel. It has an engineered webbed handle and precipitous pry tongs.

The cool characteristic on this claw bar is its Dimpler, located on the side of the head. When positioned over a nail head and struck with a hammer, it crushes the wood fibers and allows the pry tongs to grab the nail hands.

The Dimpler lets me remove an embedded smash without digging into the wood. The only drawback is that at $89, the lighter weight and convenience of this claw bar don't come cheap.

Other tools make pulling nails easier

A cat's manus grabs an embedded nail. The hook of a cat's paw is designed to be driven under the caput of a nail affluent with the surface.

The force is in the curve. The tight curve on a cat's paw provides plenty of pulling force every bit you push the handle.

A hammer provides more travel. One pull with a cat's mitt typically won't free a blast. By slipping a hammer under the cat's mitt, the travel will be plenty to articulate the boom.

Nippers take care of the terminate

Pulling nails through the dorsum saves the surface. The smaller head of a cease nail allows it to exist pulled through the back of a lath with a pair of stop-cutting nippers. This prevents the "show" side of the molding from beingness damaged.

A apartment bar protects the trim. If the boom has to be removed from the front, put a flat bar under the nippers or hammer. The pressure from the nippers so is spread over a larger area, minimizing the chances of denting the wood.

Photos by: John Ross, except where noted

Source: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/framing/pulling-stubborn-nails

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