What some tips for getting old nails out of old wood. Not particuler kinds of nails or wood just getting any?

On "finish" nails (used a lot on trim work), when there are layers of varnish, sometimes it's 'cleaner' to drive (or pull) the nail thru the wood rather than try to pull it out from the side where they were driven in from.

On small "box" nails if you can 'reverse' drive them out enough, sometimes they can be grabbed with ViseGrips, or Channel Locks, and using a lath strip as a fulcrum pad, pry those up.

And them sometimes nails are so deep, or bent and twisted, nothing works cleanly.

Successful nail removal methods depends a lot on what kind of wood you're working with.

The softwoods (pine*, spruce & fir) are easy and just about any method you choose works.

Hardwood 'holds' nails more firmly and sometimes the extraction method will mar the wood more than just leaving the thing at rest (unless it will be machined later).

*Excluding Southern Yellow Pine: it is hard as maple and a bear to work with)

Straighten any bent nails and tap the points to get the head out of the wood - 1/2 inch at least.

Then, use a claw hammer to pull them the rest of the way out.

A thin piece of plywood can be used between the old wood and the claw to prevent damage. You may need varying thickness of plywood an/ or some chunks of 1 by 4 or 2 by 4..