I'm in the market for a nail gun but am uneducated to the nail gun world. Therefore, will someone educate me on what to look for in an all around general purpose nail gun?
I do trimming (baseboards, door trim, etc) as well as minor constructive type building (door frames, cabinets, etc) , if that helps. Not as employment but for my own home and woodworking hobbies.
Thank you
look for porta cable angle finish gun and a porta cable brad gun and/or a bostich staple gun/brad gun - uses both staples and brads all are guns I use daily for work and hobbies
8 years later they still work like new
Shop around for this kit as a compatible, get the most guns you can, Kits differ, I have this (one like) and it has already paid for itself a couple of times over.
-- Oren
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Thomas A. Edison
Well there are about 4 categories of guns as far as size goes. It sounds like you are looking for a finish nail gun. Something that is nice to have is a gun that does not require daily oiling. I have had a Senco finish nailer for almost 18 years and am still very happy with it. The Senco is uses no oil and is a bit pricey but will last you a very long time.
For the trimming you are best off with an oilless finish nailer or stapler. This keeps teh trim from getting oil stains. I have a Bostitch angled framing gun that has put together a few houses along with a great deal of small projects and only one rebuild (when I loaned it out). I have owned it since 1989
Mike D.
imho:
I went to HomeDepot one day, and found a brad gun, finish nailer and compressor on sale. It came with a rebate for a stapler too, which is still in the shrink wrap. It's a porter cable, I dont' use it much, but when I want it to work, it works like a champ.
Only thing I have done, is figure if I want a framing gun, but I figured I don't do enough work to justify buying it, when I can spend money on so much other stuff.
So my only suggestion, figure out if you really need it, or just want to buy another toy. I can relate. :D
tom @
I have a Bostitch N62FN, and love it. Nice and light with lots of power.
There are five of these on Ebay for less than $100.00
On Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:13:04 -0600, "J.A. Michel" wrote (with possible editing):
This is anecdotal only. I have one too, and had so much trouble with it shooting doubles and jamming that I bought a Hitachi which works great. Happened about 5 years ago. The Hitachi shoots plastic stripped nails and the Bostich shoots clipped head.
^^^^^^^^^^^ Porter Cable
^^^^^^^^^^^ Porter Cable
I bought a three gun set (18ga. brad, 16ga. finish nailer, 18ga. narrow crown stapler) with a 6gal. pancake compressor from the BORG a while back for $300 or some such (I've heard of better deals). I'm quite pleased with them.
I use both the Porter Cable 16ga. finish nailer and the 18ga. brad nailer for trim work. The 18ga. is just right for nailing casing into door frames. I then use the 16ga. to nail the other side of the casing through the sheetrock into the framing. Works great.
Interesting. I bought a used Bostich N63CP (wire-colated siding nailer) and had lots of trouble with it double nailing too. Adjusting the air pressure cured a lot of it but it was never perfect. Perhaps Bostich is a brand to stay away from.
I did about the same thing. I believe there may be threee different Porter Cable gun/compressor kits at Home Depot, each coming with the same compressor but differing in the number of guns included. The one I got was about $300 and came with an 18g brad nailer, 16g finish nailer, a stapler, a length of air hose, nails for each of the guns, a carrying case for all the guns, a small tube of oil and the pancake style compressor.
I really like this kit and all of the guns have worked great. I've mostly used the brad and finish nailers, but have also found an occasional use for the stapler.
I decided I wanted a framing nailer as well, but knew I wouldn't use one often enough to justify the cost. So I wound up getting one from Harbor Freight for about $70 along with a couple different sizes of nails. While only $70, it's worked flawlessly each of the times I've needed it.
I have an occasional need for a framing nailer but not often enough to justify the cost. What I did was get a palm nailer. Uses common nails of about any length. A bit slower than a nail gun but much more versatile. Also, it had allowed me to get into spots that would have been impossible with gun or hammer.
Sounds like the same one I got.
Interesting, will get hand tools from harbor freight, but no experience with power tools. Sounds cheaper than renting.
Good luck,
tom @
I've been meaning to get one of those too. :) They seem to be relatively inexpensive as well. I can see having one of those around also for just the reasons you mention.
Based on posts I'd seen here in the wreck from a few folks who have purchashed pneumatic nailers from Harbor Freight and had good results, I figured I'd give it a try. Given the price, and the occasional use (hobbyist) it gets--it seems to work great. If I needed a framing nailer as part of my job, I'd be looking at something like Senco, Hitachi, etc.
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