Protruding nails

[Jim German]

I recently finished up a stair railing, and when I nailed the balusters to the railing with my pneumatic brad nailer, some of the heads are sticking up a bit, up to about 1/8th inch. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to clean them up? I tried using a nail set and a hammer, but was unable to drive the nail (they are 2" brads). I thought about tryign to cut them off, but am concerned about mucking up the finish around the nail.

[Jerome Stanek]

You could try this unload your gun place the nose over the head and fire again.

[Neil Brooks]

I've had SOME luck in nipping the heads off, using diagonal cutters, and THEN getting a nail set/hammer to recess them.

In hard wood, the problem seems to be ... the more nail is exposed ... the less force you can use without bending the exposed part of the nail.

Good luck !

[Ben Hatcher]

I've never had luck using a traditional nail set. But I bought a spring loaded nail set several years ago at the woodworkers' show. It works great! Several stores carry them now, including Rockler.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11257

and Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/SpringTools-32R12-1-32-Inch-Combination-Nail/dp/B000FK3W0U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320082406&sr=8-1

[Richard Wolf]

I'm doing a lot of assuming here, did you shoot the nails up through the balusters into the rail? Are the baluster white. Cut the heads as close as you can and use a nail set to set what is left. We touch up prepainted white balusters with glazing compound to fill the holes and white appliance touch up paint to repaint the spot. You can buy small bottles of touch up paint with a brush in the cap at the borgs.

[Neil Brooks]

One of those "for future reference" things ....

With hard hardwoods, I've chosen to stay with brads no longer than about an inch, both to get max penetration, and to avoid them bending like crazy.

[Jim German]

Yep, shooting the brads up through the balusters into the rail, its all stained/polyed Oak, so touching up is more difficult. I tried using an empty gun on them again without luck. I ordered one of the spring nail sets, hopefully that will work.
I do think you're right Neil, as not only did the nails not penetrate fully, but two of them bent and blew out the side of the hand rail, something I didn't notice until later.

[John TenEyck]

I don't think you said what type of wood you were using, but oak balusters are often rift sawn so they will have a uniform appearance on all sides. Pneumatic driven nails love to follow the grain in oak, and that means a high potential for blowing out the side. This is one of those times when old school is often better. Drill pilot hole, drive in appropriate size finish nail, use nail set - not much that can go wrong. As much as I love my pneumatic nailers, there are times I just set it aside because the risks out weigh the time savings.

[Jim German]

Finally got that spring nail set... amazon free shipping is rather slow. Tried it out this evening and it worked great. I was quite amazed, it was very easy to use and was able to drive even the 2" long brad in. For $10 I would highly recommend it, far, far easier to use that a traditional nail set and hammer.

[Craig Michael]

When you see the spring nail sets, one would laugh and say that won't work. They look like a toy but they work much better than a nail set and hammer. They also have much more power, more control and can get into much tighter areas. I HIGHLY recommend them.

On you issue with the brads, congratulations. I'm surprised you were able to set them that well. Brads underdriven drive me nuts. They are so thin, it's tough to set them with out them bending over.

[ray hampton]

If the nails are sticking out far enough so you can grip them with a vise--grip then tap the vise-grip with a hammer over the nail-head, the vise-grips come in handy for straightening the nail