Site-built peashooter

For tight-access nailing when you can’t even get a palm nailer into position, sometimes you have to go old school and use a peashooter. A peashooter is a hammer in a tube. The hammer is a rod with some heft to it, such as a steel stake. It fits inside a tube of slightly larger dimension. Place a nail in the tube, and use the rod to drive it home.

The drawing shows a version that can be assembled from materials typically found on job sites: a length of 5/8-in. threaded rod and a piece of 1/2-in. EMT metallic conduit (yes, due to the vagaries of nominal dimensions, a 5/8-in. threaded rod does fit inside a 1/2-in.-dia. tube). This arrangement will slam home 20d spikes with minimal effort. Other good fits are 1/2-in. threaded rod in 1/2-in. copper pipe or a foundation stake inside a piece of 3/4-in. PVC irrigation pipe.

For driving more than a few nails, adding some tape padding to the handle end is worthwhile. Likewise, the opposed nuts are not strictly required, but they can help you to avoid getting pinched. Trust me.

Gregg Roos, San Francisco, CA