Nail crowbar: how to make the right choice of construction tool. A manual nail puller made from a half-inch pipe and an old file. Which nail puller is better?
To drive a nail, no special experience is required; every developer can cope with this task; it’s another matter to correctly pull out a driven nail. If the cap is flush with the surface, then it is recommended to know some of the subtleties of this work. And a lot depends when pulling out nails on what tool you choose. It is best to use a titanium nail puller for this purpose, which will handle nails best.
Purpose of the nail puller
There were times when they were widely used wooden nails, to do this, they first drilled holes in the boards that were suitable in diameter, and after that they connected the structural parts in a similar simple way. Such nails were called dowels. However, the dowel could not be pulled out. And today these products have been replaced with metal fasteners that have wide heads. When making wood products, there is often a need to pull out incorrectly driven nails.
They are easy to pick up with a tug - special tool with a flattened end where there is a wedge-shaped slot, which is convenient for gripping a nail. After hooking up, it is also necessary to pull out the fasteners, which are tightly compressed by wood fibers or wedged in concrete panel, so a forged nail puller should be used. The lever force helps, so all nail pullers are made quite long, and near the hook there is a bend that acts as a support. Great importance It also has a material, so tools for pulling out nails are often made red-hot.
Claw hammers perform the functions of ordinary carpenter's hammer or act as a nail puller. Such a tool will help both hammer in a nail and easily remove an unnecessary one if it is installed incorrectly. Today you can find similar hammers with different handles: wooden, metal, rubberized, fiberglass.
Thus, the purpose of a manual nail puller is to pull out nails. And the area of its use is quite large. With its help, you can carefully and easily pull a nail out of the floor or baseboard. Regardless of the description of the nail puller, it is used when dismantling various buildings, wooden structures, boxes and containers. The nail puller is an indispensable tool for movers, carpenters, other technical workers and private developers at home.
In addition to the main function that a nail puller performs, its other functions are also known: pulling out nails using a flattened end with a slot, breaking asphalt, ice and frozen soil, lifting various items, opening boxes and other nailed surfaces using a pointed end. The solid profile with which the nail puller is equipped successfully allows you to dismantle building materials.
Nail puller design
A nail puller is a manual lever-wedge device for pulling out nails driven into a material. The nail puller is available in the form independent instrument or a tool that is combined with tools such as a crowbar or a hammer, as in the photo of nail pullers.
A nail puller is a curved metal wedge, which is divided in two by a working groove, which is intended for the process of capturing and holding during the procedure of pulling the nail out of the material by the “head”. The action of the nail puller is based on the impact of the wedge on the surface - fastener and the material into which the fastener is hammered, and on the principle of leverage when pulling out the nail. Man has been using the principle of leverage since ancient times, when it was necessary to break off a piece of stone or lift a heavy object, which required remarkable effort.
This construction tool at one end has a curved flattened platform with a slot that expands, and at the other there is a straight, pointed stake. The second end is often simply flattened and sharpened. Depending on the requirements for the tool, the nail puller can be different sizes. The price of nail pullers on the market also varies. The length of nail pullers ranges from 320 - 1000 millimeters, and the weight is 0.6 - 4 kilograms. Selecting the size of this construction tools depends directly on the size of the nails with which it will work.
Most hammers that are equipped additional function nail pullers are equipped with a rubber handle, thanks to which they are clamped in the palm of your hand like a glove. To increase the strength of nail pullers, high carbon steel is also heat treated, which is a common tool material. There are also nail pullers with a wood handle and an iron tip. But it is not recommended to get carried away with the variety of form factors; the main thing in a tool for extracting nails is the flat surface of the blade, which is placed under the head, and its level of strength.
Making a nail puller with your own hands
Any owner needs a good nail puller no less than a saw, hammer or axe. Therefore, it is useful to know how to make a nail puller at home. We suggest you make a set of three nail pullers that will help you remove any nails and fasteners.
