Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to main navigation

How to Remove a Rivet

How to Remove a Rivet

remove a rivet

Rivets are very useful tools that are used  to quickly and efficiently connect two materials together. The problem is that they aren’t really designed to be removed.

We already did a post on how to remove a spinning rivet so if your rivets start spinning during this process please hop over to that post.(make this a link to the blog post once that post is live)

What You Will Need

drilling out a rivet

  • A Punch
  • Drill
  • Drill Bit



Remove a Rivet

Now that you have to tools that you need, get your safety gear on (gloves and glasses) and grab your punch.

Locate the center of the rivet with your punch and create an indent into the rivet on the flange(integral washer) side. This hole will provide a seat for the tip of your drill to sit in.

drilling a rivet

Now that you’ve made your hole and have your drill seated start slowly drilling into the rivet. You can use a drill bit that is the same size as you used on the install or smaller if you plan on reusing the hole. Make sure you apply steady pressure to the drill so that it stays in the seat you made for the bit.

You should be able to cut through the rivet very quickly. Once through back the drill out and whats left of the rivet should either fall or slide out with ease. Assuming you drilled with the right size your hole should still be the same size as it was before you installed the first one.

drilled through a rivet           the hole after a rivet is removed

How to Build a Threaded Rod Pallet Shelf

Building A Pallet Shelf Using Threaded RodCompleted Threaded Rod Pallet Shelf - Empty

Pallet shelving is incredibly popular for its rustic look and simple functionality. We’ve decided our office could use a display shelf and we had excess pallets lying around. Then we asked ourselves whats the point in building something if we can’t show it off and teach you how to make them for yourselves. (come back to this, needs a rewrite Mention Threaded Rod Pallet Shelf)

The Tools

The Supplies

Easily Remove Pallet BoardsStep One: Finding the Wood

After we put on our safety glasses and gloves, our first step when building this shelf was to locate pallets with wood of a similar size. We decided on 3 inch wide boards for the shelving. Once we identified the 18 pieces we wanted for our 2 foot lengths (shelves) we began removing them. Ten minutes and a broken hammer handle later, we decided we needed a better way to remove the boards. Using two pieces we were able to remove in this time, we used them to create better leverage and a pry bar. Moving back and forth across the board the nails easily came out and removing our boards became simple.

*Make sure to bring extra pallets if you are collecting them. Some boards are brittle and will snap or crack during this process.

After removing those 18 boards we then found 9 more boards that were slightly thicker (4 inches wide) for the supports. Using the same prying method we were able to remove them with ease. Since these boards were over two feet in length, we only needed 9 which we could then cut into 18 10-1/4″ support beams.

Step Two: Removing the Nails

This step was the most time-consuming by far. We thought about just hammering the nails flat against Remove Nails from pallets easilythe base but decided it wasn’t particularly safe and so we began bending them straight and removing them all with a hammer. The time this takes will vary. We had some boards only attached by 3 screws where others had 9 or more.

Pro Tips:

  1. Using the gaps inside a pallet to hammer the nails down through makes removing nails easy.
  2. If the length you want to use is shorter than the board, leave the screws in the end you will be cutting off and not using.

Step Three: Measure, Mark and CutMeasure and Mark wood for cutting

Once the wood is ready, take a moment and look at each piece. Check for splits in the wood and other chipping or excessive warping. This wood can still be used if the other side is clean. At this point sort your wood by width. You should have two stacks: one with 18 3″ wide pieces and one with 9 4″ wide pieces.

Take the first 3″ wide piece and measure two feet long. Mark this length and cut it with a chop saw. Measure again to ensure the length is correct at two feet. Then use this piece of wood to make the remaining 17 pieces. Repeat this process for the 4″ wide boards but with 10-1/4″ lengths.

