Re: Air nailers?
 

I was going to say, last time I bought a case of nails they were Paslodes and it was @ Home Depot, and they had all the guns there. I used Paslode spikers for a few years building houses and never had major meltdowns, but they're just tools. What you're paying for in most cases of brand-name vs brand-x is less weight. That makes quite a difference when you use something all day. Most of the design innovations, (double and triple pawls, etc), have been adopted by the fakers long ago. In one roofing company I worked for in the 80's none of their roofers would even use a $470 Bostich nailer, they all had $1500 Takahachi's that Roofmart gave then for buying all their shingles there.

Re: Air nailers?
 

Dewalt is the one we got the local Timbr Mart store to give us a smoking hot deal on. I'm presuming it's what you call a brad nailer (or it might be a framing nailer - it's a big bastard anyway) but hid seems to like it, having stayed far far away from them following nailing two fingers together a few years back.

The smaller one we have is a Bostich though not sure if thats what you'd call a finish nailer - cos it looks like a little girl toy compared to the yellow fellow.

None of them have broke and they have both work seemlessly for ages, plus noone has any piercings they shouldn't - so i'd reccomend for sure.

Re: Air nailers?
 

We seem to have covered almost every brand on the market, except the one I own.

Paslode is looking favourite. I've got a Paslode upholstery stapler and it works well. Makita would probably be better but a tad expensive.

Incidentally, I recently bought a router table combo. I wish I'd done it years ago. If you are in to such things, the one I bought is the Mastercraft combo. I know it's Crappy Tire but it gets good reviews. I'd had my eye on it for a while, waiting for it to go on sale. It did (45% off), so I was in there like a rat up a drainpipe.

Re: Air nailers?
 

I only ever harm myself with innocuous objects. I'm extremely careful with power tools, particularly my circular saw.

Re: Air nailers?
 

I feel a bit inadequate now. I replaced the roof on the house before last, we added a floor to the last one (admittedly contracting out the framing), we're just coming to the end of putting 400' of picket fence around the back garden. We're always moving walls and whatnot.

How come I haven't come across the need for a compressor while everyone else seems to have one?

Re: Air nailers?
 

Plenty of roofers do it with a hammer.

Air nailers come into their own when you are doing light carpentry and baseboards etc. They make the job much easier.

Big compressors are for contractors. I've only used one once, when we were putting down hardwood flooring. I rented it.

For most jobs, a little two or three gallon compressor will do. They are not expensive and usually come with a nailer and hose. If it comes with a coiled hose, buy a proper hose.

Re: Air nailers?
 

Thinking about it, we did use a compressor for the second hardwood floor job. We went back to arm power after that.

Lots of baseboards to do, a whole house. It might be worth looking at a nailer so as to avoid having to keep picking up and putting down the nailset.

Re: Air nailers?
 

I've done flooring with both manual and air nailers. A world of difference.

If you are doing a whole house with baseboards, an air nailer is the way to go. You don't need a big one. You can get something perfectly adequate, such as Campbell Hausfeld, for under $200. Bear in mind what I said about the coiled hose.

Re: Air nailers?
 

I shingled quite a few roofs by hand before I got air equipment and it was a lot of totally unnecessary work. A nailer can cut your time by half if not 2/3 once you know how to use it, moreso in some applications than others. On a roof it means less time walking on your new shingles wrecking them, and saving your back and knees. Framing is partly done by hand and partly with a bump-fire nailer in most house construction. The cordless spikers are great for rafters. You don't want a worker standing around watching someone else using a power tool, some is still done by hand. I built granary floors by hand with a partner once and I realised later we could have tripled our income and halved our aching muscles with a compressor and 2 spikers. Any time you need to do a lot of repetitive nailing it pays. In the case of a brad nailer as opposed to finishing nails it's all about only having 2 hands, one to hold the piece of trim, and one to hold the nailer.

Re: Air nailers?
 

I could not agree with you more on the last point. I can do things by myself that I would not be able to do with a hammer.

Now can you please help me convince my wife to not demand 5 11/16 pine baseboards? They are a bitch to cut.

Re: Air nailers?
 

Noone with any appreciation of wood should ever use pine.

Re: Air nailers?
 

She paints them all white anyway. Pine is better than MDF.

Re: Air nailers?
 

MDF is OK if there is no damp/humidity.

The man who did the reno in our sunroom used knotty pine for the shelves, I was duisgusted.

Re: Air nailers?
 

The older porter cables were the best that I've used, all the newer stuff seems to be overpriced Chinese crap. If I had to choose one of the newer ones, it would be the "Grex green buddy", it feels and looks old school and has yet to jamb or miss on me.

Re: Air nailers?
 

The pine used in baseboards is good stuff. I wouldn't use knotty pine for anything.

MDF is a bit iffy for baseboards. It damages easily, particularly on outside corners.