What type of nail gun would you choose if you could only have one? What gun performs the most applications, such as framing, window casing, siding, etc
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That's an impossible question to answer.
All guns were designed with a specific task in mind... anything else you do with them is a compromise.
Framing guns frame, but "could" hang some types of siding and exterior trim. You could never run interior trim with them and you could never roof with them.
Finish nailers handle trim wonderfully, but some exterior trim will fail without a larger head. No roofing, siding, or framing with them for sure though.
A roofing gun will let you lay asphalt shingles and blind nail F/C siding... that's it.
Etc, Etc, Etc,
That being said.... if you get a Hitachi NV-75 coil nailer you could do a bit of light framing (up to 3" nails) as well as hang some types of siding and apply exterior trim and casings.
Be more specific.... what types of "casing" do you want to install? What kind of siding? What sort of framing are you considering doing?
Actually, there's a very straightforward answer:
EXACTLY!!
it's not an impossible question. he asked what gun "you" would own, not him. he just asked for opinions.
that being said, you raised some great points, and as well you sort of gave him answer.
I would go along with the coil nailer. simply because you can use it for framing heavy work. I prefer the stick nailer for framing. but for sheathing a wall you'd wanna go with a smaller nail - to get 2 1/4 nails for a stick nailer they are more expensive than the 3" nails. coil nailer that's not the case.
if I had to choose between framing a whole house by hand nailing or trimming the house by hand nails. I'd want the gun for the heavy work.
still best to have least one gun for framing and something for trim. brad nailers aren't that expensive compared to framing guns. get the framing gun 1st then when youre ready to do trim pick up a brad nailer.
Well, if you really want to split hairs with symantics.... you're still wrong.
I couldn't have just one gun... I do too many things.... how's that? My interpretation of the question was a guy looking for one gun to do pretty much everything... not gonna happen.
If he's really asking what kind of gun I would choose if I could only have one.... then he's an idiot. He's not me. I'm a framer.... guess what kinda gun I would pick? Maybe he's an exterior finish guy (sidewaller/trimmer)..... framing gun ain't gonna help him, but the gun I recommended will. You get it? That's why I don't really think he was asking what kind of gun "I" would pick. He's looking for a gun that will handle most or all of the tasks he has in mind. And I suggested one based on what I was guessing he was doing from the little bit of information provided.
Where's the problem?
Dieselpig,Are the Red Sox on a losing streak?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
ROAR!
be slappin' yer knee!
A person with no sense of humor about themselves is fullashid
That's actually the edited down version.... I though it over again before posting. Sox are plugging along just fine, but it's about 93 degrees here and the humidity is through the freaking roof. Went through two t-shirts, a tank top, pair of pants and a pair of shorts today.
Maybe he caught me at a bad time as I came through the door? Or maybe I just don't get it?
Oh well.... still don't get it.
naw...when I ask a guy a question like that, I want his opinion on his experinece with what he does. I will take everyones opinions and see how it applys to my own specific needs. that's alot easier than saying " what is the gun I should get if I could only have one" and having to make sure I explain all my needs in detail. Also I'd get to learn alot about things that maybe I'd never think to ask. I've got no problem with the question, yeah you and I are framers so we gonna need more than one gun.
To me it's not an impossible question...the answer from you is that you need more than one gun, you couldn't get by with just one gun. (neither could I) you tell him why...which you did. so he got some great info from you.
In the end it boils down to a different interprtation of the question. I guess from your view it is an impossible question. To me it's not.
I have a paslode positive placement nailer for naiing joist hangers and straps.
You can get an alternate magazine that turns it into a regular frame gun that shoots clip heads. You can do a lot with these two set ups. But you're not going to finish, roof, staple, t-nail etc. I should add the nails are kind of expensive for the positive placement but it is a great time saver if your banging lots of stubbies.
Edited 6/12/2005 12:14 pm ET by quicksilver
Edited 6/12/2005 3:03 pm ET by quicksilver
SFN2 But I don't do framing.
Larry
Wow, your last lline rivaled my very thoughts...( yes them two LL 's are intentional)
Funny
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Insert your favorite George Harrison song HERE.
Just what dieselpig said.
Here's the Hitachi gun he was referring to...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007ISWV/qid=1118597851/br=1-4/ref=br_lf_hi_4//102-8489676-1574511?v=glance&s=hi&n=554112
16 ga. finish nailer because I'd rather hand drive sheathing then hand set finish nails in a house full of base and casing.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I could make a decent living with just a trim nailer. It would be a hassle to predrill and hand nail all that hardwood.
A medium crown stapler for fastening sheathing, subfloor, strapping, sidewall shingles and, with attachments available for some of them, hardwood flooring. Fasteners are cheaper than nails, too, except the stainless for shingling.
Ron
And where are you doing your building.....Haiti?
Worm,
?????????