*To save time when collecting the wood, we only gathered 9 pieces. Use the stencil to mark multiple cuts on the 4″ wood to make multiple lengths out of one board

Step Four: Assemble the ShelvesA Pallet Shelf Halfway built

Now that all of our wood is cut to length its time to begin assembling our shelves. Lay out three pieces of the 4″ wood and then three of the 3″ boards on top of it. It’s important to make sure you even out the spacing of the 4″ boards or it will look uneven when all of the shelves are stacked. Make sure your screws are screwed in off center. This way when you go to drill the holes for the threaded rod they will not be in your way. Starting with the outside boards, drill a single wood screw into each cross-section to hold the pieces together. Do the middle piece last as it will be easy to center once the edges are in place. Make 6 shelves by repeating this process

Pro Tips:

  1. If your boards are uneven, make sure you choose a side to be front and make that side as even as possible. No one will see the back and if it’s a little un-even that’s OK.
  2. We used blue tape before drilling into the wood to help prevent splitting and cracking around the screws.
  3. Do not over-tighten the screws, the ends will be held together with nuts. The over-tightening can cause splits in the wood.

Step Five: Drilling the holesDrilling Holes in Pallet Shelves

The next step was to measure the corner of the first shelf board, find the center and drill a hole with a 1/2″ spade bit. Do this for all four corners. We recommend drilling down into another piece of wood to avoid damaging the drill tip if you drill too far.

Once all four holes are drilled, make sure you have all 6 shelves with the front identified. Line up 1 or two of those shelves by the front making sure everything is flush, then take the first shelve (the one you already drilled through) and use it as a guide to drill even holes all the way down through your shelves. Once through, switch our the shelves with 1 to two more and continue until all six shelves have holes.

*Once completed line up all six and hold them up in the air. You should be able to see all the way through the hole.

Step Six: Putting it all together

Take four flange bolts and screw them onto the end of the threaded rod. Have two flipped upside down. These flanges will act as the feet and the first shelf will sit on the other two. Then begin Flange Nuts as feet for pallet shelfscrewing on four more in the same fashion from the top. One to push down against the first shelf and one to support the next shelf. Make sure you measure the gaps to know where to stop. Repeat this process until all of the shelves are sitting on four flange nuts and have four pressed down against the shelves as well.

Pro Tips:

  1. Our fastener Expert told us using coupling nuts and washers may be easier to install than using flange nuts.
  2. Don’t worry if the fixture seems unsteady. Once we tighten down the flange bolts it will be very strong
  3. The measuring at this stage is a loose indicator, we will fix that in the next step

Step Seven: Make the Shelves Equidistantmeasuring shelf height

Take a tape measure and from the bottom shelf, measure up to the next shelf. Decide on what distance you want for the shelves(we chose 13 inches). Measure each corner and adjust the bottom flange bolts as necessary until all shelves are even. Then take a level, place it on the bottom shelf and adjust the feet to even out the bottom shelf. From here you can work your way up the shelves and adjust the lower flange bolts accordingly to make each shelf level.

Step Eight: Tighten Up

At this point your threaded rod pallet shelf should still be a little wobbly. Take the 3/4″ wrench and tighten the top flange bolts down onto the shelves. Make these bolts very tight and then also tighten the bottom. Your shelf should stiffen up significantly at this point. From here on out there is only one more step.

Final Step: Decorate Your New Threaded Rod Pallet Shelf and LOVE IT!

Now that you have your completed and amazing looking shelf, its time to use it! We recommend keeping heavy weight on the bottom and lighter weight on top. Check out our decorations and tell us all about how your project turned out below!

Completed and Decorated Threaded Rod Pallet Shelf

How To Use A Castle Nut

Installing A Castle Nut

Castle nuts are nuts that look like crowns or parapets of mid evil castles. These nuts are used together with a bolt and a cotter pin to create a secure nut in place so that it cannot be tightened or loosened.

Before We Begin:

In order to install a castle nut you will need:

  • Castle Nut
  • Cotter Pin
  • A Bolt with a hole

You can find bolts that come with pre-drilled holes for castle nuts, but you must know the length of the bolt you will need. If you do not have a bolt with a pre-drilled hole, you may drill your own, we can talk about that in another post. In this post, we will drill out own hole to show you how to make one yourself for better sizing.



Step One:

Now that you are ready to begin, slide the bolt through the installation material and screw the castle nut onto the other side. You can use a sharpie or pencil to mark the area where you need the hole to be (inside the peaks of the nut). Then remove the nut and bolt and place the bolt into a vice.

