Framing nailers

gerard · Jul 25, 2003

I just bought porter cable fr350. Got a price on line, Home Depot matched the price and then took off another 10% so I got it for around $200. Only put about 1000 3.25inch nails through it so far but no problems. Has a adjustable trigger for single hit or contact so you don't get double taps if you get sloppy. So far I'm very happy with it and it was cheap. 100 psi countersinks 3 1/4 inch nails and the rated capacity is 120 psi.

Richard - re the paslodes - I've never used one, like the concept, but I was told you have to wait like 7 seconds between nails for the charge to build back up?? Is that true?? There are a lot of times when doing siding or girts that I put in 3 or 4 nails together right after each other and I know I wouldn't be happy with a delay between nails. With the air guns you can put them in as quick as you can move the gun.

MikePA · Jul 25, 2003

but I was told you have to wait like 7 seconds between nails for the charge to build back up?? Is that true?? 
The Paslode web site here indicates that it will drive 2 to 3 nails/second.

It'll will be interesting to see if doc's experience matches this claim.

Bob_In_MN · Jul 25, 2003

gerard,

When I used the paslode, I remembered thinking that while it worked well for me, I would think that a professional would be ready to nail well before the gun. Then when I returned the gun to my neighbor, I saw that he had several air nailers in his trailer. Looked like the air guns were used for the fast work and the paslode for the work where it was not easy to drag an air hose around.

Knucklehead,

Spoke with my cousin last night who has been framing/building for years. He has a Senco and said he must have shot a pallet of nails through the thing and it just keeps on going. I am also in the market so this thread has been helpful to me as well. So--for air powered--there's another vote for Senco.

Bob

Bob_In_MN · Jul 25, 2003

Mike,

I checked out the website--they must have come up with a new model because the one I used definately would not drive 2-3 nails per second.

Bob

ChrisW · Jul 25, 2003

I also have the porter cable fr350 that I got at lowes for just over $200. Home Depot had it cheaper than Lowes but they matched and then beat the price by 10%. I have built some shelves in the garage and basement as well as a 400' long picket fence around our back yard. 2000 nails later it is still like new and working strong. I think that I made a very good purchase. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

ChrisW

dmccarty · Jul 25, 2003

KnuckleHead,

I tried to find a review of nail guns but I came up empty. I
know I read a review of niail guns in the last year but I could
not find in on www.jlconline.com. Maybe it was
in Fine Homebuilding.

Anyway, I did find this reference.
http://www.jlconline.com

Grrr... Sorry the url was to long. If you go to the Research
tab, and then search for "nail gun" a Q/A section will pop up
on the left side of the page talking about clipped head nails
vs full head. Sorry for the vauge instructions.

There also is a discussion area on JLC that talks about tools.
You might want to read through there and see what the
contractors are using. Its a contractors only discussion
area.

From my read of the forums and the review that is MIA, the
conclusion I came to was that all of the big brands where
good. They had different features that might make a
difference to a person depending on the type of job. I think
its Senco that has a new nail gun that is cordless and does
not use a fuel cell like the Passlodes. It does use a battery.

I have been reading up on Engineering specs and such for
when I build a garage and a barn as well as figuring things
out for the house. What has suprised me about nails is how
important nails are and that they ain't simple. The code
requires certain types/size of nails in certain uses and its
important to do so. I know when I get a nail gun, and I'll be
danged if I can decide on which one but they all seem
good, it WILL be a full head nail gun.

Later,
Dan McCarty

bebster · Jul 25, 2003

I bought a cordless Paslode and have been happy with its speed. It fires more slowly than an air-powered gun because it has to cycle the fuel with a pump. Smell reminds me of firing a cap gun as a kid. I find that positioning the nail in the right place is slower than cycling the nailer. I guess if you were going to do really fast "bump nailing" it might be too slow to keep up.

But I find that for smaller jobs it's actually faster since you save all the time (and hassle) of hooking up hoses, etc. not to mention more portable.

higgy · Jul 25, 2003

If you are going to be working in areas that have electricity I would suggest a pneumatic nailer, the combustion type are great if you do not have a compressor handy or are doing a small job that does not justify setting up the pneumatic gun.

The larger guns, be it paslode, senco, hitachi have enough power to shoot nails partway into concrete, althogh this is not what they are desinged for.

One of the most important steps in using these guns is 1) maintain it 2) never over ride the safteys 3) don't get body parts between the gun and the wood.

Most of the good nailers have a push type safty by the "barrel" that will stick into the wood for toenailing, a big advantage when toenailing otherwise it is hard to get the safty depressed and the gou will not fire.

