dmccarty
Super Star Member
Over the holidays I finally decided to get a framing nail gun. I have been looking off and on for years to get one but I could not justify the spending money. But now I have a bunch of projects that a nail gun would speed up.
So I started researching.
My primary requirements for the nail gun was that it use full head nails and be able to nail to metal framing connectors. Those are two hard requirements to meet. As I researched I figured I really need to have a local supplier of nails for the gun. That was hard but I will get back to the nail supplies.
I ended up buying a Bostitch F33PT nail gun. It takes 33 degree collated Paper Tape(PT) nails. Bostitch also sells a F21PL and F28WW guns. The F21PL is a 21 degree PLastic collated nails while the F28WW is a 28 degree Wire colated gun.
Wire, plastic, and paper collated nails! So many choices. Which to buy. Plastic I can rule out. I don't want bits of plastic all over the place. Wire would eventually rust but it seem like it might be a bigger safety issue. Yes I wear safety glasses but bits of metal flying around don't sound good to me. So paper it is. Supposedly the paper can withstand humidity. We shall see. I'm going to buy a ammo can to store the nails wth a desicant.
The F33PT can also be used to nail metal connectors. It has two nail heads, one for wood to wood and the other for metal to wood. Very easy to change.
Nails. Oh the nails. They are expensive, too heavy to ship, and so many choices. I wanted to buy Bostitch brand nails. Just keep it simple and I have heard that non brand nails don't work so well. Lowes does not carry the F33PT. They have the F28WW and nails. I eneded up with two employees AND the district manager looking to see if they could order the F33PT and nails. Answer is no. The employee told me to order off the Internet.
Amazon got the buy.
But what about the stinking nails. Lowes does have the Bostitich metal connector nails. But not the Bostitch paper collated nails. The project was going to use PT wood thus I needed galvanized metal connectors and galvanized nails. And I wanted 16D nails.
Long story short I found a box of 16D galvanized 31 or 33 degree paper collated nails which I think are from Fas'ners Unlimited. These worked just fine in the gun Even though they were CLIPPED HEAD nails. For some weird reason there was a string of Paslode round head nails, paper collated but not quite 33 degrees. I meant to try them on the project but did not.
Figure out which nail gun to buy and what nails to go with it was a major effort. Who would thunk it.
So did the dang thing work?
The project was to build a bench to wrap around my 3PH hydraulic wood splitter. I wanted to be able to have the tractor NOT connected to the splitter with the 3PH. Just drive up and connect the hydraulics. I used 2x6s, 4x4, and metal strapping to hold the splitter. I have a bunch of photos and will eventually get around to writing up a thread in the Project area.
I have a $99 oil lubed Craftsman compressor I bought years ago to fill up tires. It managed to run the gun pretty well. The compressor can't keep up with fast nailing but I bet most of the time I was nailing 5-6 nails in a minute max. UNTIL I stared on the metal strapping. THEN I was shooting some nails! Have to stop and wait for the compressor a few times but this was a small part of the project. For bigger projects I'll have to buy a new compressor.
Bottom line is the nail guns works great. Setting nail depth is easy. I could keep the gun from over driving but there were quite a few proud nails. I don't think the compressor was real consistent. A few years ago my dad and I build a play set for the kids. I was supposed to take two people two days. We used drills and screws. It took us at least five days. Finished it XMAS day. And it was an XMAS present.
Real happy with the F33PT. I still spent a good 4 days on my project but without the nail gun it would have been longer. I messed up a few times and had to use a hand sledge to get the 2x's apart.
I ran the splitter this weekend for the first time while in the bench. Worked like a champ. More stable than when on the 3PH. VERY nice. Part of the bench allows wood to be staged at waist level. It helps keep you productive. I set the bench in between where I stack wood to dry. So I can split and then just toss to where the wood will be stacked. In the past it was taking about 8 hours for me to split a cord. I split 55 cubic feet roughly 2/5s of a cord in 90 minutes. Partly this was because the wood was just the right size but the bench really helped speed things up. It was very easy work as well.
