I have to pull some 3 inch penny nails, which were hammered flat into some good quality timber. I cannot gain access to anything except the nail head, even after the nails have been removed. I am looking for ways to extract these nails without doing serious damage to the timber.
TIA.
Don't know what "serious" damage means in this case, but never heard of any easy way. You might not have thought of just drilling the heads off and covering the remaining bit with some wood filler. Presumably you will have to patch anyway. 'Course, that doesn't help if your trying to cut or mill the wood in some way, so I give up.
-Kevin
There are two tools that will minimize damage, one is a slap-hammer type arrangement
Three inch nails, or 3 penny nails? and by "hammered flat" do you mean driven all the way in, or bent over? What do you intend to do with the "timber" when you're done, and what size is it? By "good quality timber" do you mean fir or oak that you don't want to throw away, or some specialty hardwood worth several hundred dollars? (In the latter case, it's worth building a special tool, and/or using some fairly exotic technology [get someone to make you a titanium tube that just barely fits over the nail-wire, grind the heads off the nails, pound the tube over the nail and pull it out, and then take the nail out with a magnet.])
Assuming you mean 3" nails driven all the way in (the worst case) you pretty much have to carefully pare away around the nail-heads with a knife or chisel until you can get a nail-puller around the heads, and then plane down the beam about 1/4" when you're done.
If you're using the thing as a structural member and don't intend to cut it, you could alternatively grind/drill the heads off, and drive the nails farther in with a punch.
center punch the nail head, drill away nail head with 5/16" or so drill bit, drive the nail on through.
bill
check out a cats paw.
Use a pair of Channel Locks and piece of plywood once you have it lifted a bit, or try the Channel Locks to get a bite on it. If nothing else drive it home and patch.
Frank
George,
Lowes and Home Depot in the tool section sell what looks like a pair of pliers but has a grabber to grip the nail head and then you bend it over to pull the nail out. Works great and does no damage.
JGeorge Eberhardt wrote:
OP, you do know that once it is out a little, you rest the hammer on another piece of wood before you pull it out the rest of the way, right?
Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.
I get the nail head up a little, then use a hammer...before pulling put a small block of wood under the hammer. this makes pulling much easier, it also keeps the hammer from marring the wood.
sand her down, back fill with wood fill, sander her down one mo time!
now it's got character
Guess you never tried to pull 6 inch ringed pole barn spikes.... You WON'T get them out no matter how hard you try. I have almost every nail pulling tool type made. You just cant pull them if the are in solid wood. Grinding off the heads is the only way. Once head is ground off, pry board off. The headless remains of the nails are still in the pole. Being hardened nails, they can be snapped off easily, but you can not pull them. I have tried using a 4 foot pry bar with a
6 foot pipe on the handle. The boards broke.Mark
I must say, thats one I never tried !!!! Something would have to be welded to grab the nail head.
it's not enough juice for the squeeze
whew
Thanks for the good advice. It helped me get the nails out with only minor damage and my project is moving ahead again.
George
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