If you use a kinetic puller - I have found that, contrary to what would seem to make sense, hitting wood on the end grain, rather than concrete or something really hard, seems to work better, at least for me. I hit the end of a piece of firewood, or any decent sized block of slightly forgiving wood with the hammer, works fine. I think there is a bit of compression and rebound at work that enhances the extraction, and it isn't too noisy or violent either. Easy on the puller too (RCBS). With concrete, the hammer stops dead, with wood, it snaps back up.