Home owner looking for an electric nail gun (nailer)

[Joe]

This is something I know little about. I need to repair a fence and want to use nails, not screws. Maybe 2 inch nails, maybe 1 1/2. Any expert or other home owner care to recommend a model electric nail gun? Corded is fine. Battery powered is ok. But a pneumatic is too much. I haven't seen a sub-hundred dollar electric nail gun that can shoot big enough nails. Unfortunately, I can't afford the three-hundred dollar plus models. Advise really appreciated. Thank you.

[leonard]

your out of luck with electric, but might I suggest you rent a compressor and air nailer?the cost with nails should be less than 100.00.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

This is easy. There are none.

Because there are none. Not even a brad nailer, let alone larger nails.

Unfortunately, I can't afford the three-hundred

Then buy a chepaer one. While I hesitate to recomment cheap tools, I've heard that the Harbor Freight models are OK for light use by homeowners. You may want to chek them out.

Consider renting one also. If it is a one day job, it may not be all that much.

[Thomas Kendrick]

Agree with the rental recommendation. The coil nails are typically

1-7/8" EG ring-shank. These nailers are usually bump-fire: hold the trigger down and bounce the nose of the nailer where you want to drive the nail. If you don't learn this, many double-nailings will occur. The nailer is designed to work this way and holds 300 nails in a coil. Get all your boards in place and get 1-2 helpers to position the boards on the fence rails. All 6 nails per board can be set in about 8-10 sec>This is something I know little about. I need to repair a fence and

[Leon]

Actually it is not.

Probably wrong again.

But a pneumatic is too much. Actually it is the only one that will do the job properly unless you go with one powered by gas.

If you cannot afford the proper gun, you certainly cannot afford to throw money away on anything less. Rent or get a hammer that feels good in you hands.

[Duane Bozarth]

For an 8d or less nail, just hit the damn thing twice w/ a hammer...

[Joe]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Harbor Freight has inexpensive pneumatic nailers. They have a framing nailer for $89.

have no idea how the quality of it is.

[mp]

No problem at all. A couple of wraps of duct tape should tame any wayward picket. And any of the wayward neighbours kids too. Make sure you don't cover their faces completely, leave a gap so that they can breathe.

[TaskMule]

What people are saying is that an electric nailer does not exist for the nails you want to drive. Your only choise is an air nailer, Passload butane nailer, or a hammer.

Maybe using screws is looking more like the ideal solution. Inexpensive and very effective.

[Larry Jaques]

On 21 Feb 2005 12:42:15 -0800, the inscrutable "Joe" spake:

Having put up new (and repaired old) fences both ways, I'll never use another nail on a bloody fence board again. Screws are 10x handier and cleaner.

[Leon]

LOL... Don't ever bid one to build.

[BobK207]

The OT describes his situation as:

Renting a pneumatic nailer is not really practical, since my fence boards get knocked down periodically when baseball season starts at my neighbors house. And hamering is a problem because this is a very old fence and using a hamer will just as likely knock the fence down instead of repairing it.

[Leon]

Ahh, but he does not want to use screws either.

[A.M. Wood]

The tool you want does not exist. I want a good quality (Delta,Jet,Grizzly, General, Powermatic) 10 inch 5 HP cabinet grade table saw that runs on 110 volts for under $100. (I'd go up to $150 if the saw included few carbide (Forrest,Freud) tipped blades for ripping and cross cutting as well as a nice dado set would be a bonus) But that ain't happening either. As a result, I use alternatives that exist and that I can afford.

If you can't hammer, and don't want to use screws use 5-minute epoxy.

[Lawrence Wasserman]

Those cheap electric guns only shoot 18 gauge brads and I don't believe any shoot brads longer than 1 1/4" Not really the thing for fence repairs. DeWalt and PC have some cordless rechargeable battery nail guns that shoot larger nails but they are high $. You don's say what kind of fence you are repairing but staples may be appropriate. You'll still need a pneumatic for them though. Perhaps you can rent something, or use a hammer if it's not too big a job.

[Mark]

You choices in electric are slim. Forget 2" though - 1 5/8" is the best I found. For what you are going to spend on a P.O.S. electric (I've owned two - niether lasted long), I HIGHLY recommend going pnuematic which you could get into for under $150.

Mark

[Lee Gordon]

This is not the case. DeWalt's XRP series nailers can do what the Paslodes can do but, like the Paslode, they don't fit the OP's price criteria.

Lee