Is the HF flooring nailer a jewel or a dud?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have a small - as in 100 sq ft small hardwood flooring repair co,omg up in the next month.
I have a HF coupom for one of their 2 in 1 flooring nailers for $99.00.
I've read a lot of good things about them, but, my own experience with HF nailers & their pneumatic tools in general has been bad.

I'm leaning heavily towards buying one despite my previous bad experiences.
A $400 Bostitch just isn't going to happen. Maybe if I had more uses for it, but, as it is now I can't see anything down the road.
HD used to rent the Bostitch, but, they now offer some no name Chinese thing.
I figure why rent a no name Chinese thing when for a little more, I can buy a no name Chinese thing and not have to wrooy about a return deadline.
Or sell it once I'm done with it and recoup most of my $$$.

Anyone had good or bad luck with the HF one?

[Dan Friedrichs]

Rich, I haven't used the HF one, but when I had a small flooring job, I bought a used Bostitch on eBay (or maybe it was craigslist...), used it heavily, loaned it to a friend who used it heavily, and then 6 months later I sold it on craigslist (for a profit, no less). So maybe see if you can find one used. Just an idea...

[Rich Engelhardt]

Dan,
I've been watching CL for a Bostitch for a little over two years.
So far, nada. If one crops up in the next couple of weeks, I'll be sure to give it a look-see.
Odds are heavily against it though.
In my area, used tools are priced as some sort of vintage wines. People seem to feel they improve with age and they tack on 20 to 30% above retail, then barter down from there.

In the two years I've beeen looking, all that's come up so far have been the HF nailers & those were all priced well above the coupon price of a new one.

Thanks for the suggestion though - I'll keep an eye peeled.

[mickey cassiba]

Rich, if this is a one time job...renting is an option. My local HD has flooring cleat, and staple type flooring guns for rent. Haven't checked the price, but for other 'one time' jobs, this has been an inexpensive option for me.

[Dan Friedrichs]

You might want to check eBay - I think that's where I got mine. I see several Bostitch MIII's for $200-$300 buy-it-now.

[William Burgess]

I have no idea on the HF one, but a couple year ago, I was thinking about doing some hardwood flooring in my house and had looked at the Ramsond RMM4 on amazon, its for sale for 170 dollars, not quite as cheap as the HF, but it does have 130 reviews and 4 1/2 stars. Might be an option you can look at.

[Ben Yurly]

I've heard that HF has a pretty generous return policy. You could buy the nailer and see if it works. If it doesn't, then return it. At that point you could rent one to get the job finished.

I bought a framing nailer from HF to build my shed. It would jam very often when shooting 2 1/2 inch nails but didn't jam once when shooting 3 1/2 inch nails. Go figure.

[David Epperson]

I've heard that HF has a pretty generous return policy. You could buy the nailer and see if it works. If it doesn't, then return it. At that point you could rent one to get the job finished.

I bought a framing nailer from HF to build my shed. It would jam very often when shooting 2 1/2 inch nails but didn't jam once when shooting 3 1/2 inch nails. Go figure.
I've got one of the HF 16p nailers. It's very sensitive to making sure the nails are set at the right angle. I can't remember if it's 29° or 30°

[Rob Sack]

I bought a combination brad nailer/narrow crown stapler from HF. For $16.00, I thought I would take a gamble. I lost. The thing can't seem to fire 3 pins or staples in a row.

[David Epperson]

I bought a combination brad nailer/narrow crown stapler from HF. For $16.00, I thought I would take a gamble. I lost. The thing can't seem to fire 3 pins or staples in a row.
I guess it's a crap shoot. I've been using the same 3 brad nailers from HF for 4 years building beehives with no issues at all. Other than running out of nails and staples.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I've heard that HF has a pretty generous return policy. You could buy the nailer and see if it works. If it doesn't, then return it.
That's pretty much my plan.

The biggest drawback to renting one is the location. The jobsite is an hour and a half away. The nearest HD is about a 20/25 min drive from the jobsite.
Even though it's a small job, I don't think I can pick up the nailer, drive to the jobsite, use the nailer and return it within the 4 hour time.
That means I have to rent it for the whole day. The whole day price is pushing the price of the HF nailer.

