Framing Nailer Advice

[EddieWalker]

I'm a General Contractor and I do some framing from time to time. I started out with a Hilti, and it was a heck of a gun for a very long time. It's also very heavy. Over the years, it started coming apart, and then part of the head broke off and I needed a gun right away. I bought a DeWalt from the local Ace Hardware and liked allot of things about it. It was half as heavy as my Hilti. It wasn't too expensive, but I forget what I paid for it. Lots or power and a really handly little hook for hanging over rafters.

Now that I've had it for a few years, it's proven to be like all my DeWalt tools. It's falling apart and giving me issues feeding nails. I'm always hesitant to buy DeWalt, but usually do so because of the price.

For small guns, I've had Porter Cable and consider them to be junk. They are ok at first, but it doesn't take long for them to fail. I've since come to that conclusion with everything they make and will no longer spend money that brand.

Home Depot Rigid brand is a very nice brad nailer and stapler. I bought the brad nailer when I gave up on my Porter Cable based on reviews online and comparing them to the other brands at Home Depot. It's been a few years, and so far, I'm very pleased with both the brad nailer and stapler.

I think Makita and Bosch are the two best names in tools out there. I really wish that I had held out and bought one of them instead of the DeWalt framing gun, and if I have a big framing job come up, I'll buy one or the other and retire the DeWalt.

I have a Hitachi SDS drill, and it's amazing. I realy like it, and because it's such a great drill, I bought a Hitachi air compressor. That turned out to be a huge piece of junk. Those are my two experiences with Hitachi, which has me thinking they are a hit or miss tool. Some of there stuff at the store looks really cheap, and poorly put together, but that's just my opinion. I don't know about their air tools, but because of that air compressor experiece, I won't take any more chances with them. I actualy had two Hitachi air compressors. The first one lasted about a week, and when I called customer service, they took my info, and sent me another. I was told t keep the old one for a week, and if nobody called to look at it, throught it away. Which is what I did to that one, and a year later, the other one.

Cliped head nailers will hold more nails, but in allot of areas are not up to code. Because I do this for a living, I only buy full head nailers. I've never tried the paper kind, but have had issues with flying shrapenal from the plastic that holds the nails together. I wear safety glasses, but have been hit hard enough, and in just the right spot/angle to draw blood. It's just something to keep in mind if you don't have allot of experiece with a framing gun.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[Diamondpilot]

Not nailers but I have been buying Hitachi power tools like angle grinders, ect for the last 2 years. They are hands down the best I have owned. I hate to say it but it looks like tools are going the same way our auto industry did.

Chris

 

[Steve C]

I need some real world advice on a framing nailer. Right now I'm remodeling a basement. When I'm done with that, I have permission from SWMBO to add a small workshop to my garage. I really know nothing about framing nailers, so any advice would be appreciated.

Here are my options.

I own a Hilti that needs a complete rebuild. (If I don't rebuild it, I'll list it on E-bay for parts or repair.)
I can buy a used Paslode off Craig's List for about 1 1/2 the price of the Hilti rebuild.
I can buy a brand new Porter Cable or Bostich for about $25 more. (For another $10 I can get the Bostich with changeable heads for metal connectors.)

Here are the Parameters...

Top priority is to get a good finished product. I need something that will drive nails. I've decided to go with 3 1/2" round head nails.
I will probably only be using it on nights and weekends. No day-in day-out use.
I'm not going to be making a living with it, so there's no payback. In other words, cost is an issue.
I'm buying the tool vs. renting so that I will have it for later use when I need it. I want something that will last more than one job.

What are your thoughts? Are any of these brands that much better than the others? Is there any real advantage or disadvantage to plastic collated nails vs. paper collated nails?

I tend to lean toward the Porter Cable just because I know their name from their routers and woodworking tools. I have no experience with their nailers. I know some framers, and they seem to all use Paslode.

I have a Porter Cable FC350A and love it. It came packaged with a very stout (5.3 cfm@90 psi) 4 gallon pancake compressor. I bought it at Home Depot on clearance for $250 for the package. I have run 10,000+ nails thru it, most of them 3 1/4-3 1/2 inches long. I have also shot a couple thousand 2 1/2's thru it. It never double fires and never fails to drive the nail. It is however a clipped head nailer. They also make a round head version that is a little cheaper. You can read reviews for it here:

Amazon.com: porter cable fc350a

I also have a Stanley Bostich N88RH round head framing nailer. I purchased it at Sams Club in the mark down rack for $75. It has worked flawlessly also, but I don't use it as ofter because of being a round head nailer the nail magazine is about 1 1/2 inches longer and is mounted at a shallower angle than the one on my P.C. I can get my Porter Cable into tighter areas and at better angles than I can the round head nailer. I did buy the positive placement metal connection kit for it but I haven't used it yet.

reviews can be read here:

Amazon.com: bostitch n88rh

either of these guns would probably last the average DYI guy a lifetime, and they are very afordable.

 

[MarkV]

Oh yes, they do require respect! I hope you didn't get hurt too bad. A guy that worked for me shot himself through his index finger. Thankfully it just went through the skin but when I first saw it, it looked like it had gone right through his knuckle.