My personal liking is full head nails, there is not that many more nails per string and the full heads will meet code (I know that you don't have them yet, but you will).

I do shop and I do buy things at the big home supply stores, but I get my nialers from specalty stores as the price is not much different and I feel better about the service that I get, besides if i do not support them they will not be here and I will be forced to buy what the "big guys" want me to buy.

Good luck with you decison.

I love my senco, it is well ballanced, pwerful and tame enough that my wife uses it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

_RaT_ · Jul 25, 2003

I'll see if I can dig up my "Tools of the Trade" article on framing nailers. Both strip and coil. The Bostich had the most powerful driver and one of two reasons I bought it. The other was it was just cheaper then some of the others like SpotNails and Senco (super build quality on both). My Senco cliphead nail is so nice and smooth but I just don't use it for anything but fence work anymore. Here in CA., it's the shear panel (plywood siding) that they want a full round head on. My Hitachi coil nailer is superb and for some reason, the flush nailing attachment for coil nailers just always seems to work better then on stick nailers. My Bostich has a toolless drive depth adjsutment and it works quite well. You will find the drive depth adjusment an important part of the equation. The Paslode and Porter Cable airless tools work fine but are slower compared to a air powered nailer. They have their place. Makita makes a great palm nailer (its actually shaped more like a gun) then the standard palm nailer. These come in handy for many things from driving spikes to putting in bracket nails. Richard mentioned that he could not get an air nail to go through oak, if thats ever a problem, the palm nailers will drive them through most anything short of steel or concrete. For that they even have nailers though, enter my Hilti. Theres a ton of stuff out there, portable battery operated rebar tying tools, battery rebar cutters, battery operated tubing benders, concrete slot cutters, a gob of stuff most folks never see. Rat... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

SageBrush · Jul 25, 2003

( portable battery operated rebar tying tools )

Really?, where can I find one? Did not know such a thing was made. Are they worth using?

Robert_in_NY · Jul 25, 2003

Go to your local lumber yard and ask them about it. I can not remember who makes them but I just looked at the brochure a couple weeks ago at my local lumber yard.

higgy · Jul 25, 2003

The one that I used was not a lot of good. THere is a hand wind (wrist powered) model thatyou pull the handel and the head spins, fast easy and no batteries to be dead when ever you want to work

my 0.02

rlw · Jul 25, 2003

I purchased a couple nailers from Nailzone last fall. Bought a Senco SFN40 (18ga nails) and angled flooring nailer. I think I actually called them to make sure they had them in stock and if I ordered that morning if they'd ship that day -- They had them and shipped that day. I has happy.
This spring I bought a Senco FramePro601 to frame the workshop I built. I am very happy with the nail gun. It may be a little less gun than the 751 (less driving force), but it worked flawlessly for me. I kept the compressor around 105 psi. I bought this gun from Lowes - they had a package deal going that also included a FinishPro 15 gun. I can't recall the price exactly, but it seems like I paid around $250-$275.
You might want to also look at Amazon.com for prices and reviews. They quite often have free shipping.

JohnMiller3 · Jul 25, 2003

I just came from Home Depot... their regular price on the Bostitch framing nailer is $249.... and a current special includes some nice "framing gloves"...

One of my Bostitch's (say that quick!) back in the late '80's was close to $500... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

But... it sounds like you've got your heart set on Senco... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

knucklehead · Jul 25, 2003

Oh, you read my mind, John! Really, though, I'd probably have skipped Senco's & gone with the Bostitch's if I hadn't talked to a couple pros. You guys are swaying me back toward round heads, though. My core thought is that I don't need no steenkin' nailer, but going to bed with 3 Ibuprofen every night and getting back into them by 0900 after the third day tells me I should consider a little help.

Rlw's got me starting to feel that purchasing trigger get squeezed since he has experience with nailzone.

On another note, we just finished supper. My boys had a great time at a local pond today - oldest hooked a 17" largemouth right out of the blocks - fish jumping everywhere in the weeds but no more bites for the day. Funny thing is, he lip-hooked a dead minnow that floated by on a #4 Snelled Eagle Claw just for the fun of it, and that's what it took on cast 3 or 4. Guess we'd better verify the rules on that lake, and get a load of minnows for round two. Brings back memories of being a teenager & fishing up North with a worm on a treble hook (lost all my singles in the rocks), and my Dad telling me to put the salmon in my back pocket, pull my shirt tail out & follow him through the woods back to the truck! Same deal with the lobster I caught hand lining for flounder (in a bucket, not my back pocket /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif).

