Harbor Freight Floor Nailer?

[Mark Hulette]

Any one have any experience with the HF pneumatic flooring nailer? I'm looking to do right at 1000 sf of hardwood and am looking to keep the funds to a minimum by not renting a nailer or plunking down $400+ for a "name brand".

Just wondering if this HF nailer http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=97586will do the trick?

Thanks!

[Ben Cadotte]

Any one have any experience with the HF pneumatic flooring nailer? I'm looking to do right at 1000 sf of hardwood and am looking to keep the funds to a minimum by not renting a nailer or plunking down $400+ for a "name brand".

Just wondering if this HF nailer http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=97586will do the trick?

Thanks!

I have it and have used staples in to do a small hallway so far. Have not had an issue with it. Once we get to it, going to do the whole house.

I have 6 other HF guns (brads, finish, framing, and roofing). 4 have so far worked great out of the box. 2 were a pain in the rear. I was about to toss them and figured lesson learned. Then I decided to check and see if I can figure out what was wrong. Was a very simple fix. The nose blocks were not quite lined up right. Adjusted them and now all guns work great. So, I think they are decent enough to do a couple major projects. Especially for the price. Just may have to do a tweak to two. For the price savings I am willing to do that. If I were to do it as a pro, I would suspect their longevity and probably go with a brand name gun. For a home owner level use, so far happy with them.

If I remember right. I paid $109??

[Mark Hulette]

Thanks, Ben.

That's kind of what I thought; I figured it would be a little better to have it available as time allows vs. renting for 3 days for about the same price-- did you install 3/4" hardwood?

Also, are the staples/nails a "standard" size or are you locked into getting them from HF?

THANKS!!!

[Ben Cadotte]

Thanks, Ben.

That's kind of what I thought; I figured it would be a little better to have it available as time allows vs. renting for 3 days for about the same price-- did you install 3/4" hardwood?

Also, are the staples/nails a "standard" size or are you locked into getting them from HF?

THANKS!!!

As far as I know the staples and nails are standard. The guy I bought the flooring from just gave me several sticks of staples. I had asked if he sold small boxes of them. He just grabbed like 5-6 sticks and said have a nice day. Guess he figured I may come back. He was right!! I see HF sells them for like $4 a small box. Doubt you could beat that anywhere. Not sure what a regular big box sells for??

Oh, and it was standard 2 1/4" unfinished oak flooring.

I forgot to add. The reason I bought the HF was alot of people on TOH forum said to do the floors with staples. Said either work. But staples were the prefferred choice (like 60/40). I have no clue but since the HF one did both and was 1/4 of any of the others I bought it.

[Lawrence Nitz]

Hi I have the HF floor nailer and have installed about 1700sf of flooring with it. My wood was Eucalyptus Citriodora, a very, very hard wood, compared to Oak. I found that the staples furnished with the nailer bent and jammed. I replaced them all with a box of Bostitch staples, and have jams only when the nose is not seated properly, or the hammer blow glances off the peg.

[Kevin S.]

Hi,

I did approximately 700 sf of prefinished 3/4" hickory in our cabin. Had no problems. Worked great. I bought the Stanley staples at HD but the smallest size box they had was like 9000 staples. When I finished, I had 2/3's of the box left. Sold the nailer and remaining staples for $22 less than I paid for everything on CL.

Kevin

[Mark Hulette]

Just an update on the flooring progress... sloooooowwww. Wow - I'm old.

We got the HF nailer and after a couple of set up issues it's working well. Don't know how long this is going to take, though.

Another quick question for those of you that have laid flooring... what did you find was the most efficient method to getting the wood from the box, in place and ready to nail? How many people did you have to help, if any?

I'm looking for a way to get this done as quickly as possible without having to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks!!!

[Dennis Lopeman]

I'm no flooring person...

but I would think you could just empty out the whole box at a time in the section you are working... layed out flat... and then just slide them into place as you do each piece... out of the box layed out will make the "trip time" a little shorter...

maybe I'm not understanding your question --- pictures?

and as far as the HF air guns and stuff... I buy them when they are on sale... usually VERY low prices - I figure I won't use them much and will last as long as I need them - and if not... no biggie - just buy another one...

Buy 4 of them over a lifetime would probably be what you paid for that name brand... and maybe the name brand would only last 1/2 as long?

[Michael Liechty]

I have one I purchased fro installing my neighbors cheap junk hardwood from China. If I knew he was going to get that Crap I would have charged him more.

It worked fine, I'll make you a deal on it if your interested.

ML

[Mark Hulette]

I'm no flooring person...

but I would think you could just empty out the whole box at a time in the section you are working... layed out flat... and then just slide them into place as you do each piece... out of the box layed out will make the "trip time" a little shorter...

maybe I'm not understanding your question --- pictures?

and as far as the HF air guns and stuff... I buy them when they are on sale... usually VERY low prices - I figure I won't use them much and will last as long as I need them - and if not... no biggie - just buy another one...

Buy 4 of them over a lifetime would probably be what you paid for that name brand... and maybe the name brand would only last 1/2 as long?

Thanks, Dennis. That's pretty much what we're doing (emptying out the box). Actually we're taking it a step further by going into about 3 boxes at a time to mix and match the finish/color variations throughout.

I really thought the same thing about buying more than one and you're right, they are about 1/4 the price of the "real" nailers so I'm ahead of the game. I just want to get this thing finished so we can move in!! :D

Michael- don't really need one now but thanks anyway!

[Mark Hulette]

Just an update on the project...

The flooring is down, in and nailed :D:D:D (literally). I went with the HF nailer and after a bumpy start (user error) it worked like one that costs 3x more. It took bits a pieces of 4 days to lay and I've still got to do the shoe molding so I'll get pics up after that.

Thanks for all the input and help!!