Thread: Pulling nails out of old timber

Drill a hole right against the nail, about full depth of nail
Tap the nail sideways with a fine nail punch and you can pull it out easily with some pincers or side cutters

What Bob said, only I use Vise Grip pliers.

Thats really the only way. I use needle nose plyers.

second hand timber is hard to work with unfortunately. And the lovely old rested timber just makes its harder, because I just want to save it and ensure it doesn't go to waste.

But nails holes don't look attractive. and the mess you make around those broken off nails to remove them makes it worse.

What we're doing at work at the moment, is making door sliders from old blue gum that used to be the rafters of an old hospital on the gold coast.

Beautiful old timber. The trees it was taken from must have been huge. But nails everywhere. And to thickness it every nail has to come out..and then to clean up the mess we're attempting to hide it by drilling over the old holes with a fresh clean larger bit, and dropping in tapered plugs then plane flush. Should work well enough. Maybe an idea for you.

Thanks for your advice on this, I appreciate it. The older timber does look fantastic, particularly the colour.

Dave,

I've just gone through the same exercise with Jarrah rafters 100 x 50mm. The most effective tool was a Roughneck Gorilla Bar Junior (the one I used is about 35cm - see picture). Get the claw end under the head of the nail, hold the bar in the middle and use a hammer to gently tap the other end of the bar. Effectively, you are using the bar as a lever. Gradually, you will work the nail out.

If a nail snaps off flush with the timber, use a nail punch to push it below the surface (say about 5mm) to allow for sanding/planning.

Finally, I used a hand-held metal detector to make sure that I got all the nails. A chalk mark was used to ID nails punched below the surface - this was to alert me to go easy when I start to hand plane the timber.

The Gorilla Bar and metal detector were purchased from Bunnings.

HTH

Mike

Hi, I am rebuilding my deck and I would like to re-use some of the joists.

They have screws in there which are completly rusted out, they were holding down cement sheeting so stick out about an inch. They are just snapping off below the surface.

How am I best to protect the wood, drop some anti rust in there? Does old rust rot wood at all? Shall I drill to the side and extract the screw or just leave it in there?

Thanks

Russall,
The rust on it's own will not rot the wood but if the broken screw ends are exposed to the wet then conditions for rot are present. A coat of something waterproof before laying the new decking will do the trick.

Regards
John

Thanks John.

To remove old screws from a door hinge you can heat it up and loosen it by holding an electric soldering iron on the screw head. Never tried it but am told it works. maybe this same method would work on nails etc. I would think a bigger soldering iron the better as it carries more heat.

Just a sugestion

I don't have Jarrah around here to salvage but I have broken down a lot of oak pallets and if your the nails protrude through the board I have a tool that will help knock them out.

I took a long bolt, cut off the thread and head, and drilled a hole into the end that will fit over the nail, about an inch or so deep.

To use you slip it over the tip of the nail and hit it with a hammer, and the nail will be driven down until the punch hits the wood. The head of the nail is then far enough out for you to pull with your favorite tool. It works because all the force of the hammer blow is directed straight down the nail and the nail can't bend back over again.

Works like a charm.

Now that sounds like a brilliant idea.. the nail is loosened by being driven in further.

Al

heating the screws up definitely helps in their removal, must break the bond between the rust and the wood or something. I havent used a soldering iron for this, but a heat gun. Soldering iron sounds like a better solution tho, less chance of setting the wood on fire.

We are building most of our timber framing for our house out of recycled timber, and I have taken out a lot of nails in the last few months. Some nails have had to be left in, these I punch below the surface, and will fill the holes at a later date. Some come out with the claw hammer, using a block under it to lever out the longer ones. Some we had to use those locking type pliars (are they multigrips?), you lock them on to the nail and lever them out. Some nails which are out of the wood a fair bit can benefit from a light tap inwards to loosen then lever out. Some I have resorted to chiseling a small hole around the head. The drilling a hole next to the nail sounds like a good idea which i havent used yet. I also get an old screwdriver and useing it like a chisel, put the blade against the underside of the head at about a 45 degree angle and hit the head of the screwdriver with a hammer, (takes a few blows)this pushes the nail sideways and out, when its out far enough use your claw on your hammer to finish.

Donna

Originally Posted by ozwinner

Now that sounds like a brilliant idea.. the nail is loosened by being driven in further.

Al

I think you misunderstand.

It isn't to remove a nail that has the head sticking out of the board with the point buried.

It's to remove the ones that have the head flush or buried and the pointy end sticking through the other side.

Now where did I put my sonic screwdriver?

Originally Posted by flynnsart

heating the screws up definitely helps in their removal, must break the bond between the rust and the wood or something.
Donna

Heating the metal makes it expand and enlarge the hole it sits in. When it cools down it shrinks back and is not tight anymore.