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View Full Version : How do you get old nails out of salvaged wood?



Jason White
11-06-2009, 10:57 AM
I've got some 150+ year old timbers that I'm pulling all kinds of old, rusty nails out of. Some are square cut, some not. Some come out in one piece, some not. Some I have to "dig" into the wood to get out, some not.

Anybody got a slick tool or method for getting nails out without damaging the wood?

Jason

Myk Rian
11-06-2009, 11:18 AM
I'm doing the same thing with some 100 yr old wood. Digging and pulling. A crowbar gets the big ones out.

Brent Ring
11-06-2009, 11:20 AM
I'm doing the same thing with some 100 yr old wood. Digging and pulling. A crowbar gets the big ones out.


+1 on digging and pulling - make sure you use a metal detector!

Benoit Bissonnette
11-06-2009, 11:26 AM
Hi,

There would have been this nice solution: http://www.nailkicker.com

Unfortunately, they are unable to produce this product anymore. If you can find a used one, I think it would be your best option.

Benoit

Leigh Betsch
11-06-2009, 1:12 PM
Digg'n and pull'n, screwing up a bunch of wood but I can't find a better way either. And use a metal detector.

Dave Wagner
11-06-2009, 1:17 PM
I have one of these.....works pretty good if you don't have much to grab, it tightens up as you apply more pressure...

http://hand-tools.hardwarestore.com/67-416-nail-pullers-and-claw-bars/nail-puller-613231.aspx


maybe a cat's paw? puller too.

Josiah Bartlett
11-06-2009, 1:56 PM
If I can't drive them through the board then I use a plug cutting bit to cut a shallow circular hole around the nail head and attach a pair of vise grips, then twist and lift. I either fill the hole with the next sized plug cut out of a raggedy area of the board, or just plane off the top of the wood until the plug holes are gone.

I'm thinking about building a really powerful electromagnet to just draw the nails out, much like a Quarter Shrinker.
http://capturedlightning.com/frames/shrinker.html?origin=bookmarkfeed

Jason White
11-06-2009, 2:17 PM
The plug-cutter sounds like a great idea!

Jason


If I can't drive them through the board then I use a plug cutting bit to cut a shallow circular hole around the nail head and attach a pair of vise grips, then twist and lift. I either fill the hole with the next sized plug cut out of a raggedy area of the board, or just plane off the top of the wood until the plug holes are gone.

I'm thinking about building a really powerful electromagnet to just draw the nails out, much like a Quarter Shrinker.
http://capturedlightning.com/frames/shrinker.html?origin=bookmarkfeed

Jason White
11-06-2009, 2:18 PM
A bit overkill for me.

Most of the nails that I'm pulling out are very small and break apart quite easily from decades of corrosion.

Jason


Hi,

There would have been this nice solution: http://www.nailkicker.com

Unfortunately, they are unable to produce this product anymore. If you can find a used one, I think it would be your best option.

Benoit

Keith Harrell
11-06-2009, 5:31 PM
Beside using my joiner and plannerhttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon10.gif I use a crowbar. If the area is big I find a nice tight knot and build a plug to fit in it. I have since purchased a metal detector which has more than paid for itself if I use it.

Joe Scharle
11-06-2009, 5:54 PM
Pin punch works most of the time for me.

Dave Sharpe
11-06-2009, 6:35 PM
[QUOTE=Dave Wagner;1253616]I have one of these.....works pretty good if you don't have much to grab, it tightens up as you apply more pressure...

http://hand-tools.hardwarestore.com/67-416-nail-pullers-and-claw-bars/nail-puller-613231.aspx


Dave - I bought one of those, but have been pretty frustrated. I can't get it to grip the nail well, particularly if the head is gone already. Any secrets as to how to use it? Does the nail head have to be intact and protruding a bit above the surface?

Rick Moyer
11-06-2009, 6:45 PM
I have one of these.....works pretty good if you don't have much to grab, it tightens up as you apply more pressure...

http://hand-tools.hardwarestore.com/67-416-nail-pullers-and-claw-bars/nail-puller-613231.aspx


maybe a cat's paw? puller too.

I always wanted one of those, but not for $65! I found one listed one time (used) for $15 but I was too late.

Mark Berenbrok
11-06-2009, 6:58 PM
I've used the nail puller Dave referenced with good success on heart of pine timbers. You do have to have about 1/4" of the nail to latch on to. If the nail has broken off flush with the board surface or below it, I use a cheap chisel to chop out an area (about 2" in diameter) around the nail. Use the sliding hammer on the puller to get some purchase on the nail and lever it out. You should approach the nail from the opposite direction that its going into the board.

Explaining this is a lot more difficult than doing it.