We let the bass go......just so all the catch n' release purists don't stick pins in a voodoo doll of my Ford. I had several catalogs spread out on the picnic table - Grizzly - Senco - DeWalt - Tool Crib - but it only took a half hour and that bad boy whacking the minnow to realize this wasn't the time or place to be thinking about power tools. Same thing last Sunday when my boys were trout fishing in a small private pond up North while visiting the in laws. I was weed stomping, scoping an olive drab Cat D4, a beat ex town-owned Case 580, and a mountainous D7 that all had a hand in digging the ponds - don't think any of them could be started up and worked without a few day's maintenence, but it only took a 7" Brookie to bring me back to my senses then.

Anyone think we're gonna look back and wish we'd bought the XXXX instead of the YYYY in light of teaching a boy to handle the bow seat with a paddle his great grandfather made? I'm 44 and just now learning balance. Those paddles have been in the garage for 15 years, and that canoe has hung in the rafters for nearly that long. Sorry to hijack my own thread but after a day like today I find my search for a nailer to be less crucial than it was this morning. I can just see alot of you guys who've walked this path before smiling at the knucklehead who's finally figuring it out. We're headed for the ocean tomorrow - may not take the rods because: A. They are way too small for Stripers. 2: I think the State Park officials will frown on us backcasting into a flock of thongs.....or is it a gaggle?

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

knucklehead · Jul 25, 2003

Dan, higgy, RaT - thanks for the info - I briefly purused JLC while grilling up some chicken. I didn't find a lot of reviews on Google, either - using several phrases. I am going to stick with pneumatics and I am leaning back toward round heads.

I really appreciate all you guys' input - wasn't sure I'd find much on nailers in Consumer Reports, and I haven't started to search trade mags. As an Isuzu Trooper owner (old model to be rebuilt someday), I gotta chuckle at the mental picture of CR testing nailers, though....Owwwwwww! That KICKS! Owwwwwww!

'night

dmccarty · Jul 25, 2003

KnuckleHead,

I found at least one review in the April/May 2003 issue of
Fine Homebuilding. Maybe you can still able to find it on the
magazine racks. The review was on pnuematic nailers used to
hang Joists. Some could be converted easily to work without
the piece that is used to find the nail hole in the joist hanger.

I still think I have read another review somewhere. If I can
find it I'll let you know.

To keep you from staying in suspense, the reviewer liked the
Bostitch N88RH-2MCN for $299. They said it was the most
versitle and could be converted to a "normal" nailer very
easily. For the most production they liked the Max CN-H601Z
for a whopping $800! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Some of the other nail guns had other features that might be
important so don't discount them.

I'm sure I read some other reivews.... I'll see what I can
find...

Have fun fish'n! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Later,
Dan

DVerbarg · Jul 26, 2003

Used a friends Paslode while building my house, would not buy one if there was power to run a compressor. The recharge time between shots would get too long and disturb your rythm and create fatigue while holding the gun and waiting. With fast enough recharge (like a compressor gun) I was able to utilize the bounce. If no power was available I would then consider a generator as I don't care for the fumes from the gas discharge on the Paslode. Senco does have a non-gas, all battery nailer, but only finish/trim, no framing /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I own a couple finish nailers, a Senco and an Accuset (Senco's past "cheap" line). I love the ergonomics and weight distribution of the Accuset, it appears they don't carry that line here in the US anymore.

Bought mine from Amazon (Amazon bought Tool Crib of the North) and found their pricing attractive.

Senco is probably an "overbuy" for building just a couple buildings, though its oil-less design can be nice for people like me who forget to maintain some things /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif!

_RaT_ · Jul 26, 2003

Silly me, I reported several times that the Spot Nail nailer was rated very high. Wrong, those are just the nails, I should have said Max gets very high reviews. Wow, what a massive brain twist. It wasn't until I saw dmccarty's post that I realized my error. I purchased my most recent nailer at Amazon, it was the Bostitch 88 fullhead nailer. It's fine and does the job of flush nailing pretty decent. I've been using 3.5 inch nails.
Sorry for the confusion, Rat...

JTD · Jul 26, 2003

The March 2002 (No. 145) issue of Fine Homebuilding has a good survey of framing-nailers. The two authors selected the Bostich N88RH and the Max SN890RH stick nailers as their overall choices. Estimated street cost at that date was $360 and $400 respectively. The Senco Think-Trac FramePro 600E was rated the safest stick nailer ($360 street price). For coil nailers they selected Makita AN901 ($420 street) and the Max CN890 II ($450). The Makita is the best balanced of the coil nailers.