Open to all the framers out there. With a price range of $250-300 Who has had good experience with framing nailer. I am not going to build a house, just a shed and screen room. Also all around house repairs. T I A Marc
I almost hate to say it but my Harbor Freight framing nailer has worked great for me. Like yourself, only a shed and such. I got their Central Pneumatics 21 degree full head job for $89. I figured since I'm not framing houses, if I only get a few years out of it, I will have gotten my money's worth. So far, so good! Cheers, cc
Got it when I was finishing a remodeling job and got tennis elbow couldn't drive with a hammer any more. After using it, can't imagine why I didn't make that jump earlier.
Had to chuckle ... got to know the feeling again just recently. Had to drive thirty-two, 3 1/2" 16d nails to bring a couple of fold down attic stairs into code compliance the other day ("carpenters" around here no longer own hammers, AFAICT - everything gets put up with nail guns, preferably on automatic). Thought my damn arm was going to fall off ... and there was a time I could do that all day long.
AAMOF, the only way I got through all 32 nails was to get up in the attic and nail down, a la the horseshoeing days of my 'yoot' (a plus, besides being easier on the arm and shoulder, was the increased accuracy of my hammering down instead of overhead, a hard earned skill, as most horses will generally only put up with one or two misses per foot, and some none)
I've got a Bostitch N80 Coil Nailer... probably 15 years plus. It works great... if you keep in mind it's a framing nailer! The aggressive foot works fine for toe-nailing but will scar things up. No depth control either (unless you consider air pressure adjustment at the compressor depth control) but that hasn't been much of an issue--the only time I've noted a problem is with relatively fresh SPF that is real soft. I mostly shoot 8d,
10d and 12d... no experience with the smaller sizes.
No one's mentioned Senco, which surprises me. Seems to me Senco/Hitachi/Bostich have been the kings of the framers for some time. I have a Senco SN65 (full round head) and like it a lot. I don't know that Senco makes that any more. They redefined their line a couple of years ago. I think the FramePro (not sure if there's a number) is the modern equivalent.
Might as well get a full round head nailer, even though the nails are more expensive (collated) and only about half as many on a strip. More and more building codes will require them. Might as well get in on the ground floor. Most hobbyists don't buy two framers in their life.
That's the one! I see they have one now that can be set to shoot 21, 28, and 32 degrees (or something like that) all for around $110. Not sure I'd need that as that just means you have to purchase more nails to make use of the various angled settings. Cheers, cc
I suspect the adjustable setting is to accomodate whatever angle sticks you're able to get. There's no particular advantage of one angle over another, but different manufacturers have settled on different angles for their products and the nails for one aren't compatible with the guns of the other.
I thought the higher the angle, the easier to toenail studs etc, hence many folks want a high angle, clipped head nailer? For me, a non construction type, the full head, 21 degree model seems to work fine. Unfortunately, I've been using it a bit more than I like. I'd rather be using my handplane or chisel on some masterpiece :) Cheers, cc
I have been using the Porter Cable FC350A for several years with no complaints. It has been used to build a large garage, addition onto my shop and several small jobs. It has never jammed and only miss fires when you let it bounce too much while nailing. The only bad thing I can say for it is, very heavy.
I bought one several months ago.. at $89 plus 10% off I believe, I "just had to". Only played with it. Seemed to have power enough and with the 100 or so nails I shot, no issues. I knew going into it, I'd be only using it for misc stuff.. and did not expect it to be a Senco.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.