A nail puller for pulling out small nails is best made of steel with a high carbon content so that its working part can be hardened. To do this, take a steel wire 0.5 millimeters thick, then straighten it on an anvil and flatten the working end a little.
Make a shallow cut with a hacksaw along the axis, and file the edges of the cut with a needle file. Bend the working part of the tool in a vice. It is customary to bend in two steps: first in the place where the workpiece is thicker, and then closer to the working end. Remove small dents caused by the vice with a file. Then sand the working part of the tool and, if possible, polish it with polishing paste.
It remains to complete the hardening with future tempering. After this manipulation, grind the working part of the tool again and polish it. Place the resulting workpiece on the handle. Your DIY nail puller for small nails is ready!
Nail pullers for large and medium nails are usually made of reinforcing steel. Just remember that the working part does not need to be flattened. All rough processing Pre-apply on an emery wheel.
These nail pullers do not require handles. To pull out a long nail with a regular nail puller, you have to place various objects under its base, for example, a piece of board, which is not very convenient. Improve your nail puller by welding an additional part at a distance of 6 centimeters from the working one.
Using a homemade nail puller
Now you should learn how to properly use a nail puller made at home. Using this tool is quite simple. Depending on the diameter of the nail, you need to select the appropriate one from the set homemade nail puller and first knock the wedge part of the tool under the head with a hammer.
When the nail enters the slot of the working part, move the handle towards the wood - the nail will come out of the hole a little. Place a low block to rest against. The nail will come out a little more after this. Now you can grab its cap with pliers.
This construction tool is rather anti-construction. The fact is that with the help of nail pullers they do not build, but destroy. It is intended primarily for dismantling permanent joints of wooden structures made with nails. At the same time, with the help of a nail puller you can also perform other dismantling work: beating off plaster, dismantling brick walls and much more.
Nail pullers come in the most different designs but they all have general feature. At least at one of their ends there is a flattened area in the form of a narrow blade with a widening slot. When pulling out nails, the upper part of the protruding nail is inserted into this slot and using the nail puller as a lever, resting on the head of the nail, it is easy to pull it out. In construction stores you can find a very wide variety of nail pullers and we want to talk about them all.
Types of nail pullers
Crowbar nail puller
This tool is a classic nail puller tool. It is made entirely of steel. Structurally, it is a piece of steel rod, the ends of which are bent into different sides, and one or both of them are flattened and slots are made in them for pulling out the nails. In terms of length, the crowbar nail puller can be either small in length - 40 cm, or very long - up to 1.5 meters. Accordingly, the longer the nail puller, the thicker and stronger it is.
Previously, these tools were usually made independently from scrap materials. Typically, various shafts from mechanisms and machines were used for these purposes. If you see such a homemade nail puller, take it without hesitation. The fact is that this is a truly eternal tool due to the very high strength qualities of the material used. All the same, the shafts are made of high-strength steel. Previously, nail pullers were usually made by people familiar with them from factories that had access to powerful presses, or in forges, which can be found throughout Russia today.
Those crowbars - nail pullers, which are now sold in stores, are of course worse. This is primarily due to the fact that standard rolled metal is used for their production. Currently, for the production of crowbars - nail pullers, reinforcement, round rod or hexagonal rod with a diameter of 10 mm to 25 mm are used. Despite the fact that some manufacturers still harden the ends, this tool wears out quickly and is easy to bend if you try to break a powerful building structure.
As an example I will give own experience– as a result of using a small modern nail puller, the slot developed to such a state that the nail heads simply stopped holding in it for two days. And this takes into account the fact that with its help I pulled out only about 1,500 nails 30 mm long from a wooden floor (I tore off the old fiberboard).
Nail pullers made from rebar are a little stronger, but they can very quickly rub calluses on your hands if you don’t wrap the handle, for example, with electrical tape. Nail pullers made from round and hexagonal rods are approximately equal in strength. It is quite easy to check the strength of a nail puller. Take a nail approximately 120 - 150 mm long and try to scratch the working part of the tool (a spatula with a slot) with the tip. If you get a scratch, and even a deep one, do not use this nail puller. It will be of little use. 