I had a HF framing nailer that quit on me after about a half dozen nails.
I made the mistake of not using it/trying it out as soon as I bought it.
I bought it when it was on sale, and didn't have an immediate use for it.
It sat in my tool room for about a year and a half before I had a use for it. I set aside a three day weekend to frame out a basement project and about six nails into it, the nailer quit on me.
Thankfully, I had a plan "B" - which was to buy the Bostitch Lowes had on sale.

OTOH, I bought one of the HF super cheapie air hammers that worked it's little heart out for like three straight days before it died.
I returned it for another to finish the job and that one only ran about 10 min before it died.

Also, just about every air fitting I've bought from HF leaks.
'course, so do the ones I bought from Lowes for like 4 times more, so, I guess I can't knock them too bad.

[Jarod Michaels]

There is a manufacturer refurbished one on ebay with free shipping / buy it now for 279.99 or best offer.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BOSTITCH-FLOORING-STAPLER-MIIIFS-BOSTICH-M111FS-MIII-/370584440637?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item56488dcf3d

[David Larsen]

Just buy a reconditioned bostich manual nailer. Price is around $115. For such a small job it will work fine and you won't have a bunch of money tied up in a nailer. Your arm won't get tired for a small job.

[Paul Steiner]

I have the ramsond and it has functioned for 20,000+ square feet.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I bought a combination brad nailer/narrow crown stapler from HF. For $16.00, I thought I would take a gamble. I lost. The thing can't seem to fire 3 pins or staples in a row.Exactly the opposite of my experience. My combo (only used with staples) has performed flawlessly on several floor jobs shooting down LUAN.

[Van Huskey]

Go to Home Depot and rent the Bostitch version, life will be much better. If you prep everything it should be done in well under a day.

[Curt Harms]

I have one of the orange ones - previous generation - and it's a HF gem IMO. We put down probably 700 sq. ft. of prefinished Bruce solid wood flooring and no problems. We used Portanails cleats and setting the compressor for around 80 psi set them nicely. The only thing I found was to not skimp on the oil. The one time I thought I was having a problem, not setting the heads flush, 3 or 4 drops of oil in the air inlet fixed it. After that, 2-3 drops with each stick of cleats and I even put a drop or two in the 'muzzle' a couple times for luck. Our project took several days so renting made no sense. We had to move some furniture, put down a box or two of flooring, move furniture on the freshly laid flooring, take more of the skanky old carpet up, sweep, vacuum, lay a box or two more, rinse & repeat.

[Marty Paulus]

In my area, used tools are priced as some sort of vintage wines. People seem to feel they improve with age and they tack on 20 to 30% above retail, then barter down from there.

In the two years I've beeen looking, all that's come up so far have been the HF nailers & those were all priced well above the coupon price of a new one.



Rich,

Thanks for confirming what I have been seeing for sometime. It is crazy what people think their tools are worth in this area. I have been looking for a dust collector and all that comes up are ones priced $100-200 above the HF version. Forget about getting a jointer in the 8" range for any kind of discount from retail. Although I guess they can ask what they want. Asking price and selling price may be a long way apart.

[Charlie Gummer]

I've had the same experience as Curt. 2 summers ago I laid ~1200 s.f. of 3/4" maple using the orange HF nailer and Bostitch staples...the nailer didn't jam once. As I had to do the work nights and weekends renting was out of the question for me as well.

[frank shic]

hardwood flooring is pretty easy to install if you have a miter saw, table saw and a decent dailer and it sounds like the HF will do the job. the results are well worth it. good luck with the project!

[Kevin Presutti]

Rich,
If you can live without air assist then look here, http://www.cpobostitch.com/factory-reconditioned-bostitch-u-mfn201-2-in-manual-hardwood-flooring-cleat-nailer-kit/bstrmfn201-r,default,pd.html?start=2&cgid=bostitch-flooring-nailers, I'm sure you sell it quite easily for $100.00-$125.00 no problem or even at a small profit on CL since where you are they more than than new $$ for used stuff :D.

