# Best recip blade for hard nails/concrete nails



## scotters (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi! Thanks for reading--We are removing hardwood flooring, tongue and groove. We're halfway done. This DIY home, circa 1950, has LOTS of what I call 'hard nails' but you may know as concrete nails. They are angular rather than round. The heads are recatangular. They seem to be harder material than most nails. They are every foot in the groove. The only way we've found to salvage this flooring is to gently pry up the plank then sawzall the hard nails. But the blades are getting worn down too fast. What, if any, blade will stand up to at least 100-200 of these nails before it needs to be changed? We've determined that the coarse-tooth blades work better than fine-tooth. Still, I'm hopeful there is a specialty blade that would be worthwhile. We've spent over $100 on blades. This isn't terrible since the flooring is going to save us 1000-2000 bucks and the whole house was a gift because it was going to be demolished. Anyway, thanks again. Any suggestions?


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## jimmy21 (Jul 2, 2008)

perhaps an angle grinder with a cut off disc?


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## ratherbefishing (Jan 13, 2011)

I think Jimmy may be on to something. If you have air, a die grinder with a "ziz wheel". Or a muffler cut off tool (same thing, with a guard.) If you don't have air, you can spin the cut-off wheel mandrel with a cheap trim router with the base removed.
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-inch-rear-exhaust-air-die-grinder-52847.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-inch-trim-router-44914.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-inch-cut-off-wheels-3-pack-34749.html

(I'm not recommending HF tools. Just showing pictures and a cheap way to do it. Better tools are usually [always] better.)


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## forresth (Feb 19, 2010)

you can get 4.5" angle grinders for $50


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## VIPlumber (Aug 2, 2010)

I was in a similar situation last year when remmodeling our place last year. I found that using a pair of water pump pliers & scrap piece of plywood worked great.


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