I needed to remove some poorly installed cedar fence boards that were secured with ring-shank nails, but I didn’t want to damage them with a pry bar. I cut a hole in a small scrap of wood with a 3/4-in. hole saw to make a template, then removed the guide bit from the hole saw. I clamped the template with the hole centered over each nail, then used the hole saw to cut a plug around the nail. After sliding the fence boards off all of the plugs, I used a reciprocating saw with a metal-cutting blade to cut the plugs free of the rails. I reinstalled the boards with new fasteners and glued the plugs in place.
Stephen Beese, Winston-Salem, NC
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #256
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Great idea but you maybe forgot to mention you need to make new plugs because the hole saw kerf makes the old ones too small and sloppy to reinstall.