Denailing

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Denailing is a form of torture that consists of the removal of the toe nails or finger nails.

As nails are attached to the skin of the fingers and toes, this can cause significant, and often excruciating pain. Usually denailing is administered with pliers, which remove the nails completely. Other variations use needles, or metal implements, which are inserted under the nails causing extreme pain, but no lasting damage.

Medieval German witch hunters conducted this torture with rough wooden skewers dipped in boiling sulfur. A number of such skewers were slowly driven into the flesh under the prisoner's toenails. When enough skewers had been driven home to pry each nail loose from its bed, the nail was torn out at the root with a pair of pliers.