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Product Review - Nail Hunter by Nail Jack
The sales blurb:
The Nail Hunter by Nail Jack has a completely different design. The Nail Hunter will dig, grip and pull nails, staples, small nails and headless nails. Designed with sharp tips that grip with precision, the Nail Hunter is for "fine work".Powerful enough to pull medium nails, this tool will pull small nails right through the back of the baseboard.
Cost: $55 + $15 delivery (supplier in Qld). Not many options in Australia so just Google Nail Hunter and the first hit will take you to the local distributor.
I have a few projects on the go at the moment that require the removal of nails and staples. The other day I came across and ad for the Nail Hunter by Nail Jack in one of the woodworking mags - I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.
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The nail hunter is a fairly uniquely shaped tool which offers a number of different ways of removing nails. The pointed jaws on the nail hunter model are designed to assist in digging and gripping the nail. The body is curved to assist in obtaining a degree of leverage over the nail. The contours of the tool make it possible to twist or roll the tool to get best leverage on the nail. There were instances where it was easier to roll to tool to the side - so its possible to use the tool in a number of different ways. The rear of the tool acts somewhat like the claw of a claw hammer. The jaws are spring operated, so will return to an open position which assists in speedily moving onto the next nail.
I found the quickest method for removing the most proud nails was to lock onto them from the rear and then pull up like you would with a claw hammer. With the bent handles, it allows for good hand placement away from the timber, allowing you to knock the handles up with an open palm which gave sufficient momentum to remove the nail. Unlike a claw hammer which wedges the nail, the tool clamps against the nail giving a good hold.
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If the nail is laying down, the pointed ends can dig in and lift it up enough to get it out. The second image shows it up and then having the nail removed using the front jaws. With this method you grip the shaft of the nail and lever it up a little, using the curved back for leverage, and then after it starts moving, you grip at the base of the nail again and repeat.
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I did find that using this method, the jaws did tend to slip on the shaft of the nails more than I would have hoped, and this was despite squeezing the jaws close with considerable force. On closer inspection the jaws have a rebate which I assume is for the nail head. This is my only criticism of the tool and I would have liked to have seen the jaws perhaps serrated to give a better grip of the nail shaft.
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One typical scenario is a broken nail. I had reasonable success of using the pointed jaws to pry the nail out enough to start to work at it with the method outlined above. In difficult situations it was necessary to drill relief holes on either side of the nail to held loosen it up and also give some more depth to get the pointed jaws down to grab more of the nail. The one below came out without issues, but on occasions I found the jaws would deform the end of the nail shaft and it wasn't possible to get any leverage. With the two holes drilled on either side, it was easier to try and get a good grip and pull up, than try and leverage the nail out.
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I tend to use a fair bit of recycled Jarrah floor joists, they are a bit of work to clean up, but they are cheaper than pine and worth the effort. Typically they come full of nails which can be hard to remove. I thought this would be a good test for the Nail Hunter. The fist image shows a typical joist with a scattering of nails.Depending on the age of the timber and the nails, there can be considerable work to try and get these nails out. This round of joists that I purchased seemed to be fairly good condition and the nails were largely intact which was a pleasant change. It took 2 min 38 sec to remove all of the nails from this joist using the Nail Hunter, which also included repositioning twice in the vice.
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Overall in a short amount of time I managed to de-nail about 10 of the 20 joists I had. This task was much easier with this tool than the other methods I was using previously, and it was a task that I was never keen on in the past. It has the advantage that it can be used in a number of different ways, so it was quick to keep the same tool in hand and just work it into different positions. I did still find I needed a hammer to push nails back through where possible, and also a drill and nail punch for when I needed to create the relief holes - so its not standalone solution, but certainly does the heavy lifting.
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The task I gave it was about as hard as it gets. Unfortunately last week I picked a floor full of staples holding down masonite underlay from Baltic pine, and this tool would have excelled at this task.
For $55 I consider this good value for money and a handy tool if you are doing a bit of this work. As mentioned I would have like to have seen the jaws grip the nails a little better, but in most instances the rear of the tool did most of the work for me.
Cheers
Stinky
