De-Nailing Naily Wood
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There are many lumber lookalikes that can be manufactured in a factory nowadays, but the character and rustic authenticity that real, reclaimed Naily Wood holds, isn't one of them. If you're not sure what naily wood is, you can click here to learn more...
The most difficult thing about repurposing Naily Wood is denailing the material. If you have ever denailed any type of lumber before, you have a pretty good idea what's involved, but Naily Wood requires a special kind of perseverance!
As you can see in the video, Naily Wood requires quite a bit of time and attention to detail to be able to remove all the hardware from the surface. The resulting pockmarked surface, is exactly what makes the process worth it. The character that all of these "imperfections" leave behind can't be recreated in any other way.
With the variety of nails, staples, and other bits and pieces of hardware you might encounter, there are a wide range of tools that can come in handy when denailing Naily Wood. A Nail Kicker, like the one we use here, is our go-to tool in denailing any of our lumber. We would not be able to get through the amount of lumber that we do, nearly as quickly, without always having one at hand. You can click here to learn more about the Nail Kicker we use or to purchase one in our online store. If you deal with reclaimed wood often, a Nail Kicker is absolutely a must-have.
For the embedded nails that can't be removed with the Nail Kicker, there are a variety of other tools we find very useful. In this video our team is using a Crescent Nail Puller to dig out many of the headless nail shafts. You can also see we always have flat bars on hand, along with specialized pliers, and a few other tools we resort to when the others don't work out. Having all of the tools you might need to use, ready and organized will significantly speed things up and make everything run more smoothly.
The most important thing to have in your tool chest, especially when there's a lot of denailing to be done, is a positive attitude. Denailing might seem tedious and mundane if you do it for many hours, but it all comes back to mindset. If you can find little ways to make it fun while staying on task, it can make your time pass by more quickly, and you'll be done before you know it. If all else fails, just keep reminding yourself that the outcome will be worth the effort. After all, nothing worth having comes easily!
If you have questions or comments, or if there's anything we can help you with, as always, feel free to contact us, we'd love to hear from you!