23g pinner questions

[Greg Urwiller]

I stopped into HF the other day and picked up some of their F style clamps to try. While I was there I saw the 23g pinner they carry and since I've been considering trying one of these (hadn't decided what brand yet) I grabbed one. Picked up a box of 1" pins too. I tried it today, but since I didn't have anything specific to try it on I just grabbed a small scrap pc of QSWO. I just started shooting pins to see how far the cheap HF would put them into the oak, just basically playing. Wow, these pins went everywhere! I even had several horseshoe right back out 1/4" away. Since I've never had one of these before, I was rather surprised. I know the oak is hard, but is this typical of hardwoods in general? I know there's a lot better quality pinners out there, will these work any differently than the HF? Is there any difference in pin quality too? Thanks. Greg

[Wade Lippman]

My Grex will put about 15% in weird directions; the pins tend to follow the grain.
But no, of the thousand or so I have shot, not one has come close to a horseshoe.
The worst is maybe a half inch in, then turning a right angle.

[peter gagliardi]

Higher quality guns, along with higher quality pins make a huge difference!! Also, the pins go in the gun one way only. I use only hardwood, a Grex gun, and an Omer gun, along with Grex pins, and in about 10 years have had no more than a half dozen pins go awry.

[Greg Urwiller]

Occasionally I'd like to pin something to hold it in place so I can clamp it. So far, I haven't really had a huge need for one, but since they (HF) always come up in pinner threads, I thought this would be a low cost tool to test out with. Obviously I've got some more testing to do, but I'm really not impressed with the HF model so far. It'll still give an me an idea if I'm going to use one enough to warrant buying a better gun or not.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

In the several years I've used my Grex, I've had one horseshoe. They defiantly follow the grain, but it's usually not that big of a deal. I hit a knot the time it came back out. Keep your fingers back.

[Peter Quinn]

I've used hitachi, porter cable, and senco, always with good brand pins, never an issue. They don't always go straight I've found on autopsy after removing a trim piece, but they don't randomly shoot sideways or horse shoe. As noted make sure you have the arrows facing down in the direction the nails travel, they are not reversible. One edge has a subtle wedge shape that is meant to cut its way into the wood, flip them and lots of strange things can happen.

[Andrew Kertesz]

I have the HF 23ga pinner you are probably talking about. While I haven't used it heavily I did go buy some Senco pins and have not had any problems, used mostly on red oak.

[Curt Harms]

I have the HF 23ga pinner you are probably talking about. While I haven't used it heavily I did go buy some Senco pins and have not had any problems, used mostly on red oak.

I suspect the nail quality has quite a bit to do with it. As Peter says, the ends have subtle differences. I find myself loading, using a few pins and unloading. The pins with arrows get used and I'm left with pins with no arrows. I started marking the surface end with black magic market. Each pin is now marked, the black end goes up and with darker finishes the pin is even less obvious (not shiny) than it would otherwise be. If you don't want to color the head, you could draw a line just below the head. You could also try holding the gun 90o to the direction you've been holding it, that can affect how the tip of the pin pierces grain and travels.

[Mark Blatter]

I am surprised by how many have Grex. I have one and love it, but took it to a repair shop the other day and they had never heard of Grex. They thought it was likely a cheap knock off and not worth fixing. I left taking my Grex with me, thinking at the time, that if they cannot tell a cheap gun from a high quality one, I didn't want them touching my stuff.

[John TenEyck]

I have the PC 1" max. pin length one, and shoot mostly PC pins, and I use it a lot. I've had a few go squirrely when shooting into really hard wood, especially if the grain runs at an angle. I don't remember any of them doing a horseshoe, but that has happened with my 18 gage brad nailer and, yes, my fingers were too close and I learned a valuable and painful lesson. As far as remembering/marking the pins so you know which end is which, that's what you have eyes for. If you can't see which end is beveled you really should go see the eye doctor. My eyes are poor close up, but magnifiers in my safety glasses make it very easy to see the beveled end.

John

[Joe Scarfo]

In my experience... the gun shoots the brads, pins, and nails.. it's the quality of the projectile that matters.. cheap guns do a good job of shooting quality projectiles...

I've used senco, porter cable, dewalt, and bostich drivers and all of them were great.... unless I bought a batch of piss poor projectiles (harbor freight)... I quickly returned them and dropped them as a supplier of projectiles...

I saw projectiles as I once loaned my bostitch framer to a neighbor.. had him initial a doc acknowledging he had read the manual... 10 minutes later, through his own stupidity, he drove a 16 penny nail through his knuckles... luckily, it only skimmed the bone and got stuck in the skin... He then proceeded to remove it himself with a pair of channel locks and refused to go to the ER or see a Dr...

Then another time I loaned the gun to a neighbor adding outside walls to his car port... he wasn't paying attention and sent a nail flying across the street. scared the hell out of him and he then slowed down and payed attention to setting the gun tip then pulling the trigger...

I tend to think of these things as what they are... guns...

Good Luck and be careful out there...

Thanks for listening.

[Art Mann]

I have had a Harbor Freight pinner for about 10 years now and I keep hoping it will break so I can buy a nice one. The problem is it just keeps working flawlessly (if clumsily). I think I paid $9 for it on sale. The problem you are having is most likely not with the pinner itself but rather with the cheap Harbor Freight pins. Go buy some better ones and you will probably get better results. I think any fastener as small as 23 gauge is going to have a tendency to bend with the grain in hard material. No pinner can fix that. Like Mr. TenEyck, I sometimes have the same problem with my Porter Cable 18 gauge and longer pins.

[Greg Urwiller]

For $20 I figured I'd give this a try. Now that I've got one I'll see how much I actually use it. As for the pins, I made sure and loaded correctly. I can see how easy it would be to load wrong after using up the painted arrow and changing pin lengths. I'll have to remember to mark the ends too, good tip. But, I'll pick up some different pins and see how they work. Thanks. Greg

[Erik Christensen]

I have had a Grex for a while - a small minority of the pins head in weird directions especially in hard woods with defined grain. when tacking trim i have learned to keep my fingers at least the pin length away from the gun - I have had a pin deflect and pop out the side of a case right next to my finger and thinking man 1/4" to the right and that would have hurt.

one thing to remember when looking at 23 gauge guns - the better guns shoot longer pins - mine shoots up to 2" and for things like large crown molding that has been a nice thing to have

[Yonak Hawkins]

I am surprised by how many have Grex. I have one and love it ...

I'm a Grex fan. They have excellent customer service, as well. I've had to call them twice in 5 years and both times the tech took the time to hear, to analyze and to explain and wouldn't hang up until I fully understood. Once he sent me rings and full installation instructions gratis.