Teeth and pliers tend to leave unsightly marks on the bricks.
Fingernails don't work too well.
What tool do you recommend to separate them?
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asked Oct 25 '11 at 19:49
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until I read below, I thought teeth were the next tool after nails. – jfyelle Oct 27 '11 at 20:42
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1I have found that to get a tile off of a baseplate you can use the minifig crowbar. – J. Walker Jan 30 '13 at 18:08
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You could try the great brick separator. Designed for this specific purpose, it's probably your best bet.
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@BoltClock, no. I've managed it with just the one (although there's no harm in having two around. – tombull89 Oct 25 '11 at 20:08
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3hmmm, using a tool designed for the job...? -1 hack points +1 for correct answer ;) – Steen Oct 25 '11 at 20:08
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1I'd never understood how these worked until I saw the second image - cheers. – Umber Ferrule Oct 25 '11 at 21:24
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Or you could use, guess what, a new brick separator:
I just noticed this one appearing on BrickLink and have no idea in what set it will come out, or if it will be sold separately, or if it will work with jumpers.
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1Apparently, it will do jumbers thebrickblogger.com/2011/09/lego-brick-separator-new-version. – Kramii Reinstate Monica Nov 2 '11 at 18:56
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These are now available separately and also seem to be included in some of the larger sets - I've gone from owning 1 of these, to about 6 in the last year... – Zhaph - Ben Duguid♦ Jun 26 '13 at 13:07
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Using two new separators like this twitter.com/tienonsoftware/status/521925669731581952 – Tien Do Oct 15 '14 at 7:30
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I normally use two big bricks: one on the top and one at the bottom. Then you push down while rotating.
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That's the easiest when all your brick separators are nowhere to be found (hint: wear the thing on your neck) – Joubarc Oct 26 '11 at 14:20
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With the new brick separator being in nearly every non-technic set over $50 (plus most Ideas/Cuusoo sets), it's hard to not have one within reach. :) – gev Oct 28 '14 at 18:07
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4Welcome to bricks.stackexchange.com! Please note that when answering with a link, it's usually expected that you add at least a summary of the link, so that people don't need to click it to understand your answer. Here, you'd need to embed the image itself, provided you're ready to license it under cc-wiki. – Joubarc Nov 2 '11 at 5:05
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There's the great LEGO Brick Separator that can be bought in the LEGO Online Shop:
i love this thing, it's just great if you want to take care of your nails and teeth.
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2would be nice to know why i'm getting a downvote for this. without a reason, a downvote seems pretty senseless. – oezi Oct 27 '11 at 19:33
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I use a fingernail most times, or a guitar pick if the bricks are stuck too firmly.
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Fingernails are great - I use it a lot, but fingernails tear easily, so I love your suggestion for using a guitar pick. +1 – awe Nov 2 '11 at 13:31
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I'd always get people asking why my fingernails were so long. As a male they probably did look a bit excessive at times - but it made taking things apart a lot easier :) – X-27 Dec 13 '18 at 23:23
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I (and my sons) use a plastic knife designed for children. We found ours in IKEA (larger bricks for houses)
I have also used this lego tool with moderate success
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A flat-style staple remover (as opposed to the jaws style) does well to maintain the surface of a stuck brickage. It also can be jimmied back and forth without much slippage.
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You can always try the Official LEGO Brick Separator. It would probably take a couple to work best on 1x2s though - one on the top, one on the bottom.
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Disclaimer: I haven't tried this personally.
You could use two removal-tools (one to grab the top piece, one to grab the bottom piece)
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I've separated several plates (and bricks too) with a simple spring-based hair clip.
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