When coming up with this design, manufacturers primarily cared about giving the tool versatility. So to speak, two tools in one. Structurally, this is a classic hammer, usually with a round-shaped head, the sharp part of which is made in the form of the working part of a nail puller. On the one hand, of course, this is convenient, especially if you are sitting on the top of the roof, hammering nails and need to pull out one nail that was bent due to an unsuccessful blow.
At the same time, using a claw hammer as a dismantling tool is inconvenient. It is not always possible to get under the head of a nail with its help, and it also has a less durable handle - made of wood, and the lever is significantly shorter than that of a crowbar - a nail puller.
The material used for the metal part of hammers of this type is usually forged tool steel, which is usually superior in strength to the material of modern classic nail pullers. On sale you can also find a tool of this type made entirely of metal with an ergonomic rubberized handle. Claw hammers are commonly used in plumbing and carpentry work.
As recommendations, we advise you to have three types of nail pullers in your tool kit: a hammer - a nail puller, a small classic nail puller 40 - 50 cm long and a powerful crowbar - a nail puller with a length of at least 90 cm. The hammer can be used in construction work, when you need to pull out one or several unsuccessfully driven nails, using a small nail puller is convenient to pull out upholstery nails and remove the lining, but a large tool will be needed when dismantling powerful building structures, removing large nails or staples, and removing masonry.
A nail crowbar is convenient device for removing nails from various structures. It makes it much easier for the master to perform dismantling works. Helps resolve the issue of removing nails quickly and efficiently. In turn, this is an ergonomic tool, despite the fact that it belongs to the category hand tool, there are also models of electric nail puller
If you pay attention to the photo of a nail puller, you can understand that this tool is a curved wedge with a forked end, with the help of which the head of the nail or other element being removed is captured. It is made exclusively from high quality metal and has a long shoulder.
Scope of application
Despite the simple design, the use of the tool is necessary in construction industry. It is used wherever the task is to remove objects from different surfaces, it is also very helpful for loaders to lift heavy loads. It is used by carpenters, mechanics, and builders to solve everyday problems. Also, the nail puller can be used not for its intended purpose, but for the reconstruction of a room, not dismantling required designs, frames.
Varieties
In the classic version, the tool has the form of a rod made of steel with cut ends, and they can be on both sides of the nail puller.
The length of the standard device is from four hundred to five hundred millimeters, the diameter is from ten to twenty-five millimeters. If the length of the product increases, then the strength also increases due to the thickness, although the weight increases.
One type of tool is a hammer with a nail puller function. It has a short handle, making it mobile to use. This is very universal type devices, since a claw hammer can not only remove elements, but also hammer them.
It has a structure consisting of two different ends. On one working surface there is a round hammer head, and on the other a classic pointed part with a forked wedge.
The main part of the models has a non-slip rubberized handle. The only drawback is that the lever use of this device is limited.
The nail puller mount has gained particular popularity in the sales market among consumers. Its design has a second wedge that resembles a flat blade.
It can be used to dismantle wooden floors, lift up construction devices, reconstruct the boards. At the same time, the other end perfectly performs the function of pulling out nails and other unnecessary elements.
To purchase the best nail puller, you need to determine what kind of work you need the tool for. In any case, before purchasing, pay attention to the following properties of the device:
First, the crowbar should be made of a high-strength metal, such as tool steel, that is not prone to warping. Although the tool best quality made from titanium. Of course, they are significantly overpriced.
It is advisable that the tip be coated with a special protective paint or anti-corrosion coating. This will make it as strong and durable as possible.
Secondly, the length of the tool matters. Give preference to those models that will be necessary for your work. So, to dismantle bulky structures, a device with a handle up to one and a half meters is required, and if minor dismantling work is necessary, a short nail puller up to fifty centimeters long can be useful.
The force of its impact on the material will depend on the weight of the tool. A heavy, reinforced nail puller can destroy large structures, but the work will be tedious.