[Greg Book]

In 2005, I laid down about 800sqft of oak flooring using a PortaNails manual floor nailer. It worked great and I was able to resell it a year later for about the same price I bought it for.

I also thought the manual nailer may have been better than the pneumatic nailer. It takes about 2-3 strikes to get the nail all the way in. I noticed that it was only in the second or third strike that the joints between the boards were tighest... with an air nailer, it only takes one strike to nail the board, so the joints wouldn't have been as tight.

[Curt Harms]

In 2005, I laid down about 800sqft of oak flooring using a PortaNails manual floor nailer. It worked great and I was able to resell it a year later for about the same price I bought it for.

I also thought the manual nailer may have been better than the pneumatic nailer. It takes about 2-3 strikes to get the nail all the way in. I noticed that it was only in the second or third strike that the joints between the boards were tighest... with an air nailer, it only takes one strike to nail the board, so the joints wouldn't have been as tight.

If the strips don't fit well to start with, this can be a problem. We had a couple strips that weren't as straight as they could have been. I found myself screwing a scrap piece of hardwood the the plywood subfloor then cutting a wedge. Drive the wedge between the scrap and the flooring strip then nail. The strip stayed put after nailing. I wouldn't have wanted to do that too often but a couple times was no huge.

[frank shic]

a quickjack is a great tool for installing flooring when you get up to the wall.

[Doug Herzberg]

I bought the HF air assist to do a 150 sq. ft. floor. No problems at all. Plan to build a case for all the little parts - the packaging that comes with is worthless. I'm planning a new floor and will use it again.

[Bruce McElhaney]

I vote for the Bostitch. It works perfectly with only a small Senco portable compressor. I bought a new Bostitch hardwood flooring stapler on ebay for $300. Put about 200 sq ft. of prefinished flooring down and sold stapler on ebay for what I paid for it. Sure beats renting. I'd like to try the cleats, but still have a lot of left over staples. So I may do the whole thing again in the future.

[frank shic]

is there any reason they don't sell those flooring staples in smaller packs?!? i have enough to do the flooring in my next house and my daughters' future houses!

[Bruce McElhaney]

Frank, they do sell those staples in smaller quantities, but they are harder to find, and proportionality more expensive. My home Depot used to sell in smaller boxes but haven't been able to find them there for quite a while now. I tried to include the extra staples when I sold the stapler on ebay, but the shipping was prohibitive.

[William Payer]

Rich,

I've had a HF flooring stapler ( they now had a combination nailer/stapler) for the past 6 or so years. I've installed over 2000 sq feet of flooring with it and have had no problems. I did not use the HF staples, preferring Bostich since they are a known quality fastener. On another forum the HF is considered to be one of their gems in the rough.

[frank shic]

hardwood flooring is so tremendously satisfying after install that i really wish i could tear out all the laminate flooring i put down in our rental unit and install more wood. nothing like having the wife boast to visitors, "yup, my husband did it all by himself!"

[Rich Engelhardt]

hardwood flooring is so tremendously satisfying after install that i really wish i could tear out all the laminate flooring i put down in our rental unit and install more wood.
That's a conclusion I hope my wife comes to after she sees the results of this small job.
I wanted to refloor the dining room of the last house we rehabbed with hardwood & she nixed the idea.
She didn't buy the idea @ the time that I could install hardwood flooring so she insisted on us hiring out someone to install ceremic tile.
The mistake I made then was packing the price of a Bostitch nailer into my estimate & going with some of Lumber Liquidator's more expensive flooring.
My "estimate" for the dining room was close enough to the tile guy's estimate that she went with him instead.
She keeps me on a pretty short leash @ times :D !

[frank shic]

i've come to realize that the only way to get projects through my wife are to give her just the minimal information she needs OR go and buy the tools and material beforehand and tell her, "well, i already HAVE everything that's needed..." ;)

[Rich Engelhardt]

Around the house/shop U can usually get away with doing that.
The rentals are a different story.
My wife is the accounting/decision maker as well as unskilled laborer in our rental "business".
There, I have to submit a bid to my wife, time estimate and supply some sort of example of previous work - just like any other contractor/sub.

