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I didn't read properly, that you were re-sawing them.

 

Sounds like some nice wood I would just cut thru them with a Lenox bimetal blade.http://www.lenoxtools.com/pages/classic-bi-metal-band-saw-blades.aspx
Hopefully you have a bandsaw big enough to tension a .035 blade.

 

Hopefully the bandsaw will get through the nails. 120 years ago they could have been any size. You will have to watch the tracking of your blade in the beams for deflection that could mess up some of your planks.
Make sure you have eye protection! Please post before and after pictures of your beams and some of the sawn lumber. Good luck!

 

You can take a plug cutter an drill around the nail and then plug it with some of the same material using a larger plug cutter to make the plug with. The best nail puller are the antique ones.

 

I'd buy some cheap blades and run it.

 

I could opt for a "sacrificial" blade or two…..

- msinc

I think this is your best approach. If the wood in question is weathered and worn the embedded hardware will provide even more character should you decide to preserve the reclaimed nature of the wood in whatever you decide to use it for.

 

Thanks a million for all the replies so far. I will post some photos before and after. It is unbelievable how hard these things got. They feel like carbide.

 

Here's how I would do it to save myself a lot of grief. It's not cheap but it's low labor and will probably save the most wood.

Grab a tube of 3m Scotch weld for metal. Yes, it will cost around $15 an ounce. The stuff is liquid gold and yes, it's worth it.

Grab some thread inserts that are just big enough to slip over the nails.

Use a dremel or something easy to clean out around the nails, and scotch weld the inserts onto the end, leaving ample thread for you to insert something from the top.

put a screw/bolt in the top of the insert and use a slide hammer to yank the nail out. If you don't have a slide hammer, scotch weld a new nail in the top and use a hammer big enough to rip the nail in two to pull it out, because if you bought the right scotch weld, the nail will rip in half before the epoxy does.

You shouldn't have a problem with the old nail breaking if you get in the wood a bit where it's likely less timeworn and also if you're pulling on the entire surface area of the nail through the adhesive bond.

 

I have had good luck using a long-nosed vise grip, after excavating enough around the nail to be able to grab the end. You will still have holes to deal with, but I don't see how you can avoid that.

Another take on the problem: do these nails go all the way through the wood? If so, using a appropriately sized nail set or punch, drive them right on through and then remove. When I'm replacing trim using the old material, I pull the finishing nails on through from the back, rather than trying to drive them out, which invariable chips the surface wood.

 

Opps almost got me!
Comment deleted. ...usual reasons.

 

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I am going to try "all of the above"...there are definitely some good ideas on here, thanks a million to all that posted info. As always, it is greatly appreciated. I cant just drive them thru at this time, the wood is actually 3 beams that are 7 foot long, 8 inches wide and 4 inches thick. I honestly don't know how long the nails are. I also really don't know the diameter as what I can see appears to be rusted down to a fine point. If I can do the resaw with a sacrificial blade I can probably drive them thru at that point. I still intend to try removing them using the other methods suggested. Even if I don't get them all I will have a better idea about the diameter and the hardness deeper in the wood.
I will definitely post photos and give a report on what happens.

 

I don't understand why you just don't cut through them and leave the wood unmolested. And bimetal blade is m42 Hss steel just like a sawzall blade. Even those little 6 inch long sawzall blade with cut wood with nails in it for a good half a day.
I would love to see your planks after you get them sawn sounds like some neat stuff.

 

Rocker has a small hole saw intended for screw removal. In their catalog.

 

I would like to post an update on this thread. Today was the first time I had to mess with one of these beams. I used a "sacrificial" blade on my table saw to cut the first beam down. I tried a bandsaw blade but it was very quickly ruined. In this beam the nails were such that I was able to drive them out with a punch once I got the beam cut down into rough size for making the picture frames.
First thing I did was take the prints I need matted over to Michael's and was put into a state of shock!!! 5 prints that are like 17"X22" will cost me almost $1100.00 to have them double matted, the glass cut and the backing applied. Every time I go to have something done I end up saying "I am in the wrong business"....
Will post some follow up photos of the beams before and after the re-saw. I have never worked with cypress before and I was surprised to see how much it is like pine wood. To the point that I started to wonder if I just had some southern yellow pine…but, a quick "google images" and I saw wood that for certain looked exactly like what I have here. One thing confusing, on wiki they said in one area of the article that cypress is an "odorless" wood. A few paragraphs later they were talking about these guys that found an underwater forest of 50,000 year old cypress trees that "smelled just like a freshly cut down tree" when they brought some of them up and milled them.
My question is, does cypress have an almost pine like odor when you cut it or no? I belt sanded a side of one of these beams when I first got them and there really was no smell, but now that I have cut into the center of the beam there very definitely is a smell to the wood.

 

You are being taken there at $1100. Google American Frame and see what they price it out as. I am also a photographer as a hobby and can tell you you can get double matting with glass or acrylic and backing at American Frame for FAR less than that.

 

You are being taken there at $1100. Google American Frame and see what they price it out as. I am also a photographer as a hobby and can tell you you can get double matting with glass or acrylic and backing at American Frame for FAR less than that.

- LiveEdge

Yeah, I reached that conclusion right off the bat…I deleted the glass and it came down to less than $500. That still seems high though for some colored cardboard cut to fit. The wife used to have a mat cutting jig years ago and I used it. Not exactly easy, but not in the "difficult" category either.If I did more picture frames I would get a mat cutter, if I remember right it was only like $400 new.

 

Finally got time to take a few photos of one of the beams as i received it and the re-sawed cypress…...will post more when I get the molding cut out and also the finished print all framed and ready to hang if anyone is interested. Sorry for the delay and you cant really see the thicknesses in the photos, but the uncut beam is like 8" wide, "4" thick and 6 foot long. The re-sawed boards are 5/4 thick, 2 3/4" wide {some are 3" wide} and 6 ft long.

 

Read an article, years ago, about the pull force it took to remove nails from wood. The gave times the nails sat in the wood and the pull force required. I believe they used just oak, but that gave a good inkling of what we were up against.

The gist of it was:

- Nails pounding in oak and pulled out immediately only took about 70# pull force to remove them.

- After a couple weeks, the pull force required to remove the nails went up to around 300# pull force to remove them.

- After a year, nails started breaking, because it took around 700# pull force to remove them.

I just cleaned up a bunch of oak flooring yesterday and resorted to the time honored "tap them through or back out with a drift punch method.

 

The wood you cut does have some nice looking grain to it. Should work great for just about anything.