???Framing nailer???

[Gary Hern]

Hi All,

I need a good framing nailer and need an opinion on whether the full round head is beneficial. As I understood it, the full round heads added to the structural supports they were used on????? I want this for general framing mostly, but will also use it for decks from time to time. I'll want to use a variety of nails, including ring shank, and spiral if they are available for guns.

Gary Hern

[Bob Lasley]

Gary,

I bought the PC FR350, full round head nailer. Main reason was that stainless steel nails were much less expensive for the round head nailer than the clipped head nailer, at least from Mcfeely's. I have been quite satisfied with the performance.

One note of caution, this nailer will fire everytime the nose is depressed if the trigger is held down. I found out the hard way that the nailer can recoil and fire again before you can release the trigger. This sometimes results in nails going where you don't want them!! Porter Cable will send you, at no charge, a trigger assembly that prevents this if you call and ask for it.

Good luck,
Bob

[Rob Russell]

I have a Bostitch N80CB (full head, coil style, bump fire). Based on my experience with it, there are a couple of things to think about with a framing nailer.

Round head vs. Clipped head

Some area's building code requires round head nails. You may want to check with your AHJ. Mine takes full head nails, so it's simply not an issue for me.

Stick or coil nailer?

A coil nailer will fit into a tighter space because it doesn't have that stick hanging out the back. The stick nailers can toenail a little better in some situations, but I'd call that a pretty rare situation. If all of your framing is way out in the open, that may not make a difference to you. I bought a coil nailer and am glad that I did because there were times when I had the nailer up overhead, in between joists and soffits, to secure some framing and the stick stype of framer would have been difficult to maneuver.

Bump vs. Sequential fire

"Bump nailing" is nice if you're used to using it. That's when you hold the trigger down and "bump" the nose of the nailer and can get multiple shots at a time. You watch the pros bang away with a gun and it looks easy. My experience (and Bob's too!) has been that the gun will shoot extra nails if you're not careful. I haven't yet, but plan to get the sequential fire trigger from Bostitch. The slight extra bit of time it will take me to place the gun and pull the trigger vs. "bump nailing" means that I'll only get one nail and where I want it.

Rob

[Ken Frantz]

I am not sure of this, but in Florida and may be other places a round headed nail is required to pass inspection codes. I am pretty sure those wide crown staples are not allowed for installing shingles.

So first check with your building inspection codes before buying an air nailer or stapler if you are going to use in construction.

ken

[Jim Becker]

I need a good framing nailer and need an opinion on whether the full round head is beneficial.

As was already noted, full round heads are "acceptable" everywhere, but clipped-head may be prohibited in your area you live...or will live someday. The safe buy is the round-head nailer.

I recently bought the Senco 602 (which also happened to include a free brad nailer in the box...) from <a href="http://www.coastaltool.com" target="_new">Coastal Tool</a>. (These are great folks to do business with and I often receive my order the next day, even though they are in CT and I'm in PA) I've only "test fired" it so far, but will hopefully put it to work next week on the kitchen renovation.

[Bob Wilkerson]

I need a good framing nailer and need an opinion on whether the full round head is beneficial. As I understood it, the full round heads added to the structural supports they were used on?????
Gary Hern
As the others have said, go with the full head nailer. Main reason: code compliance in many areas. As far as its difference in holding power I don't believe that it's significantly different than a clipped head nailer in 2x lumber. The main area that provides the holding power for nails is the wood compression on the shaft of the nail.

We just switched to full head nailers as the boss wanted to update our guns and got a deal on a bunch of Hitachi nailers even though our area accepts clipped head nails without a problem. There "might" be a marginal advantage to full head nails when shooting off plywood as it will help a little in preventing the nail from shooting thru plywood when you miss a stud or joist. Cant say that for sure as most of our guys are pretty good these days but I'll let you know after a new rookie starts shooting....

If it's new to you get one of the guns that have single fire locks to prevent bump firing. Some manufacturers offer kits to convert to single fire and others offer kits to go to bump firing. For use around the house I'd stay with single fire. Be very careful when nailing at a angle or on the edge of a 2x. Free flying nails are common when a rookie starts trying these tasks.........

As far as manufacturers go, I've used Porter Cable, Duo-Fast, Hitachi and Senco guns on the job. Here's my take:

P-C: Nice gun but not as durable as the others from the limited experience I've had with one. Good availability.

Senco: good power, durability with a short recoil safety so it's quite easy to get a double fire if you're not holding it tight when trying to fire just one nail. Bounce fire works fine. One of the best for removing jams as the entire clip can be removed without tools. I'd certainly consider one of these for home. I haven't seen one yet but they have released a new gun that Amazon has for about $260 with a free brad nailer as of two weeks ago.

Duo-Fast: A true work horse. We beat these guns for years with minimal repairs. They move more air thru the gun than most of the others so you need a good compressor when running multiple guns. This does provide a stronger hit and drives nails harder than the other guns. A bit of a PITA when jams happen as you need an allen head wrench to remove the tip when a bad jam occurs. Great feed back from the safety but it does require more force to place. Make sure that the gripping teeth on the tip stay sharp to keep from slipping when driving at an angle.

Hitachi: Nice gun and rapid fires extremely well. Good driving force but a bit lighter than the Duo-Fast. Tips seem prone to breakage as we've had a few break in the 3 months after converting to them. The nails will sometimes get hung on the top edge of the channel where you load as the spring pushes them into the gun. Easy to fix jams but is quite good at not getting jammed. Reasonably good balance and lighter in weight than the Duo-Fast. The safety is fairly soft so it doesn't take much pressure to place it and feedback is minimal in letting you knoqw that it's ready to fire. Their staplers are absolutely great. They are fast and jam free. Sounds like a machine gun in use as our guys bounce fire them with very little movement away from the plywood.

Bob - framing in Richmond, VA

[Derek Arita]

If you go to Tools of the Trade, they have a full review of framing nailers. Top rated is the Hitachi NR90AC2. I have that nailer and a Bostich N88RH. I can't tell the difference between the Bostich and the Hitachi, power-wise, but the Bostich is supposed to have an attachment that allows it to operate as a joist-hanger nailer as well. On the other hand, I use my nailers only occasionally and am not a carpenter by trade. Read the review...it's great.