How to pull a nail out of a board. Safety device for pulling nails. Carpenter's hammer and wire cutters as an alternative to a nail puller
In the process of construction work, it becomes necessary not only to build any structure, ensuring its reliable fastening, but also to disassemble the building. In the latter case, you will need to quickly remove the fasteners - ordinary nails. You can do this with improvised tools, but it is better to use a more convenient device - a nail puller.
Purpose and design features
A nail puller is used to extract nails from wooden, plastic and other structures. There are many varieties of this device, but in the general case it is a handle, at the end of which there is a curved wedge made of durable metal.
The wedge ends with a slot, i.e. has a split tip. This groove captures the nail head and then removes it.
With a stronger fastening of the nail in the surface of the workpiece or other construction object, the tool handle acts as a lever. Loaders often use a nail puller as an assistant to lift heavy loads, and carpenters use it to dismantle wooden structures.
This tool belongs to the manual category, although there are also models of an electric nail puller. You need to choose taking into account your financial capabilities, the range of planned work and the required ergonomics in use.
Hammer with nail puller function
This is a universal type of tool that can be used not only to extract nails, but also to drive them. Therefore, the nail hammer has two different ends on the working nozzle:
- rounded head of a classic hammer;
- a pointed part with a slot to perform the functions of a nail puller.
The metal part of the hammer is made of high-strength steel. Many models are equipped with a rubberized handle. It is a compact and mobile tool. Thanks to the short handle, it is easy to carry and have always at hand.
However, on the other hand, this feature does not allow you to fully use the tool as a lever. In addition, the working slot does not always allow you to get under the hat, and the wooden handle is less durable compared to full-fledged crowbar-type nail pullers.
In professional models of a hammer with a nail puller function, the design is one-piece forged, always with a rubber handle. High-quality rubber helps to effectively dampen vibration.
crowbar nail puller
In the classic version, the extraction device is a solid steel rod with flattened ends turned in different directions. The nail extraction slot can be at both ends.
But the nail puller mount is especially popular, the second wedge of which is flattened and looks like a blade. This end can destroy structures, lift floorboards, disassemble fastened boards.
Crowbar nail puller can be 400-1500 mm long. Reinforcement is used for manufacturing, as well as a round or hexagonal rod having a diameter of 10-25 mm. With an increase in the length of the tool, its thickness and strength increase, but the weight also increases.
How to choose an instrument
There are many designs and modifications of the device, which is clearly seen in the photo of the nail puller. When choosing, you need to pay attention to the following parameters:
A flat tip that must be strong and sharp. It is made from high quality material, while other parts can be made from less durable materials. The presence of a special protective paintwork or anti-corrosion coating on it is welcome.
The length of the tool depends on the type of work performed and their complexity. To disassemble large structures, furniture, doors, a tool with a longer handle up to 1-1.5 m is required. But for minor manipulations, for example with drawers, you can limit yourself to using short nail pullers 30-50 cm.
Weight of the nailer. Heavier tools will require less effort from you when dismantling or removing nails. A nail puller reinforced with a more durable material allows you to disassemble even large structures without the risk of damaging the tool. But the work will be tedious.
You need to select the weight for yourself, so that with a minimum of effort and fatigue, you can effectively do the job. The optimal weight is 1 kg.
Making tools at home
It is not necessary to spend money on the purchase of equipment. You can manage on your own. To learn how to make a nail puller with your own hands, we recommend that you study our simple instructions:
Pick up wire from steel of different diameters. For small nails, you can take a not very thick wire, and for thicker ones, a reinforcing bar is also suitable.
In the process of processing the tip, one part of the wire should be flattened on the anvil with a hammer. Reinforcement can be cut at the desired angle. A hacksaw makes a small slot for nails.
The edges are processed with a file and various defects are removed.
The nozzle is bent. First, a bend is made on the thicker part of the nozzle before the beginning of the thin section. And then a bend is made at the flattened end. Harden the workpiece if possible.
The nozzle should be processed with a file, and then polished. The nozzle is attached to the selected handle.
The nail puller helps facilitate many demolition jobs. The right choice of tool will allow manipulations to be carried out quickly and efficiently. At the same time, you need to remember about the ergonomics of the tool, ease of use.
Photo of a nail puller
Nails are removed from the material with pliers, a nail puller, pliers, etc. At the same time, the "extraction" of nails from boards, shoes, etc. requires no less ingenuity and skill than hammering them. But in all cases, in order to use pliers or other listed tools, you have to lift (expose) the nail head.
