Air Nailers
Hi all -- could someone please give me a quick & dirty on some air nailers. I'm not understanding the differences in 15-18 gauge brad nailers,angled vs. straight advantages/disadvantages, & finish nailers. I would like a piece of equipment that can handle household jobs. Such things as baseboards, shoe, crown moldings. Maybe some finishing woodwork or wainscotting, ect.... Also, some advice would be appreciated on whether or not the battery operated (18V) nailers are worth the money? or am I better off with a compressor kit? Thanks for you help John
Some of the many nailers on the market include brad nailers, finish nailers, crown staplers, roofing nailers, framing nailers and palm nailers. I know I'm forgetting some. Brad nailers and finish nailers both drive fine nails. The brad nailer drives nails with very small heads, while the finish nailer drives nails with more substantial heads. If you're doing moulding, you don't want a brad nailer; brads aren't big enough to hold up moulding. OTOH, for fine woodworking where you just want to tack the back of something on while the glue dries, the brad nailer is great. A crown stapler drives...crown staples! Actually "narrow crown staples"--ones with the two tines maybe a quarter inch apart. They tell me a crown stapler is sublime for attaching backs to cabinets. Roofing nailers are good for two things: roofing and hanging fiber cement siding. Framing nailers are used for driving framing nails, which are used anywhere you'd grab a common or a coated sinker nail. Palm nailers are used with hammer-drive nails. You stick the nail in this little tube, stick the little tube against a surface, and pull the trigger to pound the nail in. Some people swear by them but I think they're a bit silly. The "gauge" refers to the diameter of the wire. The larger the number, the smaller the wire. Angled or straight refers to the nail magazine--if it comes out of the nailer at a 90-degree angle it's a straight nailer; if it comes out at a 45 it's an angled nailer. Most of the people who buy angled nailers from me hang moulding, specifically base shoe. In the classical base/base shoe moulding setup over hardwood flooring, the base nails to the wall and the shoe nails go into the gap between the flooring and the wall. An angled nailer makes this shot easy. It also does a great job hanging crown. I would look at the two-nailer Porter-Cable setup, and if you get the finish/brad nailer combo before the end of the year and send in a coupon, P-C will send you a crown stapler. I would get the compressor kit for several reasons. First, there's no real savings here; the DeWalt battery nailer costs about what the P-C air nailer does. Second, if you decide you want something like a brad nailer or a crown stapler in addition to the finish nailer, you're back to air--DeWalt only makes this one nailer now. Third, have you priced 18-volt DeWalt batteries lately? Also, it's hard to inflate a car tire with a battery-powered nailer. The P-C kit doesn't come with the fitting to inflate a tire, but they're cheap. I can see two reasons to go this way--if you hate air hoses and if you work in places that don't have electricity on a regular basis. The first one is a matter of personal preference; the second is a bit strange because by the time you need a finish nailer you damn well better have electricity! There is one serious competitor to the DW battery nailer--the Paslode Impulse gas-operated nailer which, if I needed a cordless nailer, is what I'd get. (We used one to fasten tarps to a 75-foot-long stack of plywood while preparing for a hurricane that was supposed to be the hurricane to end all hurricanes. "Nail gun" correctly describes this tool; it smells like a pistol when you fire it.) Neither is tethered to a compressor; only Paslode is currently selling a framing nailer. However, DeWalt's nailer fires faster; whether that's important to you is, once again, a personal thing. -- --jmowreader
And basketballs...and soccer balls...and pool floats... and can be used to dry various items....and clean your wood cutting tools from sawdust (when your dust collection shop-vac is wimpy)...and a ton of other around-the-house uses. I received the P-C 135 PSI kit with brad nailer for Xmas 2 years ago and we added the P-C roofing nailer when we started our HardiBoard siding project this spring. If you're not into high-end contractor-grade items, the P-C compressor is great! I don't have the knowledge or experience as many of the other list members do, and I can only talk from my experience with the P-C...but as I said, I love it! Tom D