Nail or staple pullers

[Alan Douglas]

I had one of these in the barn and a neighbor gave me another. I never paid much attention to them but I tried one on some rusty staples in a 2x4 and it seemed to work pretty well. I see lots of different brands on ebay so I suppose they must have been quite popular.

Do they work any better than other types? Any tricks to using one? Does sharpening them help? I don't find any discussions on these specific tools.

 

[rlitman]

They create less damage to pull a recessed nail than you'd get using a cat's paw puller.
They're also the only type of nail puller that works reliably on nails where the head is broken off. All other pullers require the head to get a grip. These will grip and pull a nail by just the shank.

I find them slow to work with though, so it's not the first puller I ever reach for.

 

[Two Sheds]

I really like mine. Use the sliding handle to drive the pincers below the surface, pull it out and lean it over, and out comes the nail. I needed to pull up a bunch of shiplap subflooring a few years ago, and I can't think of a tool that would have worked better. I have two of them, one is a Smith and Hemenway, and the other is a Crescent (I think Crescent bought out S&H).

 

[trainman1385]

I have two of them and they make quick work of a difficult situation

 

[2oolhound]

When I was a wee boy I worked as a carpenter's helper. One of my duties was pulling nails, lots of them on a regular basis. I used mostly goose neck crow bars and would leave the tough ones till the end when I went back over the boards with one of those. Indispensable.