When the end of the nail is bent, they straighten it and try to knock the nail out from the back. And in order for the nail to more easily come out of the material when hitting its tip, the protruding part is lubricated with grease, soap, and water. Lubrication is especially needed when the "tail" of the nail is badly corroded. Note that when straightened, the "tail" often breaks off. Then, with the toe of a hammer or another nail, it is necessary to act on the end of the “fragment” located in the material in order to raise the head of the latter. (Chisels, punchers, metal rods of a suitable size are also suitable for this purpose.)
But if you can’t get to the tip of the nail, since it is in the thickness of the part, you can only lift the nail by the head. This is done with a chisel or a screwdriver with a rod passing through the entire handle (this will not break!), As well as a hammer.
A special mini nail puller made from a screwdriver with a forked blade, which is slightly bent in relation to the rod, will greatly facilitate the extraction of the smallest studs.
There are times when it is not possible to pick up the hat with either a screwdriver or a chisel. Then you will have to resort to the help of a chisel and make a recess around the head, which will help to tightly capture the hat with the sponges of the ticks. If for some reason this option also does not work, cut down the inaccessible hat with a chisel, and use a suitable nail (or mandrel) to knock out the old nail from the opposite side of the part.
So, we have learned how to get to the head of a hammered nail and prepare (raise) it for gripping the nail with an already specialized nail tool. The most convenient for removing hammered nails are small and medium-sized pliers. the "sweepy" jaws of the pliers (size "K" in the figure) and the longer their handles, the less will be the effort required to "lift" the rod from the wood. However, the artificial lengthening of the handles with metal tubes is unacceptable from a safety point of view, as injuries are the usual result of such rationalization.
"Dragging" a nail with pliers is most convenient at the beginning, when the sponges pick up the head. But here the rod protruded from the wood by 5-10 mm, and it becomes impossible to continue to pull the nail without changing the grip. Therefore, now it is necessary to grab the nail shaft already below the head with sponges. But the rod is smooth, slippery. And in order to securely hook the rod with the edges of the jaws, considerable effort is needed. It would be nice, while continuing to pull out the nail, reuse the head. This is possible if the supporting surface for the outer roundness of the jaws is increased by placing boards, plates, etc. under the tongs. By the way, a similar technique is used in the subsequent stages of pulling the nail, including with the help of tools of a different design (nail pullers, wire cutters).
Here is another trick that will help when pulling nails. When the nail is removed stepwise (in several grips) from the wood, tilting the tongs in the same direction, the shape of the removed nail will resemble an arc, and without straightening such a nail cannot be hammered into the board again. However, work on straightening the nail will be reduced to a minimum if the pliers act in the same plane, but tilt them, removing the nail, in different directions. By the way, wooden or plastic additional supports placed under the outer roundness of the jaws of the pliers will perfectly protect the surface of the part itself from damage.
A carpenter's hammer with a forked spout is also handy for extracting nails. And here the method of stepwise pulling out of the nails, outlined above, is quite acceptable. True, the wooden handle of the hammer is not long able to endure such loads and usually breaks soon near the head. If this happens, and there are still a lot of hammered nails, weld a metal pipe of a suitable diameter to the hammer. Now the handle of the nail hammer will not break.
But still, it is more convenient to act with tongs than with a hammer. The latter, due to its "frozen" size, is often either too bulky or too miniature to grip the desired nail. And in the absence of a nail head, such a hammer can only slide along the rod.
Nippers pull out nails only when there are no other tools. Please note that wire cutters are mainly used for stripping wires from insulation and cutting wires made of non-ferrous metals. Therefore, the cutting edges of the wire cutters will certainly become dull, or even chipped, if steel nails are clamped with them. Moreover, while holding a nail with a diameter of 1-1.5 mm, you can not strongly squeeze the handles of the nippers so as not to bite the nail.
When pulling out nails, the head of a hammer sometimes turns out to be more necessary than tongs, for example, when a nail sticks out of the board almost its entire length. Here you have to first drive the nail "back". In this case, it is better to pre-lubricate the cores of large nails with oil, especially if they are rusty. And in order not to blunt the tip of the rod, a brass or aluminum plate is placed on it.
So, the point was driven into the wood. Now the final extraction of the nail behind the tongs.
So you decided to use an old board of suitable size with nails previously hammered into it for some purpose. However, this is not always feasible. In such cases, if the decorative appearance of the board or the product as a whole does not matter, then it is better to either bend the protruding part of the rod or cut it off with a hacksaw. Sometimes it's easy to break it off. A protruding nail head can simply be driven into the wood with one blow of a hammer.
If the boards have already become unusable, but the nails sticking out of them are still nothing, do not throw them away with the boards - they will come in handy.
