Denailing Reclaimed Wood

Tools and techniques for fast denailing of old salvaged lumber. March 9, 2010

Question
I'm trying to find a faster, better way to remove old nails from reclaimed lumber. I'm using a nail punch and hammer to blow the nail out the bottom, but it takes a lot of time. Is there a dedicated device (I'm thinking of a nail gun with a longer driver?) to punch out the nail?

Forum Responses
(Solid Wood Machining Forum)
From contributor J:
Check out the Nail Kicker, NailOut, Nail Jack... I've pulled more nails than I care to admit. The old fashioned slide-hammer style nail pullers are indispensable for broken nails embedded fully into the wood.



From contributor D:
Use an air chisel with a modified chisel. Grind or weld the end to the right diameter for the nails you're removing. We do a lot of cabinets and millwork with old wood. You want to keep the nail hole intact.


From contributor S:
I have a couple of Nailkickers. They work exceptionally well! I didn't buy mine from the Nailkicker. They were out of stock with no estimated delivery time. However, they did give me a phone number for a gentleman that had purchased two of them and hardly used them before he gave up the reclaimed lumber business.