Brad Nailer

I've been trying to use an 18 gauge brad nailer to put up some baseboard and door moldings. The nails keep folding over 3/4 of the way into the wood. The trim boards are 3/4" ash, so I'm thinking that the wood is just too dense for the nails. I've tried all different settings on the guns, shorter/longer nails, higher/lower pressure - nothing seems to work.

Would a different gauge nail gun possibly work better? I'm ok with a slightly larger nail head if it will increase my chances of keeping the nails from bending over. Any suggestions?

Reply to
Mike
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It sounds more like a failure of the gun than wood being to hard. I've not ever seen this. I would check the air pressure to be sure it is up to spec (110 psi maybe?).

I've nailed walnut with 18ga brads and never had a problem.

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

Try deep cleaning and oiling the gun. Just slather it on.

Next option is to swap guns. I've got a HF 2" brad nailer that I've never had a problem with. It can be had for as little as $20 when on sale.

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the above two suggestions don't work - and you've exhausted other possibilities - you can step up to a "finish nailer."
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Always do a Google for "Harbor Freight Coupon" they almost always have a "20%-off largest item" tucked away somewhere.

Reply to
HeyBub

Sounds like a problem with the gun. A thinner nail may not hold as well and may follow the grain a bit when being driven, but there's no excuse for the nail folding over.

My 18 gauge nailer has no problems with 2" nails.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

Are you holding it firm onto the board ? If it bounces a little or isn't hard on the pressure isn't working in the right angle.

Mart> I've been trying to use an 18 gauge brad nailer to put up some

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Could be pore quality brad nails too... But anyway I would probably look at a finish nailer with 15ga or 16ga nails. Thye will hold your trim MUCH better and only a slightly larger nail hole to fill...

Reply to
Dean

Just my 0.02 here of course, but you gun might not cut it. All guns are not alike. Not all of them have the same driving power, no matter how you crank up your compressor. For example, ALL of my Bostitch equipment will out drive my good buddy's Paslode equipment, and until I got rid of them, the Bostitch guns would out drive my other buddy's Senco stuff as well. But then again... my generic 15ga angle nailer would out drive both the Paslode and Senco 15ga nailers.

The gun should have something on it somewhere (or in the book) that tells you how many PSIs you can apply without blowing seals. Checking the pressure is a great start, though.

Properly dried ash (think baseball bats) is very, very hard. If I were you, as mentioned above my first thought would be to move up a size to a 16ga straight nailer which leaves only a tiny bit larger hole when the nail is set. It should handle the ash just fine.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

I have a buddy's well used Bostich gun and a new el-cheapo Harbor Freight model, and both give me the same trouble. Adjusting the air pressure will change how far the nails penetrate the wood- at 110 psi the nails that go straight in are sunk more than 1/8" below the surface of the wood.

I can fire brads into other wood (2x's, pine, cherry, etc) with no problem - it's just the ash that I have problems with.

I'll probably try to borrow a 16 ga nailer and give it a shot.

Reply to
Mike

I'm with Robert ... some guns do, some don't. Add a hardwood like ash and thinner fastener you get what you got. Go to a 16 gauge finish nailer and you should solve the problem.

Reply to
Swingman

That's not enough gun in my opinion.

A 15 gauge shoot> I've been trying to use an 18 gauge brad nailer to put up some

Reply to
Pat Barber

No the wood is not too dense, I shoot 23 gauge pins 1-3/8" into harder woods.

Reply to
Leon

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

woods they use for baseball bats isn't it? Pretty hard I guess.

About like white oak except closer grained.

If you want to play with some truly tough stuff, try hickory.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Does the gun work on yellow pine?. If it doesn't. you might assume the gun or brads are faulty. I think probably your brads are to small and maybe you need a finish nail gun.

IMO, brads are really insufficient for base boards. Someone is going to say they've used brads, but I wouldn't do it. :-)

Reply to
Lowell Holmes

I just used an 18 gauge nail gun (Porter Cable) to install 7 door frames and 80 feet of baseboard. I used 2" (Porter Cable brand) nails. The job went amazingly fast. As per instruction, I add 2 drops of oil before use. Maybe clean the gun and check air pressure.

Reply to
Phisherman

Phisherman wrote: ...

What material? Methinks not 3/4" ash w/ 18 ga...

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Reply to
dpb

My PC finish nail gun uses 16 ga nails up to 2 1/2" long. My PC brad nailer uses 18 ga brads up to 1 1/2" long (?). My experience is that the 2 1/2" 16 ga nails are adequate for base board and door casing.

Reply to
Lowell Holmes

Ooops... sorry! ;^)

You know, the old Sencos were absolute horses, as were Duo Fast guns. I actually have a wide crown Senco roofing stapler that is about 30 years old that works as well as when it was made! It is now relegated to putting on that 3/16" compressed mylar coated exterior insulation. It has probably shot 500,000 staples to this point, and been rebuilt so many times I don't remember.

I got it when coil nails were a fortune for roofing guns, and staples were cheap cheap cheap. When coil nails dropped in price, and staples for roofing became unacceptable we changed to coil nails. Think about this... an average 20 square roof uses between 7200 - 7500 fasteners on a three tab installation. We hit a string of 25 - 30 square houses during a hail storm bonanza, and that gun probably shot down about 35

- 40 squares a week for about 8 - 10 months, without a rebuild.

Although it has only worked that hard off and on, it has been on duty for 30 years. I don't have another gun that has made it this far. They told me the last time I had seals put in it that the very next hard part that broke would be the end of the gun. They haven't made "The Mustang" in 15 years and their old boneyard is now empty.

I even remember when Senco made the best framer and roofing nailers around.

I think the only thing that save Bostitch from doom was the fact that after they moved their manufacturing overseas, their quality was so bad on their big guns that they moved the big gun manufacture back here. As little as a couple of years ago some of the big guns (framers, coil guns, etc.,) were made in the USA. I think now they are mixed in manufacture and part source.

Ahhhh.... the old days. ALL the nail guns were good guns when they were made in the USA.

I'm betting your nailers have a few road miles and years on them, no?

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

wrote

*sniff*

Ah hope when the old gal dies, you give 'er a proper burial.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

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