Nail Blowout

[Jerry Solomon]

I seem to have developed a problem with "blowout" of nails when using my 18 ga. pneumatic brad nailer. Blowout meaning that the nail curves from its intended path and exits the wood along the side of the piece instead of remaining buried in the wood as it should. Anybody have a few techniques to minimize this problem?

[Steve Clardy]

You can minimize blowout by looking at the grain, and turning your gun. Most all 18-16 nails are not square, more of a rectangle. They tend to follow the curviture? of the grain. This does help mininize blowout. Also, sometimes you can put the gun on the material at a slight angle, shooting the nail the opposite direction of which you think the nail might want to go. Hope I'm making sense here. STeve

[Jim Becker]

Steve is right, it's the nature of the beast. However, it's more of a problem when you are trying to use longer fasteners. Keep yourself to an inch and a quarter or less with an 18 guage gun for best results. If you need longer fasteners, a 15 guage gun would be better.

[Jerry Solomon]

Thanks for the advice. I was using brads that were really longer than needed so shorter ones may help solve the problem. I tried orienting the gun with its axis both parallel to and perpendicular to the grain of the wood. For some reason, that didn't seem to make much difference.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks for the advice. I was using brads that were really longer than needed so shorter ones may help solve the problem. I tried orienting the gun with its axis both parallel to and perpendicular to the grain of the wood. For some reason, that didn't seem to make much difference.

Jerry, you'll also find that certain species are more prone to this than others. Oak, for example will tend to "blow out" more often than poplar, although it can happen anytime. Which brings up another point...keep thy hand away from thy joint! (Hmm...that doesn't sound quite right, but I suspect you get the picture and hopefully the one I intended!)