How to Remove Stuck Nails

Here are tips for pulling tough, stubborn nails out of wood.

By Duane Johnson

From The Family Handyman

Change Text Size

Change Text Size
|
Bookmark

Bookmark

Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
TwitThis
|
Print
|
E-Mail

Hammer Tips

About This Project

Back when I was a rookie garage-builder, the lead carpenter warned me that driving a nail near a knot is a waste of time for three reasons: First, the nail will bend in the dense wood surrounding the knot before you can drive it home. Second, it’ll be solidly wedged in the wood and tough to pull out. And third, you could break a hammer handle tugging at it.

I was stubborn and had to learn by experience. But I never broke a hammer handle, because I started out with an unbreakable all-steel model. By the time I graduated to a nicely balanced wooden-handled model, I’d learned how to pull nails quickly and efficiently enough to hardly break my nailing rhythm.

Here are my favorite methods.

Maximize Your Hammer Power
A hammer isn’t the best nail-pulling tool, but since it’s already in your hand, use it. Ram the claw into the nail shank as close as possible to the wood and rock it sideways. Then repeat the process, pulling the nail about 1/2 in. each time. You develop terrific pulling power, enough to extract even those tough cement-coated or galvanized nails, without straining your hammer handle or arm.

Because the hammer claw grabs the nail’s shank, this method usually works even when the nailhead has broken off. But it has a couple of drawbacks. The edge of the head will bite into and dent the wood. If you don’t want to mar the surface, slide a 1/4-in. thick piece of wood under the edge before pulling. Also, a worn claw might slip on the shank and not deliver any pull. And finally, the pulling power can be so great that the nail shank might break before the nail lets go. At that point, either clip it flush to the wood with a side-cutting pliers and leave it, or saw through it.

Save Those Finished Surfaces
Shove a block of scrap wood under the hammer head to protect delicate surfaces, like the cedar decking. The block also gives the hammer claw better leverage, so you can often rock the hammer directly back on its head rather than sideways. But not always. Use this straight pull only on nails that come out fairly easily or aren’t driven deeply. Otherwise you could break a wooden-handled hammer. Although you can yank a lot harder on hammers with a fiberglass or steel handle, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to use a sideways pull.