Ron
Not sure what wormdrive was thinking, but subfloor with staples? I love staple guns, but never thought about using them for subfloor.
I don't staple subfloor any more myself since buying a stand up screwdriver, but with the cost of staples being what it is, you don't mind using a lot of them. Trouble with them is not their holding power, which is amazing, but that they don't draw a sheet down.
When I was stapling subfloor, I would stand close to where I was fastening so my weight would keep the sheet down.
I used to be full of scorn for staples until I tried them for a while. Two 2-inchers in a piece of 1 x 4 into a joist will hold me up - 185 pounds. In hardwood flooring, if you ever have to remove a piece of stapled floor, about a third of the time you'll have to pull the staple through the flooring or cut it off underneath because it won't pull out of the subfloor.
Maybe Worm is like I used to be. I dunno.
Ron
you're bang on about the staples. we use em cuz the staple gun is machine gun fast! Some staplers bounce better than others. But you get someone who knows how to staple it's amazing how fast we can go. most of our joists are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 I joists so you don't have to worry so much about missing an 1 1/2 2x10 joist.
You are right about the staples drawing power, you gotta kinda force it down as you go. Also, anyone who has ever tried ripping up ply that is full of staples is amazed at how they hold; yup they rip thru the ply usually before they fail.
Incedently we use the staples to get the ply down. later the builder gets his labourer to go thru the house and screw it down. If we get a builder who by chance doesn't plan to screw the sub floor, then we use the coil nailer.
I guess I'm in between, Amazed by their holding power, but don't really use them for much besides sheathing. I do use my 1/4 crown stapler a lot tho, cabinet backs, stuff that will take a beating.
Efforts to read my mind have failed.
In your listing of construction components for stapling, you mentioned, sheathing, which would never fly....at least if the sheathing is to serve any shear value.
While staples have good withdrawal resistance, their shear value is small compared to nails.
I build in high wind and Seismic areas and some of the shearwall nail schedule is 8d's or even 10d's from 6" down to 2" even in the field.
Imagine stapling all that....you'd have to feed your staple gun from a conveyor!
No gun will do all, as Diesel Pig has stated, unless your ONLY building birdhouses, doghouses, trim, cabinets, laying hen nest boxes, or framing.
And those items and others call for everything from pin nailers, to staplers, to framers, etc.
I live in the boonies and do a fair amount of livestock fencing; I don't think dragging 1/2 mile of hose for one of my med. crown staplers would work too well for that....and those herds of Roosevelt elk that keep me busy wouldn't even be slowed down.
Staples have their place, no question....I use them for putting down underlayment at times, building HVAC soffets, etc., but sometimes one even has to resort to a good old hammer and aside from my fence staples, medium crowns don't hand-nail for sour apples.
Edited 6/13/2005 8:19 pm ET by Wormdrive
Hi Wormdrive,
I seldom try to read anybody's mind. I do sometimes put some effort into interpreting somebody's words so I can respond intelligently to them. Plainly I missed the target in my response to you.
You're certainly right about the low shear value. There ain't much metal in a staple. And the dieselpig is right about no one gun serving every purpose.
So? Where's the harm in having a bit of a BS debate about it. I sure don't plan to really cut back to just one air gun. It's be like trying to reduce the saw inventory to one. You can't do it. It would take me quite an effort to mentally count up the number of saws in my hand tool box alone. But if I could only have one, it would be my 12 pt skew back.
You?
Well, my late Grandad's old Disston 6 pt. crosscut, when really propererly jointed, set and sharp, will damned near keep up with a circ. saw. But, if you, like me, keep a few of the old-timers out of the hands of the clueless, you already know that.
The REAL bs thread is about building with screws, including sheathing.
My take on that is the guy must be an optimist who anticipates a long lifespan. To me, the thought of putting up sheathing with screws makes me want to drink a beer and take a long nap.
easy ...
21 oz Estwing.
I still remember how to use a real hammer.
I started remodeling with Dad at age 8 ... didn't use an "air gun" on a regular basis till I was 30. I'm only 38 now ... I've built ton's of stuff from fame to finish with that 21 oz ... added a 16oz trimmer when I was about 16 years old myself.
and unlike lotsa guys ... I still can use the "cordless" hammer and saw.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Don't forget the Block Plane!
BOS ( Be Old School)
Awe Man! I kept reading post after post in this thread with increasing hope that I was going to be the first one to post that answer. Rats!
Surprised me that it was you that got there first. I figured you would post a picture of that other "hair trigger" nail pounder you use on every job. Now that's an indispensable gun! :-)>
If we fail to catch a cosmic fish it may be a trillion years before the opportunity comes again
>>What type of nail gun would you choose if you could only have one?
26oz Hart California Framer.
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The all purpose gun of choice
If we fail to catch a cosmic fish it may be a trillion years before the opportunity comes again