# Removing ringed nails



## Judy in IN

Anyone have a sure-fire way to remove ringed nails? 

We're salvaging metal off some hog buildings. These people put everything together with ringed nails! 

We've got some of the roof metal off, but the batten boards are 2x4s nailed to the trusses with, you got it, ringed nails. There are 3 nails per 2x4 each time it crosses the truss. 

Any suggestions?


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## agmantoo

Get some nippers like used to cut horseshoe nails and cut the heads off and lift the sheet metal panels off. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YV7I8


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## Judy in IN

agmantoo, 

I tried nippers. They don't work. We're getting the metal off by using wrecking bar and a hammer. 

The ringed nails holding the 2x4s to the trusses are down in the 2x4. I can't get under them. I need a good way to get those 2x4s loose from the trusses.


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## agmantoo

Take a sawsall and a flooring saw blade and cut between the 2 x 4 and the truss. In the previous post I thought you were still trying to get the metal roofing off.


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## agmantoo

This is the tool your REALLY need
http://www.tarheelwoodtreating.com/products/deckwrecker.html


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## Old Vet

The only sure fire way to get ringed nails out is to cut them and drive then out. You can try to pull them out but I haven't been lucky with that. Use a nail punch to drive them out.


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## unioncreek

Have fun, A good wrecking bar, but that will bend the tin.

Bob


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## Ed Norman

agmantoo said:


> This is the tool your REALLY need
> http://www.tarheelwoodtreating.com/products/deckwrecker.html


Wow...


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## foxtrapper

If the nippers you're using won't work, I'd suggest better nippers. That's assuming the nail heads are on the ridges of the metal and the problem is merely inability to cut the nail.

As for the 2x4's with nails embedded down below the surface, a tool like the deck wrecker will work very well. 

Ring shank nails are a bear. That's why they were made. Disassembly is not easy with them.


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## michiganfarmer

I agree with the sawzall idea. Its a lotta screwing around, but your labor is free


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## Ross

A little off topic but ring nails to me are short thin nails with rings used to secure underlay to the subfloor, (replaced with screws these days) and I suspect the barn in question is built with spiral ardox nails or maybe a nail gun. Is there a different use of terms? Not that its important!! I'd sawzall the nails with a nail cutting demolition blade as it'll do less damage to the wood


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## catahoula

Ross said:


> A little off topic but ring nails to me are short thin nails with rings used to secure underlay to the subfloor, (replaced with screws these days) and I suspect the barn in question is built with spiral ardox nails or maybe a nail gun. Is there a different use of terms? Not that its important!! I'd sawzall the nails with a nail cutting demolition blade as it'll do less damage to the wood


 you aren't really off topic, the last time I used ring shank nails was for underlay on a wood floor. However, the metal on all our old out buildings is held down with lead capped/washered ring shank nails.

Dead on tools makes a "cats paw" called "the exhumer" it's nice and sharp and is designed to dig out buried nails.


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## The Paw

nail puller.

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/browseproducts/Crescent-Impact-Nail-Puller.HTML

it's still a lot of work....


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## SteveO

Morning All,
If your not moving everything to far cut the 2x4 every 8 feet and crane the roof off in 8 ft pieces. If thats not doable a cats paw and a short pipe extention for leverage. Either the head will come off or the nail will come out. Either way is a winner.
But be carefull those trusses look awfull long the handle by hand

steve


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## rambler

Ross said:


> A little off topic but ring nails to me are short thin nails with rings used to secure underlay to the subfloor, (replaced with screws these days) and I suspect the barn in question is built with spiral ardox nails or maybe a nail gun. Is there a different use of terms? Not that its important!! I'd sawzall the nails with a nail cutting demolition blade as it'll do less damage to the wood


Ross, around here many buildings - pole barn type - were put together with ring shank pole barn nails for a few decades - a few decades ago.

These are big fellas - bigger than a a d20. They are made of hard metal, not a soft nail. The ribs are pretty deep. There is nothing thin or short about them. These were driven with big hammers; don't know of an air gun that would push them. When nails start to come in 30d to 80d, it's a serious nail....

http://fasteners.hardwarestore.com/...barn/heat-treated-pole-barn-nails-642508.aspx

You pounded them in, and it held the building together. There is no easy way to pull them out. They have _serious_ gripping power. Think like a thin lag bolt rather than a nail - only instead of a spiral, the ribs are circles & cupped to really hold.

The sawsall or pounding them all the way through is about the only way. Even the tool someone showed would not hold up to a whole roof of these type of ring shank pole barn nails.

They were designed to hold.

Today they use more mechanical ways to put the buildings together - adhesives, screws, air nailers. No one wants to swing a big hammer that much any more. 

--->Paul


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## Ozarka

I love my Milwaukee sawzall. All the carpenters I hang out with use them with demo blades to cut through nails to easily remove framing pieces without disturbing the sheetrock or other stuff around the incision. Your situation might call for steel cutting blades and a slow speed. keep a block of paraffin handy to lubricate the blade every now and then; it keeps it cooler and lubricates the cutting.

After this late January ice I started using my sawzall with a pruning blade to cut and trim the fallen limbs and have cut ricks of wood and generated huge piles of little stuff, a project that would have taken weeks with a hand saw, no matter how sharp. I use a 100' + a 50' + a 30' cord and that is as far from the 'lectyric that I need to go anyway. I know the cordless units are attractive but you are limited by the capacity of your two batteries if you don't have the grid nearby.


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## PyroDon

The Paw said:


> nail puller.
> 
> http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/browseproducts/Crescent-Impact-Nail-Puller.HTML
> 
> it's still a lot of work....


Ive got a couple of those . 
word of caution watch your fingers they make some killer blood blisters


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