Don't forget about the old-fashioned way of extracting metal parts from wood: nails are easiest to get with fire. Rejected poles, beams are burned in an oven or on a fire and, of course, unburned nails are selected from the ashes.
Large nails are straightened, knocking down scale, small ones are usually no longer good. A nail subjected to fire treatment, even with scale removed, has an uneven surface, therefore, before hammering such a nail, it is again lubricated with oil.
As you know, the nails that have gone through the fire are less prone to rusting. Some masters and new nails are specially fired, heated red-hot and immediately after that they are thrown into cold liquid oil. As a result, nails acquire hardening and the ability not to rust for a long time in a humid environment.
Massive wooden structures connected with nails are first broken with a hammer or sledgehammer. The goal is the formation of gaps between the details, into which the blade of an ax, crowbar or nail puller will then be inserted.
the thinner the sharpening of the tool, the easier the blade penetrates into the slot and the faster the process of "restructuring" - the division of the structure into separate elements.
Sooner or later in construction there is a need to pull a nail out of a particular object. There can be plenty of reasons for this, you should know how to do it right. It is about how to pull out a nail that we will talk about today.
Nail extraction technology
To extract nails today, you can use a variety of tools, for example:
- nail puller,
- ticks,
- pliers,
- split-nosed hammer, etc.
But despite the fact that there are a large number of tools, in order to pull out a nail, you will need ingenuity and the ability to own one or another tool. For successful work, you need to expose the nail head. In some cases, when the nail is exposed, it can be straightened out and knocked out from the back. This can be done with a hammer and another nail.
To facilitate the movement of the nail, the protruding part can be lightly lubricated with water, soap or grease. This lubricant will allow you to quickly remove the nail. It will be especially effective when the nail is rusted. In some cases, when pulling out a nail, part of it may break. Then, using another nail, it is necessary to beat on its end, which is located in the material. This action will raise the hat. For this purpose, you can use a rod or chisel of a suitable diameter.
It is not always possible to get close to the tip of the nail. In most cases, it is located in the thickness of the workpiece. For this reason, it is necessary to pull the nail only by the head. For this, a chisel or a screwdriver is suitable, which has a rod that passes through the entire handle. Such a screwdriver will not break when struck with a hammer. As a result, a kind of mini nail puller from a screwdriver will help to remove the nail by the hat. This screwdriver should have a forked blade that, when bent against the shaft, will allow you to get the job done quickly.
But not always a nail head is available. In some cases, it is recessed into the workpiece. In such cases, a different technique is used to pull out the nail. Make a small indentation around the head with a chisel. The recess should be sufficient to make it possible to hook the nail with pliers. If it was not possible to cling to the hat, then it is best to cut it down and remove the old nail to the opposite side. To do this, you need to knock out a nail, as described above.
Pliers are a handy tool!
One of the most convenient tools for extracting nails is pliers. It is best to have mites of medium and small sizes. In order to make less effort to remove nails, it is recommended to purchase pliers with a long handle and sweeping sponges.
If your pliers have small handles, then it is not recommended to extend them using a tube. This could result in injury!
If you decide to pull out a long nail, then you can’t do without interception. Interception with pincers will be required when the rod comes out 1 centimeter. Pincers should intercept the nail at the base of the workpiece. In this case, efforts will be required, since the rod is smooth. To simplify this process, a plank is placed under the supporting surface of the ticks. This method will allow you to remove nails from the boards.
Be careful when using this method, especially when you plan to reuse the nail. If you pull out a nail with an intercept and pull it exclusively in one direction, there is a risk of pulling out a rainbow-shaped nail. To straighten it, you will need to straighten it, as a rule, this process is quite painstaking and time-consuming. Moreover, perfect alignment will be extremely difficult. To prevent strong bending, while pulling the nail, loosen it in different directions.
In order not to damage the surface of the workpiece when removing the nail with pliers or other improvised tools, it is wise to use a special lining. If the surface is lacquered, then you can put leather or other soft material under the board.
Carpenter's hammer and wire cutters as an alternative to a nail puller!
As for the carpenter's hammer, this item can serve as an excellent service for extracting nails. That's just you need the hammer, which on the other hand has a forked spout. When using it without lining, do not pull out a long nail. Therefore, extraction occurs according to the method described above.
This method is effective, however, carries a risk. If the handle of the hammer is wooden, then repeated use of it as a nail puller can break it. For this reason, it is best to have a hammer with a steel or polyurethane handle on the farm.
