Bob Vila Radio: Pulling Nails

You may be pretty good at swinging a hammer to drive in a nail, but there are plenty of do-it-yourself jobs that will require you to get some nails out instead of in. Here are a few quick tips to help make pulling nails a little easier.

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Listen to BOB VILA ON PULLING NAILS or read the text below:

Pulling Nails
Pulling Nails



You can often remove a nail with the claw end of a hammer. Start by slipping the claw under the nail head and rocking it loose. To avoid damaging the wood surface OR breaking your hammer, once you get the nail partly out, slip a wood block under the hammer head next to the nail before you pull straight on the handle to remove the nail.

If the nail is resistant to pulling and you don’t mind roughing up the wood surface a little, you can try a cat’s paw instead of a hammer’s claw. A cat’s paw is a nail-pulling tool that does great work getting to buried nails. Use the head of the hammer to tap the cat’s paw into the wood to extract the stubborn nail.

If the nail is buried and you have access to both sides of the wood, you can use a hammer on the back side to drive the nail out far enough so you can grab its head on the front. If the nail has no head, you can sometimes pull it out from behind using pliers and a little elbow grease.

Bob Vila Radio is a newly launched daily radio spot carried on more than 75 stations around the country (and growing). You can get your daily dose here, by listening to—or reading—Bob’s 60-second home improvement radio tip of the day.

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