The prehung doors I/we just had to install in this rental are a good example.
My wife wouldn't let me install prehung doors on any of the rentals until she saw the ones I installed in our house.
When I submiitted my estimate to her to replace all the old damaged hollow core doors in the rental, she gave it the stamp of approval right away.
The downside here is that I had to "eat" the cost of a 15 ga. nailer on the oak prehung install I did on our house.
When I sat "eat" the cost, that means the cost of the tool came out of my tool budget, ot the cost of doing the work on a rental.
I can usually slip the cost of a new tool past if/when it's packed into the price/estimate on a "rental job".

The probem with this flooring job is that if I try to bury the cost of a good Bostitch into it, I'm over the cost of the other contractors by enough to "lose" the job.
That plus I don't have a finished job of a hardwood floor repair like this to submit to her.
My hope here is that once she sees the results of this job, next time a hardwood floor repair/install comes up, I can slide a Bostitch through on that one.
But - who knows, the HF nailer may actually work and I won't need the Bostitch!

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Look at the Freeman nailers on amazon. Good warranty, good service, good product at 1/2 the cost of the Bostitch. More than HF but no question as to whether they will work.

I guess I don't follow the economics of your wife deciding to use a sub or not. It seems to me if you can do the job it's money in your pocket, even if it's a transfer from a rental business to actual household, thus you make a little more from the rentals with your sweat equity. If a subcontractor does the work it's money out the door. Less profit from the rentals. If you have a larger repertoire of skills, it's also built up your "personal" equity. You're a more valuable person and better equipped to handle hard economic times.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I guess I don't follow the economics of your wife deciding to use a sub or not.

Time is money.
Before I retired, I had to squeeze the work in when/where I could.
Some of these rehabs can get pretty extensive and time consuming.
If something needs an overnight cure or dry, then overnight usually meant next weekend - since I seldom had the luxury of two back to back days.
As a result, a contractor can usually get the work done in a quarter of the time.

If we can turn the rental around in a month, then we do ok.
If we had to wait say three months - because of my work schedule, then we lost two month's rent.

Then there's the unforseen things that always crop up in addition to everything else.
I have to be kithchen installer, painter, plumber, bathroom remodeler, carpenter, floooring installer, etc.
So every job I undertake, takes time away from other jobs that need to be done.


If you have a larger repertoire of skills, it's also built up your "personal" equity
Exactly what I keep telling my wife!
Every time we undertake a rehab, I try to do more and more of the work myself.
I keep bumping into the time element though on a lot of things.

Well, that and the other line I always get from her whenever I bring that aspect up...
"That all sounds well and good, but, what happens when you get halfway in and figure out you bit off too much? Then we have to call someone in to finish it. Most of the time, when we've done that, they tore out everything you screwed up and started over from scratch".

I have to admit - she does have a valid point there.
90% of this is "learn as you go", with no safety net.

[frank shic]

ouch, rich that's a hard one! had no idea your wife was an accountant and tracking the numbers :( in our household, my wife and i have generally adopted the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in regards to my tool and her fashion purchases :) but seriously, rich, hardwood flooring installation is really easy especially if you use prefinished planks and a pneumatic nailer. i assume you already have the other tools like miter and table saw?

[Rich Engelhardt]

had no idea your wife was an accountant and tracking the numbers :(
She only tracks the $$$ on the rental side of things.
It's really not all that bad since somebody has to keep an eye on expenses.
It's all too easy for them to get out of hand in a hurry.
Yeah - I have the other tools, miter saw, table saw, track saw and assorted other air nailers covered.

[Chris Matus]

I laid down 1200sf of 3/4" red oak using the HF flooring nailer without a hitch. I used bostitch 1-3/4" staples; don't use the HF fasteners, they are not very good and tend to jam.

Sold the it for $60 when I was done.