Making a fixture
Instead of buying one, you can make a nail puller with your own hands. Let's take a step-by-step look at how to make the tool yourself:
- 1 step. First, choose a steel wire the right size depending on the diameter of the nails that need to be removed.
- Step 2. Next, process the tip of one part, use a hammer to flatten it, then cut a slot for further removal of elements.
- Step 3. If any defects or nicks have formed, remove them with a needle file.
- Step 4 The next step you need to bend both ends of the nozzle. Start with the thicker part of the tool.
- Step 5 If possible, it is recommended to harden the device. Polish the product and attach it to the handle.
So, without much difficulty, you can independently make such a necessary thing as a nail crowbar.
Photo crowbar nail puller
the piston is like a compressed spring, then the compression is quite sufficient. If, after first reaching the T.M.T. position, the piston remains in this position, and you do not feel any springy force, then such a pair, as a rule, will not work. In this case, you need to select a piston larger diameter or chrome it lateral surface. This method of determining the condition of a piston pair is approximate, estimated, and its correctness depends on the experience of the determiner and the condition of the pair itself.
If you have a “tight” piston pair, that is, one that fits into each other with excessive interference, and therefore unnecessary friction losses, then its geometry can be improved by grinding in, using the piston itself - turn it 180° (Fig. 4).
WHEN GRINDING IN THE LINER AND PISTON, we recommend using lapping paste with a grain size of 3-8 pc. Mutual grinding (rotation of the piston and cylinder liner in different directions with lapping paste applied to them) is carried out only to the height of the exhaust and bypass windows. Using this method, grinding is done manually. When the lower part of the piston begins to freely enter to the upper edge of the exhaust channel, you can stop grinding, and thoroughly rinse the piston itself, the pin hole, connecting rod and liner. If, after wiping the surface of the piston and liner with clean writing paper, there are no traces of paste or dark streaks left on it, then the washing can be completed. The lapped piston, under its own weight, must move freely to the upper edge of the outlet window, being in the normal operating position. The piston and liner lapped in this way will have reverse tapers. This is necessary to create a closed, sealed volume only in the upper part of the liner and to minimize friction losses during the bypass and release phases.
You can get some increase in engine power by increasing the flow area of the bypass channel in the engine crankcase and polishing its surface (Fig. 5).
The engine will work better if you thoroughly sand and polish the surface of the crankshaft bypass channel (Fig. 6), and also improve the transition point of the bypass window to the channel by filling it epoxy resin or soldering with solder.
By modifying the Meteor engine in this way, you will significantly improve its starting qualities, increase power and rotation speed. Similar modifications are suitable for other types of engines. Just take them into account design features, intake and purge systems.
Y. GOLUBEV, House young technicians named after P. I. Baranov, Moscow
CUTTING WORM GEARS. When building models, it happens that a worm pair with a strictly defined center-to-center distance is required. You can cut such gears very simply with a regular tap, as shown in the figure. This is what Muscovite A. Aerov does.
HOMEMADE NAIL PICKERS. A good nail puller is needed no less than an axe, saw, rubanon or hammer. We offer you a set of three nail pullers that you can use to pull out any nails.
A nail puller for pulling out small nails is best made of steel with a sufficiently high carbon content - steel 45, U7, U8, so that the working part of the tool can be hardened. Take
steel wire
05 mm, straighten it on the anvil and slightly flatten the working end. Use a hacksaw to make a shallow cut along the axis. Finish the edges of the cut with a needle file. Bend the working part of the tool in a vice. Do the bending in two steps. First where the workpiece is thickest, and then closer to the working end. Remove small dents from the vice with a file. Then sand the working part of the tool and, if possible, polish it with polishing paste. All that remains is to carry out Zaka/Shu followed by release (read about this operation in the metalworker's reference book).
After hardening and tempering, grind and polish the working part of the tool again. Place the resulting workpiece on the handle - the nail puller is ready (Fig. 1).