Larry Edgerton
11-07-2009, 6:29 AM
I have welded another nail to the old head on occasion when I needed to save as much wood as possible and then just pull it out, but I am a fair welder as my hobby used to be off road racing. Just a quick zot with a MIG and they pull right out without much damage. I wet the wood first to slow the burn. Usually one pass with a plane will take off the char.

David DeCristoforo
11-07-2009, 11:08 AM
It's so easy! Just burn the wood. Then you can simply pick the nails out of the small pile of ash that will remain. A little wire brushing will clean em right up.

David Prince
11-07-2009, 2:29 PM
lol. I got a woodstove, but am so anal that I pull the nails out of my scraps before I burn them so that I have clean ashes to throw in the trash when they cool.

Myk Rian
11-07-2009, 2:38 PM
It's so easy! Just burn the wood. Then you can simply pick the nails out of the small pile of ash that will remain. A little wire brushing will clean em right up.
What about the part of the wood you want to keep? I'm not going to rip a nail edge off if I know nails are still in it.
The wood I'm salvaging has many 5" nails in it, plus some old square cuts. After using the metal detector, I then rip the edge off.

David DeCristoforo
11-07-2009, 2:56 PM
"What about the part of the wood you want to keep?"

Oh... well my method would not work if you want to keep the wood too...

george wilson
11-07-2009, 3:16 PM
I THINK I saw that nail puller with the claw at Lowe's,but I don't think it was real expensive. I paid $2.00 for one I found somewhere. You might have to cut down each side of the nail with a chisel to expose enough of it to pull if it is broken off flush.

Stephen Edwards
11-07-2009, 4:09 PM
[QUOTE=Dave Wagner;1253616]I have one of these.....works pretty good if you don't have much to grab, it tightens up as you apply more pressure...

http://hand-tools.hardwarestore.com/67-416-nail-pullers-and-claw-bars/nail-puller-613231.aspx


Dave - I bought one of those, but have been pretty frustrated. I can't get it to grip the nail well, particularly if the head is gone already. Any secrets as to how to use it? Does the nail head have to be intact and protruding a bit above the surface?

I have on old one of these that was my Daddy's. Still works great.

Stephen Edwards
11-07-2009, 4:13 PM
If I can't drive them through the board then I use a plug cutting bit to cut a shallow circular hole around the nail head and attach a pair of vise grips, then twist and lift. I either fill the hole with the next sized plug cut out of a raggedy area of the board, or just plane off the top of the wood until the plug holes are gone.

I'm thinking about building a really powerful electromagnet to just draw the nails out, much like a Quarter Shrinker.
http://capturedlightning.com/frames/shrinker.html?origin=bookmarkfeed


That device might work very well for shrinking other things, too. If so, there may be a market for that in Borneo, New Guinea and some tribal regions in South America!

If one were to market it those areas you'd want to be sure not to go in with a "big head" attitude!

Pete Schupska
11-07-2009, 4:20 PM
It leaves a bit of a hole, but won't ruin a blade:

I've been using a very small diameter hole saw without the center drill bit to remove old nails from some salvaged barn lumber before resawing it or planing. It does give a new hole to work around, but not much more than the nail itself.


On a side note, there was a Q&A about removing broken brass screws in Wood (page 78 of issue 194).

Here's a link:
http://www.woodcraft.com/catalog/family.aspx?id=2000983

Chris Parks
11-07-2009, 6:23 PM
For a no effort method, just get someone else to do it and you sit around and drink beer.:).

Brian Penning
11-07-2009, 7:28 PM
This tool is excellent once you get them protruding....
http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/assorted/64k0205s1.jpg
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=54191&cat=1,43456,43400


But to get them started...
http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/assorted/25k0650s1.jpg

http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/assorted/25k0650i3.jpg

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&p=63397&cat=3,41306,41331

Review here..
http://www.toolsnob.com/archives/2009/04/nail_jack_nail_hunter_review.php

Andy Gilbert
11-07-2009, 8:15 PM
+1 on the Nail Extractor (the yellow handled tool). Sometimes its hard to justify paying alot for a single purpose tool, especially one that is used for salvage, but in this case I have found it well worth it. It saves time and effort on small to medium size nails.

Rick Thom
11-07-2009, 8:48 PM
In the Autumn 2008 Woodworking Magazine they recommend a 'tube extractor' to remove old nails and broken-off screws etc.
This is just a hollow steel tube @ 2" long (whatever length you want) in whatever diameter you need (a bit larger inside dia than the object you want to remove), that has sharp teeth filed into the end. You just stick this in your power drill, and place over the nail and the teeth cut into the wood to whatever depth you want. Break off the 'plug' of wood containing the nail and pull it out. Fill the hole with a dowel or matching plug. Just about like a plug cutter.
I haven't made any of these yet but I have 10 old heart pine 3x10 salvaged floor joists with lots of nails to try it out on.
This should be very easy to make, but I haven't found any for sale either.
I would be happy to post the short article but the forum admin would probably send me to the shed for doing so.