There is one problem with the bench..... But I will save that for the Project thread.
Later,
Dan
So I started researching.
My primary requirements for the nail gun was that it use full head nails and be able to nail to metal framing connectors. Those are two hard requirements to meet. As I researched I figured I really need to have a local supplier of nails for the gun. That was hard but I will get back to the nail supplies.
I ended up buying a Bostitch F33PT nail gun. It takes 33 degree collated Paper Tape(PT) nails. Bostitch also sells a F21PL and F28WW guns. The F21PL is a 21 degree PLastic collated nails while the F28WW is a 28 degree Wire colated gun.
Wire, plastic, and paper collated nails! So many choices. Which to buy. Plastic I can rule out. I don't want bits of plastic all over the place. Wire would eventually rust but it seem like it might be a bigger safety issue. Yes I wear safety glasses but bits of metal flying around don't sound good to me. So paper it is. Supposedly the paper can withstand humidity. We shall see. I'm going to buy a ammo can to store the nails wth a desicant.
The F33PT can also be used to nail metal connectors. It has two nail heads, one for wood to wood and the other for metal to wood. Very easy to change.
Nails. Oh the nails. They are expensive, too heavy to ship, and so many choices. I wanted to buy Bostitch brand nails. Just keep it simple and I have heard that non brand nails don't work so well. Lowes does not carry the F33PT. They have the F28WW and nails. I eneded up with two employees AND the district manager looking to see if they could order the F33PT and nails. Answer is no. The employee told me to order off the Internet.
Amazon got the buy.
But what about the stinking nails. Lowes does have the Bostitich metal connector nails. But not the Bostitch paper collated nails. The project was going to use PT wood thus I needed galvanized metal connectors and galvanized nails. And I wanted 16D nails.
Long story short I found a box of 16D galvanized 31 or 33 degree paper collated nails which I think are from Fas'ners Unlimited. These worked just fine in the gun Even though they were CLIPPED HEAD nails. For some weird reason there was a string of Paslode round head nails, paper collated but not quite 33 degrees. I meant to try them on the project but did not.
Figure out which nail gun to buy and what nails to go with it was a major effort.
Who would thunk it. So did the dang thing work?
The project was to build a bench to wrap around my 3PH hydraulic wood splitter. I wanted to be able to have the tractor NOT connected to the splitter with the 3PH. Just drive up and connect the hydraulics. I used 2x6s, 4x4, and metal strapping to hold the splitter. I have a bunch of photos and will eventually get around to writing up a thread in the Project area.
I have a $99 oil lubed Craftsman compressor I bought years ago to fill up tires. It managed to run the gun pretty well. The compressor can't keep up with fast nailing but I bet most of the time I was nailing 5-6 nails in a minute max. UNTIL I stared on the metal strapping. THEN I was shooting some nails!
Have to stop and wait for the compressor a few times but this was a small part of the project. For bigger projects I'll have to buy a new compressor.Bottom line is the nail guns works great. Setting nail depth is easy. I could keep the gun from over driving but there were quite a few proud nails. I don't think the compressor was real consistent. A few years ago my dad and I build a play set for the kids. I was supposed to take two people two days. We used drills and screws. It took us at least five days.
Finished it XMAS day. And it was an XMAS present. Real happy with the F33PT. I still spent a good 4 days on my project but without the nail gun it would have been longer. I messed up a few times and had to use a hand sledge to get the 2x's apart.
I ran the splitter this weekend for the first time while in the bench. Worked like a champ. More stable than when on the 3PH. VERY nice. Part of the bench allows wood to be staged at waist level. It helps keep you productive. I set the bench in between where I stack wood to dry. So I can split and then just toss to where the wood will be stacked. In the past it was taking about 8 hours for me to split a cord. I split 55 cubic feet roughly 2/5s of a cord in 90 minutes. Partly this was because the wood was just the right size but the bench really helped speed things up. It was very easy work as well.
There is one problem with the bench..... But I will save that for the Project thread.
Later,
Dan