Thanks for asking Pops. It has been a few years and all is fine. It did take surgery and put me down for 4 months. My worst experience was climbing a ladder to cut a guy loose that had nailed his hand to the building while putting up fascia on the gable end of a two story house.

Framing guns are great time savers. I just look at them like chain saws. They are due respect because they are unforgiving when you don't.

MarkV

 

[Pops15]

I mostly agree with Eddie about DeWalt stuff...with two exceptions. I've had some good DeWalt cordeless drills. The cost of their batteries prompted me to switch to Porter Cable for my current cordless drill. So far its been ok but its not balanced as well as the yellow ones. The other DeWalt tools that I like are my miter saws. I have a 12" compound miter, and a 12" sliding compound miter. I wouldn't trade those for any other brand. I checked them all out and went with DeWalt for both of them and have no regrets.
On the other hand I have a DeWalt reciprocating saw thats a toy compared to the Milwaukee Sawzalls I have. I also have a yellow 1/2" hammer drill thats junk.
I have to caution against buying those cheap compressor and nailer combo kits. My senco compressor was acting up and I needed a compressor right away. I went to Lowes and bought the Bostitch combo kit. The brad gun has been ok but I don't expect it to hold up long. Don't know about the finish nailer and stapler that came with it because no one around here sells fasteners for them! The Bostitch compressor crapped out after less than 5 hours run time. Ironically my trusty old Senco compressor was ok. I didn't drain the tank and some water froze up in the regulator. We bought that compressor in '92 for $229 and the salesman said he didn't think it would hold up. I put a $28 rebuild kit in it in 2000. Other than that it's been great and its been worked hard.
I've never regretted buying quality tools. Can't say the same about buying cheap junk.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Wow! Thanks for the wealth of information in the replies.

It sounds like the first order of business is to browse the two hardware stores near me and see what nails they stock.

Then I have to evaluate my needs again based on the great feedback that I've received so far.

Thanks again.

 

[rtimgray]

I've used Porter Cable guns (a framing nailer and finish nailer) for building my house and barns (and cabinets) and a Campbell Hausfeld brad nailer and haven't had any problems with them - although my use is intermittent, not continuous. When we roofed my house, I used my dad's PC roofing nailer. When I added a porch, I was going to buy one but it was $250-$300, so I went with the harbor freight version (on sale for about $60) - and it worked great (it was only about 8 squares of roofing though).

I certainly would not discount the Harbor Freight options if cost is a prime consideration. I would also add in, though, you definately need to consider what type of nails you have accessablity to. Having the best nailer in the world won't be any good if you're out of ammo. Bostich's seem to have a strong following in this area, and that's what the local hardware/lumber stores keep in stock (and keep nails for). So far, I've been able to keep a good inventory of nails for all my guns because I have to go about 20-30 miles to get to Lowes or HD or HF that has the proper nails.

Good luck and take care.

 

[nhkabotab7800]

for what you are describing, i would suggest you buy a passload battery/gas operated gun. these are supper handy in that you do not have air hoses all around and it can be taken any where and used quickly for a copuple of nails.

I only suggest this because it sound like while you have a couple of projects that will justify it once they are done how often will you want to haul out hoses and the compressor? more likely to grab the passload and go.

now clearly if you were going into the trades and would be using it regularly, i would suggest an air nailer, in large part because the battery/gas gun will not hold up as well as a pnumatic gun. for your use the battery/gas gun will hold up just fine.

just my thoughts

 

[flusher]

I need some real world advice on a framing nailer. Right now I'm remodeling a basement. When I'm done with that, I have permission from SWMBO to add a small workshop to my garage. I really know nothing about framing nailers, so any advice would be appreciated.

Here are my options.

I own a Hilti that needs a complete rebuild. (If I don't rebuild it, I'll list it on E-bay for parts or repair.)
I can buy a used Paslode off Craig's List for about 1 1/2 the price of the Hilti rebuild.
I can buy a brand new Porter Cable or Bostich for about $25 more. (For another $10 I can get the Bostich with changeable heads for metal connectors.)

Here are the Parameters...

Top priority is to get a good finished product. I need something that will drive nails. I've decided to go with 3 1/2" round head nails.
I will probably only be using it on nights and weekends. No day-in day-out use.
I'm not going to be making a living with it, so there's no payback. In other words, cost is an issue.
I'm buying the tool vs. renting so that I will have it for later use when I need it. I want something that will last more than one job.

What are your thoughts? Are any of these brands that much better than the others? Is there any real advantage or disadvantage to plastic collated nails vs. paper collated nails?

I tend to lean toward the Porter Cable just because I know their name from their routers and woodworking tools. I have no experience with their nailers. I know some framers, and they seem to all use Paslode.

I've used an $89 6-in-1 framing nailer from Harbor Freight the past few years. Looks like a Senco. Never had any problem in shooting more than 10,000 3-1/2" nails. Just keep it oiled and it works fine.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've never thought about how many nails that I've run through a framing gun.

How many nails are in a case?

Eddie