by Richard Serra

Created on: July 01, 2007   Last Updated: November 11, 2011

Nail removal made easy is probably easier said than done, but it can be done, and without too much hassle. The problem seems to be that when the nail is particularly long, you don't seem to have much leverage to put it out by the head as the claw has lifted the nail up about as far as it will go.

The most common trick is to lay a piece of scrap wood underneath the back part of the hammer so that it provides the added height so as to provide more leverage to remove the rest of the nail. When we tap the nail from the pointed tip driving the head of the nail up so as to provide a little space for the claw to be placed under the head of the nail, this provides for quickly removing most smaller nails.

However, the longer the nail, the less leverage once you pull it out so far, and by adding support under the head with a scrap piece of wood, it's allows for the rest of the nail to be pulled easily.

Many different types of nails can be simply pulled using the hammer claw, but in some cases, you may need to use pliers or a crow bar, and they come in several sizes. To protect the finish, it's always a good idea to place a piece of scrap under the point of pressure as I've mentioned above. This way the scrap piece takes the brunt of the force that usually causes damage to the wood.

On occasions you might find that the nails head may have broken off, and in this case, by using a vise grip, you can grip the nail in such a way so as to force it to rotate back and forth until it becomes a little looser and enough to be able to pry it out once you've found you can rotate the nail easily.

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