Nail gun..

[BellyUpFish]

Hey guys-

Looking at picking up a general purpose nail gun for the shop.

I'm looking at something that can be used to help assemble woodworking projects.

I don't really want to break the bank on the gun, but would like a solid quality unit.

Anyone want to give a vote for their favorite gun?

 

[kd3pc]

any of the air operated ones will do nicely. I have a mix of bostitch, paslode and even a couple of craftsman from a few years back. I have a mix, because one will not do it all. brad or pin nailers are good for small projects, but I find gluing and screwing with biscuits or dowels to hold up much better. SImilarly, the Kreg jigs and appropriate screws are nice to use as well.

I have found that many hardwoods do not work well with pin/brad nailers, any hard spot will deflect the nail, and that usually results in a piece of steel in the wrong place or cracking of the wood. Laminates/plastics and hard pieces of wood can all deflect the nail.

Be careful to keep your hands far enough away that a misfire will not get you.

For "framing" I use a paslode, gas fired with a battery pack, that will handle ring/smooth shank nails from size 6 up to about size 12 (I think). I put at least a thousand nails in a garage Monday, and about that many yesterday shingling with a rotary load porter cable roofing nailer that was air powered and uses rotary nail loads.

Then there are the "staple" guns. A small good pin/brad nailer would likely be in the $100 range for air, and about twice that for gas. The paslode framing nailer is about $400 and $12 a cartridge for gas, plus nails.

Best of luck

 

[gsmornot]

You should first figure out what size and style you're looking for. You can go from a 23 gauge pin to a 3.5 inch nail. I have 4 different styles but could use a few others to have the right tool for the job. To give you a place to start I use guns from Porter Cable and Hitachi but see no issue with the other choices on the market. Like other tools, how often you use them will help determine how nice they really need to be. If you're using them here and there most anything will work including the ones sold at HF.

 

[LeeG]

I use a 16 ga nail gun and a 18 gauge stapler more than anything else. Mine are all Porter Cable, and they seem to be pretty common on CL for cheap. My 23 ga pin nailer gets used for delicate work, and I only use my heavy staplers (medium and wide crown) and framing nailer for construction type work.

If I only had one, I'd go with either a 16 or 18 ga brad nailer, depending on whether you tend to larger or smaller projects. The 18 is great for assembling jigs and holding stuff in place while glue dries.

 

[jkwilson]

For cabinets and the like, you are better off with a narrow crown stapler. For finish work, a brad or pin nailer is the ticket.

 

[JoeFin]

I have 3 Bostitch nailers running from framing nailers to roofing staples. I also have a couple brad nailers which are useful for woodworking projects as mentioned above.

I went with quality on the larger stuff because I have 3 sons who also work on their own homes too and borrow them when they need them

 

[67carl]

I would concur that an 18 or 16 gauge brad nailer plus a narrow crown stapler are good ones to start with.

As far as brand; I don't think you can go wring with any of the known names or even HF (read the reviews). I have no brand loyalty and buy a) what works and b) what's on sale when I need it. Got Bostich, Hitachi, Dewalt and others. Never had a problem with any of them.

 

[jakemac]

Most of my pin nailers and narrow crown staplers are the Reliant brand sold at Woodworker's Warehouse years ago. They're still doing fine.

If this is for occasional or hobby use, I would think the the inexpensive ones sold at HF would be fine, but check to see what gauges they use and make sure that they're available at others stores so you don't get stuck only buying supplies at one location. Your local hardware store may carry a different size, or none at all. The brand of the staples/nails means less than the gauge/size.

 

[thebeekeeper1]

Bostitch guns can be worked on locally, at least for me. I have three of them--universal, nails are easy to find, and as I said, they can be worked on.

 

[BikerDad]

Porter-Cable brad nailers & staplers. For finish nailers, I don't have a recommend since I don't have one (yet). Ditto on framing nailers. While I would have a use for one in my dream world, in my current circumstance I have no use at all for a framing or roofing nailer.

Fine Woodworking/Homebuilding and Journal of Light Construction both have a lot of info on nailers. FWW has a forum (Knots), and I think both JLC and FH have forums where these questions have been punted about many times.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Currently,al I have for small work is a Bostitch brad nailer, 18 ga up to 2". I'd like to get a finish nailer too. It'll either be another Bostitch or a Porter-Cable, as I have a PC roof nailer and framing nailer.