Step Two:

Screw the nut back onto the bolt and align it with the mark you drew earlier. This will serve as the drilling point. Use a punch to create an indent into the bolt so your drill bit has a starting point. Make sure you drill perpendicular to the hole so that it comes out in between the peaks on the other side as well.

Step Three:

After you have drilled your hole, remove from the vice and place back into your installation material. For the purpose of this blog, we have left ours in the vice as we did not have an installation material readily available. Once it is back in the material place your cotter pin through the hole. Take a pair of pliers and bend the cotter pin out away from the center on each side. This will create a locking effect and the pin will not be able to fall out.

Removing Stripped Screws in 3 Easy Steps – Quick Tip

How To Remove Stripped Screws With a Rubber Band

Removing stripped screws can be incredibly annoying. There’s no way around it, literally. In the case of stripped screws, they can severely hinder your ability to get a project done. So we have once again consulted our fastener expert for a solution to this problem.

His first recommendation was a drill extractor bit, but those of you that follow our blog knew that already. We posted a blog about how to use a screw extractor a while ago.

But what about the everyday DIYer who doesn’t come across this situation constantly. You might not want to go buy a bolt extractor set when you only need to get rid of one pesky screw.

Enter the most useful tool ever created, next to duct tape of course! The rubber-band. A tool used for anything from a bracelet to a keep your favorite bag of chips from getting stale. A tool that is going to help you remove that screw as if it was never stripped to begin with.

Lets begin

So now that you have the secret tool you need to get that stripped screw removed, lets walk you through the process in three easy steps.

  1. Place the rubber-band over the screw head.
    removing stripped screws
  2. Place the drill bit against the screw head through the rubber-band and apply pressure.
    using a rubber-band
  3. Spin Slowly
    apply steady pressure when removing

And that’s pretty much it.



When you press the rubber-band against the stripped head, it fills in the spacing created by the stripping. We have done some basic testing and determined that this trick works best on semi-stripped screws but you can still get it to work on some of the more dramatically stripped screws as well if your lucky.

Most effective on semi-stripped screws

Have a question you need answered? Leave a comment below! If the question stumps us it may turn into a post of its own!


Removing Stripped Screws With a Rubber Band

Using a Rubber Band to Remove Stripped Screws
Rubber Band Trick For Stripped Screws Transcript

Scroll Down To Continue Reading

Bob: Welcome back to Albany County Fasteners – Fasteners 101. I’m Bob and I’m going to show you today how to remove a stripped screw.

I’m just showing you here that these heads are stripped out. I’m going to show you how to remove them with a rubber band. So let’s get started.

I’m gonna put it here in my vise. Okay, so I have a rubber band. We’ll put the rubber band onto the head of the Phillips and we’re going to go slow and steady outward, okay.

You have to put nice pressure on this and we’ll back it out.

So basically what the rubber band does is fill the void between the Phillips head (and the driver).

There you go.

What Are Jam Nuts? and How To Use Them

Jam Nuts and How to Use ThemJam Nuts

Jam nuts are nuts that are about half of the size of a regular nut. In practice, these nuts are both screwed onto the bolt and then they are tightened against each other.

There are a couple of different reasons you might want to use jam nuts. The first is if you are fastening to a very soft material and cannot risk hurting the material by fastening against it. The second is when you need to attach something to the bolt but let it move around on the bolt.

How to Use Them

installing jam nuts

The process of installing jam nuts is very simple. We’ve chosen to use our trusty vice to hold our bolt in place for this example. So once your bolt is in place simply screw the first nut onto the bolt. Make sure the bolt is far enough down to allow room for the second one. After you get the first nut on far enough you can begin spinning the second one. These nuts should both slide onto the bolt very easily.

Before tightening you need to set the bottom nut, the one that is closer to the bolt head, to the desired height. Next take an adjustable (or the correct size) wrench and slide it onto the bottom nut. You will the proceed to used either a wrench or socket as we do here, to tighten the top nut against the bottom one. These nuts tightening against each other will lock the nuts in place on the bolt. We also recommend using threadlocker to keep these nuts in place during an installation.

The main differences between a jam nut and a regular hex nut is that they are tightened against each other instead of against a material, and that they are about half of the size of a regular nut.

tightening the top nut                          installed jam nuts