[Jim Andrew]

Looked at the local HF for a flooring stapler, they only had the one for the thin flooring, not the full 3/4". Is that the stapler you are discussing?

[Peter J Lee]

For reference, here is what their website shows:

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-in-1-flooring-air-nailer-stapler-97586.html

[Joe Lexon]

I bought a used HF air nailer for flooring and had a good experience using it; no jams using either brand name or HF staples. An occasional "misfire" was the only complaint. Used it to lay about 1200 sq ft of tongue and groove. More than worth it's cost for a one-time project--and buying it let me hold on to it and work in bits and pieces.

[Brody Goodwine]

my dad is a HF nut, and i haven't liked some their nailers. That said, their flooring nailer was flawless over the last floor I installed. I wouldn't spend extra for another nailer.

[Jaromir Svoboda]

I was at HF today for a first time and I would not buy any power tools from there.It looks cheap.

[Ted Calver]

I was at HF today for a first time and I would not buy any power tools from there.It looks cheap.
My HF close quarter drill is going on three years of hard use. The Milwaukee I bought at the same time died last month. I just bought a HF keyless chuck close quarter drill to replace it for $29. The Milwaukee was $130. HF stuff might look cheap, but some of their stuff works well.

[Alan Schaffter]

Orange HF pneumatic nailer is a good deal. Works well if you keep it oiled. Wipe up any oil that has seeped out around the head- whacking with the mallet causes the dark oil to splatter on the flooring. No problems on 200 sq. ft. job. Saving it to do my 900 sf shop.

Get your cleat nails from Lumber Liquidators- best price I found, better than HF, Borg, etc.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Update..

Plan "A" - I picked up the HF nailer.
After being an idiot for not setting the pressure correctly and screwing up the first two cleat nails, I managed to lay down about 25 sq ft of white oak flooring last evening.

I gave out at that point,,,but,,I'm happy to say the HF nailer worked great!
I'm really glad it seems to be working fine as plan "B" called for renting one.
W/as long as it's taking me to do this, I don't think I could get by renting one.

All the getting down on the floor to measure, then getting up to take the pieces to the CMS, then whacking the nailer really took it's toll. I ran out of steam after only about 25 sq ft.
We'll see how today plays out - but - for the time being, I'm happy with the HF nailer.

[Peter Kelly]

Ten things I wouldn't buy at Harbor Freight:

1. Parachutes
2. Fire Extinguishers
3. Pacemakers
4. Vaccines
5. Birth control devices
6. Elevators
7. Bullet proof vests
8. Trigger locks
9. Mountain climbing ropes
10. Scuba Gear

[Sal Kurban]

I used the HF floor stapler to lay almost 1000 sq feet of hardwood flooring. The only issue was proper air pressure: if it is too much, it splits the tongue; too little, it does not drive the staple all the way. 65-75 psi seemed right if I remember correctly.

[frank shic]

your wife will totally go nuts once you have the hardwood flooring installed. it makes a huge impression!

[Rich Engelhardt]

Whew!
Whatta workout for my 60 year old knees!

My only regret is that I didn't perform as well as the HF flooring nailer did!
It was flawless.
I had to learn the hard way how close to the end I could get without splitting the tongue.

Not a single jam & as long as I hit it right, it sunk the cleat nails perfectly.
I credit the compressor (Ingersoll Rand "twin hot dog") for a lot of the success. IR makes an excellent product all around. The pressure settings are 100% reliable and the recovery time of the compressor is extremely quick.
(LOL! I only wish my recovery time was that fast! :D)

Overall I'd rate the HF flooring nailer as a gem.
I feel I got my money's worth out of it.

Frank,
LOL! Since my wife was there helping it sure did make an impression!
I didn't let her run the nailer(s), but, she did get her feet wet using the CMS for the first time.

[frank shic]

oh i forgot about that part of the job: aching back and sore knees! i also found that my flooring stapler was probably designed for someone that's 5 foot tall whereas i stand around 5'10... oh so painful! i'm impressed you let your wife use your CMS! i let my wife drive ONE staple and that was enough to satisfy her curiosity for the next 10 years lol