Working a lot with poles and nails (6)
I believe the answer is:
talons
'nails' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'working a lot with poles' is the wordplay.
'working' indicates anagramming the letters.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'poles' becomes 'NS' (North and South poles).
'a'+'lot'='alot'
'alot' is an anagram of 'talo'.
'talo'+'ns'='TALONS'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for talons that I've seen before include "Sharp hooked claws" , "Hooked claws of birds of prey" , "Claws of a bird" , "Sharply hooked claws" .)