Brian Ashton
11-07-2009, 11:17 PM
I must've dug thousands of hand made square nails out of recycled fir... Used to go through semi trailer loads of it for making furniture.

Often you can grab hold of the nail with a cats paw and bend it somewhat if the nail is in good condition. If the nail has lots of rust and is very flakey (the layers of iron from being folded during forging) it will almost certainly break if bent.

The best way I've found with nails that old is to dig around it and then grab with a pair of vise grips, but don't leverage it up with them like most do by rolling the vise grips. These nails are very fragile after so many years and will break/flake, off and leave most of the nail in the wood. What I do next is pry the vise grips up in the direction that the nail was driven in with a small flat bar. I.e. if the nail was driven in vertically I pry up vertically. Because most hand made square nails are tapered, once you get them moving, they come out pretty easy - as long as they're not being bent as they're being pulled. More time consuming but the result are better. New round nails, just rip them out anyway you can, they don't break off too often.

Once you think you have the wood nail free it's a good idea to skim all sides on the table saw - there's always a few nails that get missed and hopefully the TS blade will reveal them instead of the jointer or planer. The blade I used was actually called a wrecking blade. It had 8 negatively raked teeth that could take a great deal of punishment from nails, dirt, grit screws...

Wayne Cannon
11-08-2009, 12:56 AM
There is a screw-extractor that is like a small diameter (e.g., 1/4") hole saw that works great.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Images/products/124210_230.jpg
http://www.woodcraft.com/catalog/family.aspx?id=2000983
http://www.amazon.com/1-4-Diameter-Screw-Extractor/dp/B001DT2ZM8/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1257658885&sr=1-17



This "Nail Extractor" is my favorite for pulling nails once you have it partially exposed.
http://www.toolsnob.com/pictures/nailextractor-thumb-300x85.jpg
http://www.nailextractor.com/

Karl Card
11-08-2009, 6:11 AM
I was given a bunch of red oak. it used to be a boat in its earlier day but was full of nails. Had so many nails i was wondering why it still wasnt a boat. lol.
But i was lucky in that the nails were all straight in and spaced far enough apart that i was able to just cut out the section that contained the nail and still had a big enough piece of wood to make something with. So now I have a bunch of red oak pen blanks, spindles, planks for making boxes, and some just fo whatever...

Rick Thom
11-08-2009, 7:49 AM
There is a screw-extractor that is like a small diameter (e.g., 1/4") hole saw that works great.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Images/products/124210_230.jpg
http://www.woodcraft.com/catalog/family.aspx?id=2000983
http://www.amazon.com/1-4-Diameter-Screw-Extractor/dp/B001DT2ZM8/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1257658885&sr=1-17



This "Nail Extractor" is my favorite for pulling nails once you have it partially exposed.
http://www.toolsnob.com/pictures/nailextractor-thumb-300x85.jpg
http://www.nailextractor.com/

That's the 'tube extractor' I was describing. I now see that Rockler sells them too, but at a higher price. In reading the reviews http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=2354&cookietest=1, user's experience is spotty however they offer some advice that is useful. Since the tool lacks a starting center spur, like a brad point drill bit, use a block of wood with a hole in it to guide the tool, and where possible use a drill press rather than hand-held drill to get a better result and less wear on the tool. The cutting action causes a lot of heat so cool it with water frequently.
I am wondering if it's better to make one from stainless steel tube than buying these?
btw, I tried one of these metal detectors (the larger one) http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=45125&cat=1,240 and it seems to work well even at a depth of several inches.

Roger Benton
11-08-2009, 9:59 AM
in my shop we have a very specialized tool for de-nailing old wood, it's called an "intern". Ours comes equipped with a hammer, pry bar, large cat's eye type tool, and various dykes/pliers/etc. This tool is also very useful for sanding the end grain of old yellow pine 12"x12" cubes, making neat stacks of like sized off cuts, and emptying dust collectors.

Wayne A Hall
11-11-2009, 12:04 PM
I have had very good success with this method - take a roll pin and drive it over the top of the nail or screw. Grab the roll pin with a pair of locking pliers and wiggle it back and forth a couple of times. It will usually un-screw with the broken nail or screw stuck in the roll pin. You can buy roll pins in various sizes from lowe's or home depot. They are cheap. They are usually located in the hardware section in the pull out drawers. One note of warning – watch the bottom side of the lumber as you drive the roll pin over the screw/nail. You can cause a blow-out that is hard to fix.

Taylor Moore
11-15-2009, 8:44 PM
We have pulled nails out of millions of BF of Heart Pine. The best tool is a heavy duty chisel 1/4" thick 1 1/4" wide and 8" long. Dig down as far as needed. Then take 8" end nippers to pull the nail out. We have tried the tools found in Lee Valley and other places, they usually break in a week or so. I'll post pics tommorow of the crew in action