Modern oak plank nail removal

[Kunta Kinte]

I took up some 1.5" mid-60s oak plank flooring for re-use. The nails are slightly edge-serrated, fairly soft and most remain in the tongue fully set with the business end having a slow bend. The heads are L-shaped. because of the L I can't pull them. The bend and the softness make reverse hammering them pretty impractical.

Is my only option to dremel them and beware during re-installation? thanks for any ideas, Bryan

I've put three jpgs up at:

\\images\\oaknailhead.jpghttp://mountcrumpit.com\\images\\oaknailhead.jpghttp://mountcrumpit.com\\images\\oaknailhead.jpg

[willshak]

on 11/10/2007 11:20 AM Kunta Kinte said the following:

All three links give a 'Page not Found'. Besides, the 3 links are for one image (oaknailhead.jpg)

[Edward Hennessey]

I can't see you pictures either, so I conjecture two interpretations of your problem. If bending when hitting the long, exposed sharp end of your nails is the problem, cut the sharp end shorter with some nippers to the point where it won't bend when struck and hammer it then to raise the L head for pulling. If the sharp end is not exposed, try hammering with a nail punch to drive it back up. Finally, use a small wonder bar on a fulcral piece of scrap wood to avoid marring the planks when pulling the L head or if the nail bends with that method, bite into the shank with nippes or try a small vice grip to twist and pull the fastener. You might try lubricating the nail with some spray to facilitate removal but it is worth noting that removing any nail with flutes or barbs from wood is difficult and , at the least, will be destructive to the surrounding material.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

[Mike Paulsen]

Your links all point to:

\\images\\oaknailhead.jpg/ the correct URL would be: