I have never owned a pnuematic nailer, tho I have used several. I am in the process of building a woodshop and would like advice on both framing nailers and finish nailers. thanks for your help and advice.
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Replies
Go to your nail supplier and see what the nails he sells go into. Your can't go wrong with Paslode and Porter Cable. It is a bad day when you need nails and no one locally sells what you need!!!
egg- senco across the board would be my decision. although availabilty would be the deciding factor. i could go into why but overall dependabilty, sturdiness, power is a choice you'll never regret . remember you get what you pay for.
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Buying the nailer that has an easy local source for nails is good advise. I have a Portercable framing nailer and it works fine. I have also used various sencos. A lot of the contractors I know use the Paslodes so they don't have to deal with compressors. If you are just using the framing nailer for building a shop see if you can pick up one used on e-bay and then sell it the same way when you are done. I keep meaning to do the same with mine although I think I may need it this spring. Good luck
Troy
I follow all this rather closely.
To some extent, what you buy will depend on what is readily available in your particular area.
Paslode, Spotnail, and Duofast produce decent nailers, but none of these brands is sold much in my area (except the Paslode Impulse cordless guns).
Senco used to be the class of the pneumatics, but I don't think the new guns are what they used to be.
Hitachi seems to have taken over the top spot among the pros. But it is not as visible, since the brand is generally not sold by the big box stores. However, their framing guns seem to be the brand of choice among framers (check Breaktime), and I can personally vouch for their various finish guns.
Porter Cable is kind of up and down along the line; their 18 ga finish nailers are both cheap and decent (I own 2), but for some reason, their framing guns are not especially popular.
Bostich is good too -- I have their framing gun and 15 ga finish nailer. But, Bostich forces you to use their proprietary nails, whereas nails are interchangeable with all the other guns. That's one reason I will move to Hitachi when these guns die.
I don't think there are any real clunkers in the field of pneumatic nailers -- as long as you stay with the main line brands. I think you would be safe to shop by price, features, and convenient availablity.
Good luck.
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"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
Hitachi nailers are the best. I have had mine several years.
Several years ago me and a friend thought we would save some money and we each bought a Porter Cable framing nailer. Within two weeks both nailers started leaking and failed to perform. The Hitachi framing nailer is the easiest to toe nail with.
I would second the motion on the Paslode Impulse if you have suppliers around. That's the opinion of a DIY'er, not a pro that uses the gun to shoot thousands of nails a week. I have both the Impulse and a pneumatic gun. It is so much more convenient to grab the Impulse than it is to snake out and roll up a long extension cord or long air hose when you need it. The pneumatics are generally faster and you do have to put up with batteries and buying gas cylinders for the Impulse. Also, in my experience it's safer and easier to use the Impulse nailer when you're hanging off ladders, crawling around on scaffolding or climbing across framing members. No hose to get hung up or trip over. Short of like the tradeoffs between cordless and corded drills, saws, etc.
finish nailer I love my Bostich (the 45 deg one...?)
Never misfires.
Framing nailer though, I would go Paslode as a bunch of others have said.
Are you sure you need a framing nailer for a woodshop? They're fantastic for driving a lot of 16d nails in a hurry, but I've never needed one in my woodworking shop - lol.
I have a Porter Cable 15 gauge angled finish nailer that I sometimes use on a woodworking project. Probably 90% of my nailing is done with my Bostich 18 gauge brad nailer. For really fine work, I use my Senco 23 gauge pin nailer.
My finish nailer is fairly new and works very well. I've had the brad nailer for about 5-6 years and it never misses a beat. My faith in Senco is sorely shaken right now. Mine started misfiring after a couple of years and has been in for repair since December 1st. When I called the repair shop the other day, they were still "waiting for parts". All it needs is a repair kit for the seals in the piston assembly and I can't understand why this is a problem. If Senco can't get repair parts out in a timely manner, I would suggest that you look into other brands.
Edited 1/26/2006 10:07 am by Dave45
Dave,
I use framing nailers in the shop all of the time..
I build a lot of infeed and out feed tables and since space is such a premium I put them together as needed and when needed rather than keeping them around I knoick them down when I'm finished..
I bang them together and leave the nails proud to make pulling nails easy.
Because I only need one hand to nail stuff I'm free to hold it with the other hand..
My garage floor is far from perfect so a infeed or outfeed table that was level in one location would be far from level in another.. Using the nail gun I can have it together dead level in minutes..
Besides he's gonna use it to build the shop!
Well, I must admit that some of my shop tables, etc have some 16d nails in them but that ain't exactly "fine" woodworking - lol. Even the stuff I throw together temporarily uses screws instead of nails.
I may have misread the original post. If he's building a shop, then buying, borrowing, or renting a framing nailer is a good plan. I haven't seen much need for one in my cabinets or furniture, however. (That's my story and I'm stickin' to it - lol)
well, as far as air- framing guns go, you can't go wrong with a Bostich stick nailer. I have 2 but, i've never used one in the shop....
for cabinet assembly and shop use, you should have an 2" 18ga brad gun for general work, a 23 ga. pinner for mouldings and trims, and a bigger gun for assembly- you could get a 15 or 16 finish gun, or look into a narrow crown stapler. Mine shoots 1-1/2" staples, that never come out. THey hold plywood, particleboard, and solids really well.
Depends on the work you intend to do....
The older I get, the better I was....
whatever you get, don't get one with a double trigger- one which requires two fingers to activate. I had one, and once shot a nail through my finger. Not much fun.
Just get the ones with pressure-activated tips, for safety.
eggtooth
I visit thousands of building contrators ever year (I sell construction equipment) I have done so for 15 years now..
Before I bought mine I spent a great deal of time finding out what was best and why.
Paslode sells a lot of framing nailers for two reasons.. first they are extremely aggressive with marketing nails.. (that's where the profit is) so they want people to use theirs thus they give away free nail guns to contrators who buy a pallet of nails and offer free repair and replacement of worn out nail guns..
On top of that they have a great repair service and modest costs with a nail gun that is cheap and easy to repair.
But you pay for it in the cost of the nails..
The one brand most pros hated was Porter Cable..
Once they tried any other brand they never went back. It really shouldn't be called a nail gun, rather simply a nail starter system..
Hitachi is the best quality nail gun out there. Simple to repair not prone to troubles and able to take neglect and abuse better than most. (I own three)
Nah I don't work for them, I sell Ingersol Rand Telehandlers Those big construction forklifts.
I bought Bostich for my big framing nail gun. The reason is simple. Most framing nail guns have 800 to 880 foot pounds of impact.. The Bostich has 1000.
I'm building a timber frame and some times I need to nail stuff together If you try to put a 3 1/2 inch 16p nail into a 12 inch ash timber 800 pounds isn't enough! It's also not enough to sink 16p into gluelams or TGI's
They also gave me a free palm nailer that has been invaluable. and I bought the little 18 gauge trim nailer from them as well. My next gun will either be the Bostich roofing nailer or the Hitachi roofing nailer. It's hard to justify the extra $20.00 for the Hitachi but in the end most of the pros use them and that will probaly force me to buy it.
I know one I'll never get My nephew had a Porter Cble roofing nailer and no matter how much I worked with it about every sixth nail required me to pull out my hammer and finish the job it started.. While I see Bostich's needing an occasional hit home I've never seen the Hitachi require one.
Nail guns are addictive. I now own 7
In spite of my negative reports on Porter Cable They sell nails cheap enough so I buy them for my Bostich and Hitachi trim nailers.
I do have a bit of trouble getting nails but only because I use stainless steel nails for a lot.. (black walnut and white oak have tannins that stain and eventually rust and rot out if you use regular nails).. otherwise I use Porter Cable.
Oil your nail guns every time you use them, drain the tanks from the water that condenses in them and keep the guns clean and most brnds of nails will work in any gun they fit.. I found the Bostich actaully jammed more when itwas new with Bostich nails and the genaric nails didn't jam hardly at all.. Once I'd run 5000 or so nails thru the Bostich it totally stopped jamming or misfiring..
When I had to decide to build or buy a garden tool shed out behind my shop, I decided it must be large enough (12 x 16 x 10h) to also house a large inventory of air-dried hardwoods. After the costing was done, it was obvious I could buy a pancake compressor, a framing nailer, a finish nailer, plus all the materials, and save over $1000. I shopped around (including closed EBAY auctions), recording all the costs, and when I factored in the availability of nails for future use, I went with Bostitch. Couldn't be happier. Picked up the comp, kitted with a finish nailer and brad-nailer @ Home Depot, a 3/8-50' Goodyear Yellow hose and huge supply of Bostitch nails from Amazon (on sale .... freight paid). Got the N88WWB framing nailer from an EBAY/Amazon dealer. Job was completed in less than 30 days (spare time), and I have some nice equipment that will serve me for a long time to come.
I've built dozens of shops and tool sheds over the last 45 years ..... mostly alone, and only with hammers and rigging axes, but this was my first with pneumatic equipment. What an eye-opener this was. It was actually a pleasure to frame it, floor it, and side it, however I couldn't justify a roofing nailer, so the composition roof served as a reminder to my hand and arm joints what they had been spared.
All in all, the choice should be best quality you can afford, with confirmed local availability of nails, and the familiar, old-line brand names stand the best chance of remaining available in years to come.
Good Luck,
John in Texas
Senco has really gone down hill. I wouldn't buy anything they produced in the last 5 years.
I'd suggest Hitachi, or Max.
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It's only satisfying if you eat it.
For framing, the best seller is the Hitachi NR 83A2 and for finish I'd stick with the Senco FinishPro line. Porter Cable aslo makes nice finish nailers but I prefer the Senco's.
Steve
"You can either be smart or pleasant, I was once smart but now I'm pleasant. I like being pleasant better." Jimmy Stewart - Harvey
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