Crain 126 Staple Remover

After removing nasty 1970s shag green carpet from the upstairs we were left with a double helping of large, rusty staples: one set from the original foam rubber pad installation and one set from the carpet itself. Once we had the carpet up it was obvious that the original hardwood had been covered out of some misguided sense of style rather than an excess of wear to the original finish so we were anxious to remove those thousands of staples without damaging the nearly perfect finish below. One option was try to use a putty knife and pliers to careful pry them up and then yank them out. After a couple exploratory attempts, this method proved to be both far too slow--taking upwards of thirty seconds to remove one staple--and far too likely to damage the finish with the sharp corner of the putty knife. After a fruitless attempt to locate one of these construction staple removers locally, it turned out that Amazon had them readily available and dirt cheap at under seven dollars.If you have construction staples to pull--and more than a few--you can not spend seven dollars more profitably. The tool's jaws are very heavy chromed steel with a hardened bill that extends from the handle. Slide the bill under the staple and rock the handle toward the floor and the jaws clamp the staple and effortlessly remove the staple. Unlike pliers-type tools that require grasping and then pulling, this style accomplishes all the steps in one easy, fluid motion.The benefit of the clamping mechanism is that even if you don't get the bill under the center of the staple, the uneven lengths of staple will not leave you with one leg still stuck in the floor. Also, out of the thousands of staples that my wife and I pulled we only had two break and leave chunks in the floor--a real problem with the putty-knife and pliers approach. The tool works as quickly as you can locate a staple, slide it under and rock the handle. I managed a pretty steady pace of twenty-five staples a minute with time out to drop the pulled staples off the bill of the tool--and with zero damage to the floor.I would highly recommend this tool to anyone with more than a few staples to yank. The metal mechanical bits are extremely heavy duty, the plastic handle is soft-touch textured--but tough enough to function as a lever for the lower clamping mechanism, the price is dirt cheap and while you are unlikely to use the tool every day, when you need it there is nothing that works better. Did I mention that it is even kind of fun? When a tool works this well with principles this simple, there is a certain sense of joy watching it do its job so well and so effortlessly. After letting my wife try the remover she refused to give it up and finished up the room in no time flat.If anything could be improved about this tool, it would be its availability. Ask in a big box hardware store and you are likely to getting sent to an office supply store for one of the plastic office staple pullers. Ask in a mom and pop place and you are likely to be told that no such tool exists. However, as long as they are here on Amazon you can't ask for a better buy.

This is a one of those great tools we often discover after trying everything else. Son in law and I ripped out the carpets of daughter's new house and then set to work tearing out the tack strips and many hundreds of staples that held down the carpet pad. After doing one room by "making do" with various pliers and screwdrivers, I ordered this up for the second room. It was a very different experience, much better for the floors and much better for our knees and backs.The major problems in taking up staples on a hardwood floor are scarring the wood and leaving "spikes" when the staple breaks, leaving the leg of the staple sticking up. This tool addresses both problems. I am going to call the little blade in front the "toe" of the tool, and the curved area behind the toe the "heel." Don't just shove the toe under the staple brutally -- rather, insert the toe carefully just under the middle of the staple and then gently rock the tool on it's heel. As the staple rises a hair, insert the toe farther, continuing to rock the tool, until the toe is just as far under the staple as it can go. The toe should completely fill the area under the crown, Then rock the tool back on its heel farther than usual and out comes the staple, easy as pie, usually without breaking. This is because you are raising the legs of the staple straight out without twisting, distorting, and thus breaking the staple. This all can be done very quickly and without any mark on the wood floor.If, once in a while, a leg does break off, use a very small vice grip needle nose pliers -- these are the ones most likely to be able to seize even the smallest protrusion of staple leg. If that doesn't work, use a very small nail set to drive it down a sixteenth and a half. If you are or have a competent floor refinisher, he or she will give the floor a full trowel fill before the final grits of sanding, and neither that countersink nor the staple and nail holes will be visible when the floor is finished.

Easy to use, pull staples out of wooden floors.

I repair all types of furniture; it's my job. Judging by the boxes I've gone through (with every staple I pull, I put one back in in reassembly), in 12 years I've pulled something like 200,000 upholstery staples.I was curious about this puller so I bought it. It's not the fastest way but it's good for a change up (so my hands don't cramp) when I have a lot to do.With this you still need a pair of diagonal pliers on some of the staples and you can't get a lot of the embedded staples. The fastest and most successful way I have found is to use a pair of diagonal pliers, a Husky (Home Depot) staple remover and a small dead blow hammer. This will get every one except the ones that break off. For those I go back with a 13 ounce claw hammer to drive that little nub flush. One note for you newbies (and I speak from multiple experiences here): when using just your hand to work the puller (any puller), DO NOT have your other hand on the back side of the staple. If the puller slips past the staple you will find just how deeply it penetrates your other hand and, as an added bonus, how many swear words you know.Update! After using this tool for several years, it became my favorite staple puller because I finally figured out how to use it. First, place the tip against the crossbar of the staple. While pushing and holding at an angle of 15 to 45 degrees (depending on how deep the staple is), twist your wrist back and forth. This action will cause the tip to dig under and loosen the staple enough to use the lever action to lift one or both of the staple legs out (or sometimes break the staple off). After a while, I found this tool to be about 20% faster than a claw-type puller with much less damage to the fabric or leather. Many thanks for inventing this tool!

Wooked ok

When I was planning to purchase this staple remover I saw many others at a lower price. I read the reviews many seemed o.k. When I got to this staple remover the number of good reviews was overwhelming. Decide to pay the extra money. If you decide this also you won't be disappointed. I removed over 400 staples the crain staple remover looks brand new. No blisters and no injuries. The each stool that I was recovering had about 100 staples. The mdf board on the stool was not damaged by the tool. Glad I chose this item.

Upholstering dining chairs takes half the time now with this staple remover. It saves your hands, your back, the fabric you are using, it is just amazing. I wish someone had invented this years ago. My husband will even reupholster with me now because it makes the job so much easier. Virtually just insert, twist and remove old staples.

I recently ripped all the carpet from my house and this handy little tool made the process a lot quicker.I started pulling the staples with pliers which was okay but much harder on the hand. This puller was so much faster and no stress on the hand at all.Would definitely recommend.

Not sure if there is any easy way to remove staples when upholstering but I think it would have been a better tool if it's nose was sharper. I had difficulty getting it under the staple and needed to use pliers anyway. Should gave saved my money and stuck with a screwdriver.

This staple remover worked great and I don't know what we would have done without it! We recovered and restuffed 8 dining room chairs. There must have been thousands of staples! We removed all of them with little effort using this remover!!! Loved it!