yes, counter clockwise as in the excellent Wheelie Pete video posted above. If I held onto the spoke like Pete does, I'd rip another spoke out before anything budged. I suspect I was able to get WAY TOO much torque on the thing when I had the removal tool in the vice, and I was able to grip the wheel and turn it, unfortunately the wrong way. Sometimes (but not always, I hope) bike technology just moves faster than does my puttering about with broken things....) Still, though, I sure would like to get myself out of this mess my out-of-date understanding of bike technology has created. Thanks