Thread: Impact Driving of Very Old Floor Nails

I would go the route you did for the kitchen.
A LARGE nail punch and the sledge type hammer.
Because it is so hard the bigger the hit the better result. Small Punch light hammer....not gunna cut the mustard

What about large punch held the way a blacksmith would hold his cold chisel.
You would need another person to hold the punch while you concentrate on hitting the punch squarely. Short, sharp force to punch the nail in

Never tried impact driver, may not punch may just skid on top

the way you did your kitchen (or new carpet ) is the way to go

the short handled sledgy is properly called a lump hammer

Same as the two above, punch them as you did the kitchen.

Make a game of it - See how many you can punch in the first hour, then try and beat it in the second


Or maybe just do 5 nails a night for a time, then it wont feel so daunting, and your neighbors wont complain about the constant banging.

Good luck!

Make sure you show us a picture of the final refinished floor, something that old surely will be magnificent!

Sledgy and a punch is the way to go. Since u need to hit them with alot of force, I would knock up a jig using a bit of steel tube thru a block of timber. Center the jig over the nail, insert the punch, and then smack the punch to the next world. Since the punch is supported and held vertical, and your hands are clear, there should be no worrys about hitting it really hard.

I think you can overdo things with a sledge. I would first try with something like a 32oz or 40oz ball peen hammer and a good nail punch of course. I say this because the hammer has a proper handle unlike those club or small sledge hammers. You can swing it like a hammer and not a club. It is more about a few sharp raps rather than brute weight. By all means make something to hold the punch and save the hands. I have done a few floors with seasoned eucalypt joists (but not as old as that) just using a 20oz claw hammer. A good nail punch has a hollow in the tip so it does not slip off the nail head and should do a better job than something home made. I guess if you have to go bigger then so be it but try something mederate first.
Regards
John

I think if it was me, I'd fashion a slide hammer with a punch on the end. More control and easier to use.

ron

Originally Posted by ian

the way you did your kitchen (or new carpet ) is the way to go

the short handled sledgy is properly called a lump hammer

Thanks everyone for confirming that a lump hammer and punch is the way to go. My rough estimate is that there are 924 nails that need whacking!

My mate who suggested the impact drill is a mechanical engineer and usually right on such matters but he just accepts collateral damage as part of the process. "That's what you have sanders for...." He was very insistant that the impact drill would act like a "miniature pile driver and the nails will just glide in....." - his words. Might try the impact drill on an inconspicuous corner of the basement - it might actually work.

I feel an aching arm coming on ..........



Fair Winds

Graeme

Originally Posted by orraloon

I think you can overdo things with a sledge. I would first try with something like a 32oz or 40oz ball peen hammer and a good nail punch of course. I say this because the hammer has a proper handle unlike those club or small sledge hammers. You can swing it like a hammer and not a club. It is more about a few sharp raps rather than brute weight. By all means make something to hold the punch and save the hands. I have done a few floors with seasoned eucalypt joists (but not as old as that) just using a 20oz claw hammer. A good nail punch has a hollow in the tip so it does not slip off the nail head and should do a better job than something home made. I guess if you have to go bigger then so be it but try something mederate first.
Regards
John

I tried a 20oz peen and a 24oz claw hammer on the kitchen floor and they literally bounced off. Also got a few dents when I tried to hit too hard and missed. Then I switched to the lump hammer which does have a shaped handle, albeit quite short - about 175mm. Wasn't game to try a long handled sledge.

The joists are Tas blue gum which is much harder than Sydney blue gum and with a hardness janka around 12 under normal drying is getting up towards the hardness of the ironbarks. It is seriously tough stuff.

My very short punch does have a concave tip, and is far better made than chinese junk from Bigchains.

Thanks


Graeme

Originally Posted by son_of_bluegras

I think if it was me, I'd fashion a slide hammer with a punch on the end. More control and easier to use.

ron

Thanks, Ron. I think we have a trans-Pacific language issue.

What do you mean by a slide hammer with a punch on the end ?



Fair Winds

Graeme

Can your impact driver be set for a single punch?

If not I can see in my mind a heap of little dimples in the floor scattered around each nail head.

Hi Graeme

I've just punched out about 3000 nails from cypress flooring on 60 year old hardwood joists with a Nail Kicker:
http://nailkicker.com/

It's a magnificent thing and there are different size heads for it (you can order it with any size you like and get other sizes as extras). Now the thing is that it has three settings for depth: about 3mm below surface (which is what you want, about 9mm below, and 19mm which is really for blowing the nail out of the timber. Even though I was blowing nails out I did test it for punching 3mm below and it was perfect for the task.

They are not cheap, and freight to Oz was about $70 IIRC, but that will get the job done in no time.

There is one available from Melbourne, but I didn't feel that it looked as good:
http://www.addemsairtools.com.au/spe...countersinker/

HTH
Brett

By the way, if you don't want to spend that much in the long run I reckon you could use it for your job and then sell it on the forum pretty easily. It's a kick- bit of kit. If you were going to do that then it would be advisable to get the head you will need plus the one for standard nails which I think is 5mm (I can check).

haven't tried but have a thought about framing sized nail guns- (if you can borrow one) used empty-depth of drive can be adjusted. Have seen punch totally through 9mm ply with flat head nails.-Just a thought-ask someone who uses one. If you cant get use of for free/slab then big hammer & punch will get you there.

Those pneumatic "chisellers" are very cheap ... maybe you could convert a standard bit ... ?

But like BobL mentioned ... also an issue in controlling multiple strikes ...

For two people ... a modified cold-chisel maybe ... lots of weight, big target ... ???

Cheers,
Paul