Nail puller notch

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Pipehand

Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
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I have a few rigbuilders/carpenters/shingle/half hatchets that have the "nail pulling notch", but don't see how any of them can practically be used to pull a nail unless the nail was left unsunk, or a duplex nail. It would also stress the handle in exactly its weakest direction. Is there some forgotten use for the notch, or a special technique that has been forgotten. Are the notches there because "that's the way we've always done it", and maybe hatchet makers aren't hatchet users? Or is it like the karda on a kukri- a symbol whose meaning may be cloudy?
 
When you use cedar shakes on a wall or a roof the nails are slim and come out easy. As well as when the shake breaks the nail head is left the width of the shake high;)
 
I think it's more for a bent partially driven nail, certainly not for a fully sunk 16 penny sinker. There are other tools for that.
 
The name gives you a clue: "rig builder's". They use(d) duplex nails for making scaffolding and other temporary structures which were later removed, and the nail notch worked fine for it. They're handy on camping hatchets because just adding a few duplex nails to your kit makes building temporary structures in the field a breeze compared to the methods a lot of folks like to struggle with. They're also handy for pulling old fence wire out of the way or lifting a pot by a wire bale.
 
The factory notch is usually lacking in good geometry. I always file & sharpen/square up the notch.
Btw, Notch also is handy for breaking Nr. 9 wire.
 
Doesn't the nail notch pre-date the wire duplex nail? Makes sense on a rig biulders hatchet, but what about flooring, box and barrel hatchets? How is the other notch on the bit face of a barrel hatchet used? The thickness of a cedsr shake makes sense, only if it is a true split shake, and not sawn with a taper. Honestly, I'm of the opinion they're about as functional as tailfins on an automobile.
 
Good thread. Same question, I had for a while. And like 42 I was rather thinking about fence wires etc. :)
 
Woodcraft said:
When you use cedar shakes on a wall or a roof the nails are slim and come out easy. As well as when the shake breaks the nail head is left the width of the shake high;)
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Until Estwing's lovely 'blue bars' came into common use (1980s was when I discovered them) for prying up asphalt and cedar shingles and removing nails the notch in a shingler's hatchet was how it was done. These weren't designed for lifting framing nails or any other long shank fasteners but slid into and popped roofing nails beautifully.
 
On barrel hatchets you can actually drive the bit (at the notch, obviously!) into the nail to lift it a little before switching to the beard notch, much like a cat's paw. In beard-only notched models not being used on duplex nails, you'd be using it for removing bent or misplaced nails that weren't fully driven. Wire nails started seeing common use in the USA after the Civil War, so they're plenty old relative to the "golden age" of axe/hatchet design and manufacture.
 
I asked this question here once and was told farmers do a lot of demolition with hatchets and that's when the nail notches are most used. Speaking of camping hatchets rather than shinglers or lathers.

Can't find it now, of course.
 
Moonw said:
Good thread. Same question, I had for a while. And like 42 I was rather thinking about fence wires etc. :)
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There's so much old barbed wire in the woods here in Maine it's not even funny. A nail notch bites the wire firmly and let's you use the hatchet as a drag handle to move that tangled mess of tetanus safely out of the way. :p

Personally I think nail notches are severely underrated and under-utilized as a feature. I cry salty, salty tears every time I see some shmuck on the internet cutting the notch off a nice old half hatchet. You just have to think creatively with it. It won't be useful in all situations, but there are lots of times where it proves invaluable and it's not like it's taking up space--quite the opposite, in fact! :D
 
The rig builders that I saw in use back in the 80's were house framers and used mainly for pounding nails. No way are you going to pull a duplex nail out with one, well maybe a nail or two but a lot of duplex as in scaffolding, no way
 
You guys covered all my points.

I actually cut a nail notch into a Fiskars hatchet for pulling my duplex nails when hiking.
 
Thanks for the replies (and quick!) guys. Was hoping there was some lost knowledge, like why a framing square is 2x1&1/2"(for laying out tenons) that I wasn't using with the nail notch. Honestly, I would have better success using a pair of diagonal cutters than a hatchet and nail notch, and an Estwing ripping hammer works better than that for pulling nails.
 
Pipehand,i agree:There MUST be a clear,sound reason for these notches,but unfortunately it seems to be lost in time and history.
(With all due respect,all the above explanations are a stretch,and an adaptation,especially since these notches,in time-line, go Way beyond wire-,or any other pull-able nails....).
I've tracked similar discussions among some European axe-freaks,and these notches go back to 14th c. or beyond...No clear consensus there,either,especially as the shape of many notches,their inside profile,is varied and weird,ranging from square to assorted conical section as of almost of a cutter of sorts....(but most often quadrangular,so would be very limited as a "claw"....).

One version(just as questionable as any above)has to do with some mysterious system of keeping a marking-string stretched,in a short-handed building situation...(at least a string is more consistent with the Mediaeval building site than any kind of metal fastener....).
Also,a straightener for assorted trammel-ish kinda marking points....
(SO many ways to say "i dunno...":)
 
It's not intended to be a replacement for a dedicated nail puller, but rather one of convenience. Having a "good enough" puller works for a lot of situations where you'd be inconvenienced to go and retrieve the ideal tool, given the sporadic need for it. You might still run into circumstances where you need a "real" nail pulling tool, but it greatly reduces the need to have one on your person constantly.

It's a very trivial thing to add to the tool to expand its functional range, and it comes in handy/has its uses, so why not have it on there, eh?
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
There's so much old barbed wire in the woods here in Maine it's not even funny. A nail notch bites the wire firmly and let's you use the hatchet as a drag handle to move that tangled mess of tetanus safely out of the way. :p

Personally I think nail notches are severely underrated and under-utilized as a feature. I cry salty, salty tears every time I see some shmuck on the internet cutting the notch off a nice old half hatchet. You just have to think creatively with it. It won't be useful in all situations, but there are lots of times where it proves invaluable and it's not like it's taking up space--quite the opposite, in fact! :D
Click to expand...

Good points. This: "move that tangled mess of tetanus safely out of the way" made me chuckle! :)
 
jake pogg said:
Pipehand,i agree:There MUST be a clear,sound reason for these notches,but unfortunately it seems to be lost in time and history.
(With all due respect,all the above explanations are a stretch,and an adaptation,especially since these notches,in time-line, go Way beyond wire-,or any other pull-able nails....).


One version(just as questionable as any above)has to do with some mysterious system of keeping a marking-string stretched,in a short-handed building situation...(at least a string is more consistent with the Mediaeval building site than any kind of metal fastener....).
Also,a straightener for assorted trammel-ish kinda marking points....
(SO many ways to say "i dunno...":)
Click to expand...


You realize the object with the nail puller in the 14 century was an AX made to use on wood and they most certainly had nails...........
And the said nails were often square and other odd shapes.......
 
Woodcraft,there's a World of difference between the wire,and the square-nail(even a cut-,vs forged-square nail....).
Yes sir,i do realise all that-i forge nails(and axes....:)...

The use of nails,in the centuries before the Industrial revolution was incredibly different,it'd take too long to go into it.
Pulling nails just wasn't a concept,trust me.Even though a couple of Roman claw-hammers do exist in museum collections,even the hammer-claw is a very late comer to the building game...Different joinery entirely....(we're speaking VERY broadly,of course).
 
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