Using pliers to pull nails is much easier than using a hammer. Moreover, if the nail does not have a hat, then such a hammer will become completely useless, as it will simply slide along the rod.
As for wire cutters, they are best used when there is no other suitable tool. The fact is that they are used only for stripping wires from insulation, etc. If they are constantly used to extract nails, then the cutting elements will become dull or chipped very quickly. It is also possible to bite a nail, especially if they are made of mild steel.
How to remove a nail from a board?
In some situations, you will need to use several tools at once. If the nail is driven through the board and sticks out on the other side of the board for its entire length, you will first need to remove the nail with a hammer in the opposite direction. To begin with, it is best to lubricate the nail with oil or grease to simplify the process. To prevent the nail from becoming dull, you can put an aluminum or brass plate. When the nail is completely knocked out, the rest must be removed with pliers.
Although not in all cases it is necessary to pull the nail out of the board. If it will no longer be used in any way, then the part with the protruding nail can simply be cut off with a hacksaw.
In another case, when the boards are already rotten, and the nails are still in good condition, do not rush to throw them away. You can remove the nails by any of the above methods.
If you have a large wooden structure in front of you, which is knocked down by a large number of nails, then you will have to apply force here. To begin, apply a few blows to this structure with a sledgehammer or hammer. This is necessary so that gaps form between the knocked down parts. After that, you can insert an ax or a nail puller into them. With this barbaric method, it is possible to restructure a large wooden workpiece and, accordingly, remove the nails.
Here are perhaps the most common methods that will help you, if necessary, remove a nail from a wall, a wooden workpiece, and more. Now, if you don't have a nail puller designed specifically for this job, the above tips will help you get the job done. Remember, not in all cases, strength plays a key role. Accuracy is most often valued, because in a hurry and great effort, you can bend a nail or tear off a hat. Do not forget about safety measures: take care of your eyes and other parts of the body, because when pulling out nails there is a risk of injury.
Video
See Rusty Nail Extraction Guide:
In the form of a small board with a slot and a hole in order not to damage the surface when pulling out the nails. It can also be used to protect the surface when driving nails and driving screws from accidental slippage of the tool.
If in a wooden house you need to hang something on the wall (a picture, a panel, a calendar, etc.) and for this you need some kind of hook or hanger, then the simplest thing is to hammer a nail into the wall. Simple and fast.
However, the problem arises later, when this nail has to be pulled out of the wall. When pulling out a nail, the tool will invariably damage the wall or wallpaper.
Consider the example of pulling a nail out of a regular board. Two tools are best for pulling out such a protruding nail.
The first tool is tongs.
The second tool is pliers.
However, in both cases, when pulling out the nail, the tool rests on the surface of the board and damages it, leaving dents.
Naturally, the soft surface of the wall is damaged even more.
You can avoid such damage if you put some thin plank or piece of plywood under the sponges of the instrument. However, as always (according to the law of meanness), nothing of the kind is at hand at the right time.
In the end, I decided to make a regular protective device for pulling nails in the form of a small piece of plywood. Moreover, this device can also be used to protect the surface (walls or boards) from slipping off the tool when driving nails or driving screws.
To make such a device from materials, I needed a small piece of old plywood, 5 mm thick.
And from the tools required:
Pencil and square.
Electric jigsaw with a file for a figured cut.
Electric drill.
Drill for metal with a diameter of 4 mm.
Spade drill for wood with a diameter of 12 mm.
Sandpaper.
Device manufacturing process.
We cut out a rectangular segment measuring 6 cm, 15 cm from a piece of plywood.
We mark this segment and drill two holes in it: one with a diameter of 4 mm, and the other with a diameter of 12 mm.
We saw through a slot with a jigsaw and round the edges at our piece of plywood, resulting in an almost finished fixture.
Finally we process our device with sandpaper.
And now our device is ready!
This device works as follows:
We impose this device on the surface into which the nail is hammered and push it so that the nail is in the slot.
After that, we pull out the nail with the help of pliers or pliers.
The surface is not damaged in this case, since the tool rests on the plane of our device.
In addition, this device can be used to protect the surface when driving nails.
To do this, you need to bait a nail, put this device on top of the surface so that the nail passes through a hole with a diameter of 12 mm, and finally hammer the nail to the desired depth.
If, when hammering, the hammer accidentally slips off the nail head, it will still not damage the surface, since our device will protect it.
Similarly, through this hole in the fixture, you can safely wrap or unscrew the screws. Again, if the screwdriver slips off the slot of the screw, it will not damage the surface.
By the way, a hole with a diameter of 12 mm is also suitable for sufficiently large screw heads, for example, for a screw with a press washer.
