Abstract: Method, control, and apparatus for taking up a billet produced in an extrusion or tube-making press includes applying a controlled pull-away tractive force, which keeps the emerging billet straight and does not affect the formation of the billet, increasing the pull-away tractive force in proportion to the extruded billet length, unit length weight and coefficient of friction between the billet and the delivery table, superimposing the pull-away tractive force upon the take-up tractive force determined from the cross-section and flow behavior in the die. After a billet has been separated and withdrawn from the die, the pull-away force and the length of the emerging billet are measured and the pull-away force, divided by the billet length, is entered as a set value for the specific profile frictional force to be multiplied by the billet length, which is determined by a path measurement, when extruding a subsequent billet of the same nominal cross section.