Nail pullers for medium and larger nails are made of reinforcing steel. Just don’t need to flatten the working part. Carry out all preliminary rough processing on an emery wheel. These nail pullers do not need handles (Fig. 2-4).
The tool is easy to use. Depending on the diameter of the nail from the ready-made set, select the appropriate nail puller and use a hammer to tap the wedge part of the tool under the head. When; the nail will fit into the slot of the working part, move the handle towards the wood - the nail will come out a little from the hole. Place a low block and rest against it. The nail will come out a little more. Now it’s easy to grab his cap with pliers.
Other tools can be made from reinforcing steel (pic. below).
Yura Finichev from the village of Romanovna, Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, suggests making T KI FROM PLIERS. In the hands
Using pliers, Yura drilled holes, inserted a long bolt with a wing nut into them, and began to clamp small parts in the jaws of the tool.
LAYER PATCH. When puncturing bicycle tubes, the advice sent by Yura Zhukov from Kirov may be useful. From an old camera he cuts a rubber circle with a diameter of about 15 mm. Places the same circle on it, cut from a folded insulation tape. Yura places this patch on the cleaned area of the camera to be repaired and presses it with a hot iron. And in order not to spoil the polished surface of the iron, place a sheet of tin under it. After 8-10 minutes, the iron can be removed, and after drying for twenty minutes, the camera can be put back on the shaft.
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nail puller
Cold chisel
The principle of leverage has been used by man since the very moment he became intelligent. Rolling away a stone or log, lifting a heavy object, breaking off a piece of rock - all this requires considerable effort, but with a lever system, even weak person can move a substantial load. Today, the classic lever is embodied in a tool such as a crowbar-nail puller, but a device for extracting nails is present in various tools, for example, in a hammer or pry bar, and can also be independent.
Why we started with a crowbar is quite understandable, this is a lever of any kind, it is almost impossible to bend it (human weight, in any case, is not enough for this), and the length allows you to move objects with large mass. The smaller version is often used by antisocial elements for purposes other than their intended purpose, but to break locks.
Yes, in fact, as an independent element, the puller can be used to open drawers, lift various objects, and is also convenient for scratching your back. IN computer games this tool is effectively used as a weapon by various characters.
What does it take to pull out a nail?
There was a time when wooden nails were used; to use them, holes of suitable diameter were first drilled into boards and only then the individual parts of the structure were connected in such a simple way. However, it is almost impossible to pull out a dowel (a nail made of wood), and you cannot make a mistake. Another thing is metal fasteners with wide heads; they can be picked up with a puller - a tool with a flattened end, in which a wedge-shaped slot is made, convenient for gripping a nail.
However, it’s not enough to pick it up; you also need to pull it out, but how to do this if the fasteners are tightly compressed by wood fibers or wedged deep in the concrete panel? Leverage will help, and that is why all pulls are made long enough and with a bend near the toe, which acts as a support. The material also plays a role; for the most part, the tools for pulling out nails are made of hardened steel, but some will like a good-quality titanium nail hammer, the reliability of which you don’t have to worry about.
Everything for the convenience of working with the tool
Modern industry is constantly developing, new opportunities are opening up to improve the characteristics of tools, including those that require significant effort when used, and therefore must fit comfortably in the hand.
In particular, most hammers with an additional function in the form of a nail puller are equipped with a rubber handle, thanks to which they are clamped in the palm of your hand like a glove. To increase the strength of the pullers, heat treatment of high-carbon steel, a common tool material, is also used.
When choosing a hammer with a jerk, pay attention more attention single-element instruments that have higher reliability than those working part which is mounted on a separate handle.
Modern hammers for roofers are interesting; the puller on them is somewhat modernized. One of the teeth of the “fork” of such a tool is elongated and pointed, which allows you to drive it into the wood with one movement, freeing your hands or thereby stopping a fall. A kind of alpenstock combined with a puller. However, do not get carried away by the variety of form factors, the main thing in a nail extractor tool is the flat surface of the blade that fits under the head and its strength.