Tricks for extracting rusty nails...

[rich1911]

I need to extract old rusty iron nails from wood beam.

As the rust has started from the outside, there are no heads left on the nails and they are mostly flush with the wood.

So far, I have found that digging out the wood around whats left of the nail and then grabbing it with side cutters seems to work ok, but its quite time consuming.

Are there better ways?

 

[Phill05]

Yes this is very quick to use:

 

[Spectric]

Without heads then try the cutter part of a pair of pliers using the nose as the pivot and pull up on the handles.

 

[Droogs]

use a pair of nail pincers to grab the nail and lever them out

 

[Ttrees]

Not sure if you tried a vice grips and nail bar in the first photo, if so and it snapped..
Hole drilled both sides of the nail and a cheap flathead screwdriver made into a chisely thing and mallet will do the trick,
(if it cannot be punched out from the back for some reason)
If still stuck then some very cheap but good long nosed pliers (if you happen to find some place selling cheaply buy a few if doing this regularly)
You can then grab the jaws with a vice grips, possibly at the cost of the pliers,(they get a bit weak from being bent back)

Rectangular plugs along the grain looks much tidier and can be made near invisible a lot more easily than munching a ring around the screw/nail and using a square plug of similar size.

 

[TRITON]

As above, pincers were made for the task probably a year after they invented nails.
Use a thin scrap of ply though,3mm or so, as the surface of the pincers or any puller- even a claw hammer will leave quite an indentation in the wood.

 

[MARK.B.]

Pincers-pliers-mole grips or anything that gives you a firm grip and leverage will work ,but for ease a dedicated nail puller like Phill05 showed will make your life easier especially if you have a lot to do.

 

[Inspector]

Sometimes a hit in a little more is enough to break the grip on the nail and it can then be pulled.

Pete

 

[Stevekane]

My old pincers like the ones pictured above are only ground on the inside so that held down flat they will pick up and grab anything just a little proud of the surface, you can also use them to nibble around the nail to get a grip on it if its flush.
Steve.

 

[cowtown_eric]

I know I've posted this technique n several laces, but maybe not here.

My technique is to is a split pin

of a slightly smaller inner diameter than the screw/nail.
Then use a dremmel abrasive disc or diamond wheel
to grind the edges of the slot to a cutting edge similar to a plug cutter, chuck it in a drill and drill over the offending screw or nail

with a screw, run the drill backwards. As the split pit turns, it is cutting both metal and wood, and the heat generated helps...

With a screw, as some point the heat and friction simply backs the screw out,with a nail, you may have to go full depth (particularly with square cut nails)

It's a round hole that can easily be plugged with a round dowel , minimizing surface damage from nail pullers etc. A box of asst split pins also costs way less than any "screw extractors" which promise to deliver great results, but more often than not fall short of delivering.

Cheap and effective. Everyone I've demonstrated it to said it was freakin amazing.

Typically after one removal, the split pin is not re-usable

Eric

 

[Gerry]

You had me conused there! That's a Roll pin not a split pin.

Gerry

 

[MikeJhn]

Had me confused as well, looking on my laptop I could not see the pic until I scrolled down, but a good solution nevertheless.

 

[cowtown_eric]

many terminologies for the same thing is not uncommon ...

Glad you got it figured out!

Eric

 

[Rob_Mc]

I'm guessing that the time consuming bit of your current method of removal is the digging out around the nail head so you can get a grip on it? If so, have you considered using a core drill to do the digging out bit quickly. This would also facilitate easy installation of a wooden plug once the nail is out to make good any surface damage.

If you could get a long enough core drill you could trepan around the entire nail and remove it entirely by drilling.