How to remove 18ga nails successfully

Question

I used 18ga nails to temporarily fix a bookcase together with my nail gun so I can predrill and screw together. I have since unscrewed and knocked it back apart so that I can fill, paint and then glue & screw it back together. It might be a long-winded way to do it, but I do like making things harder for myself XD

For reference, I have used 18mm MDF board.

The issue I've found with this and previous projects with nails is that I find it difficult to remove the nails without distorting or bending them in the process. For clarity, I'm using my claw hammer to try and knock the nails from the pointy end back out the way it came in.

Today I have bought a decent set of wire cutters such that I can cut the nails down to ~5mm poking through and then again attempted to knock the nails back through, with a little more success, however it still doesn't appear to be fool-proof.

Is there any other method I can use that would have more success?

I should add that the faces where the nails enter will be hidden from view.

Answer 1

"without distorting or bending them"
I assume you're not trying to save them to use again ;)

One tap on the pointy end should knock them back far enough to get a grab with a pair of pincers.

Get a pair large enough that the angle as you extract remains small enough to not damage your wood face as you lift the nails out. Teeny pincers are only useful if space is restricted.

If your nails are almost headless & no-one will ever see the inside face ever again, you could save the hammer tap & just pull them straight through.

Answer 2

Crescent makes descent nail pulling pliers. To get it to fit tight against the wood I ground the pliers end flat and rounded the edges to roll better. Use a nail-set to punch the nail further into the wood, breaking any glue that might be holding the nail to minimize potential for breaking, then use the pliers to pry the nail out through the back.

Answer 3

I hope I'm misinterpreting your "without distorting or bending them" because that seems like not only an impossible endeavor but also a fairly pointless one since 18 gauge nails are not reusable.

+1 to RG Hughes answer showing a tool that I wasn't even aware existed but a very similar tool that many people are more likely to already have and is my go to for removing brad nails are channel lock pliers. You can use a scrap piece of wood/plastic/other material to both protect the bookcase from damage and provide additional leverage like the round pivot point on those dedicated pliers does. The longer handle that channel locks typically have allow you to apply a tremendous amount of squeezing force that helps grab onto the nails although it's still very easy to just snap them in half when pulling from hard materials.

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Another option since it's a painted bookcase and you plan to fill and paint the holes anyway is to just punch them below the surface and forget about them. This might be an issue for your specific problem since it sounds like you are actually concerned about the nail poking through on the back side and 18ga nails should already be inset on the front side. But if they are set deep enough you may be able to snip the back side flush and use a nail punch to set the back side in enough that you can fill the holes on both sides and just leave the nail in the wood.

Answer 4

Pulling through the back with tile nippers is my go-to strategy, but sometimes doesn’t work with mdf (as opposed to wood). In that case, you can try bending them back and forth on the back side; oftentimes, this will break the brad below the surface.

Answer 5

The usual answer would be to use smaller nails and just leave them in place, or to find another temporary holding solution.

Better question for the Woodworking stack than here, methinks.

Answer 6

Pulling them will likely cause more damage than leaving them in on the face side.

I recommend cutting them from the back using either end nippers or side cutting pliers. If you use small versions of these tools, you should be able to get to about 1mm poking out which would disappear upon reassembly.

Answer 7

Along with all the other good answers is a "cat's paw" nail puller. There's a wide range of variety with these, so I'm not going to post a pic. They are basically small prybars with a sharpened and/or pointy end.

The usual use is to dig out the nail head with this tool by tapping/smacking it with a hammer to get under the head while it's embedded in the wood, but that's obviously not the desired use here. These small nail pullers can still work really well to get out small nails or nails with small heads when there's little clearance between the head and the wood surface. Even if they can't get the nail completely out, they can usually get the nail out far enough so that another prybar, hammer, or whatever can grab on.

Some of the other options, like the "pinchers" can accidentally cut off the head, but a cat's paw is less likely to do that while still being able to grab hold of the nail with very little clearance.

A channel lock can be a very good alternative, and I've definitely used it for this before, but the jaws may not align well enough for some small nails. I have at least one (cheap) channel lock that wouldn't work for this. Even a pair of regular pliers may be good enough for a nail this small.