How come 23 ga. pinners aren't more popular?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I had a job recently - attaching 1/4" x 1/2" strips of molding - and bought a PC 23 pin nailer to help me out.
What a marvelous tool!
The PC ain't half bad either ;).
Talk about invisible!

I went searching for 23 ga pins for it, and low and behold, they're as scarce as hen's teeth.
I had a chance to stop into Eagle America's retail store last week on a return trip from a service call. The had a small display of PC 23 ga. fasteners, so I picked up a 2000 pack of each size.
Prior to that I'd hit Rockler's store and Harville Tool. Neither carried PC, which didn't matter all that much, but neither had any selection to speak of either. IIRC, all they had was one or two sizes.

18 ga are all over the place. Both brads and the nailers.
23 ga are a different story. When you do run across one of the tools, they want an arm and a leg for one, compared to an 18ga. Kind of the same with the fasteners.

[Mitchell Andrus]

I agree. I discovered this 'lil gem a few months ago. Gotta watch though. In soft wood the nose can leave a mark. A little too pointy.

[Per Swenson]

Rich,

To answer your question, folks are under the misconception that they lack holding power.
Big misconception.
Also, we use pinners in conjunction with glue.
The case for the 23g is simply less is more.
If any one is considering one of these, you won't be disappointed.

Per

[Thomas Williams]

I have not seen the 23 ga pins at any of the box stores. The local Woodcraft has always had them when I needed them, and I do not recall the price being a shock.

[Mike Malott]

I bought a Grex 23 gage pinner from Rockler with a coupon or during a sale; don't recall which...very satisfied!

I buy the pins on ebay: secure fastening on EBAY

Mike

[Jim Barstow]

is there such a thing as a cordless pin nailer?

[Per Swenson]

Sure.

Ever hear of springtools? (http://www.springtools.com/gshop/grouplist.aspx?cat3=WoodWorking)

Per

[Dave Lehnert]

You can get 23ga pins at Harbor Freight. Item 94706. 6,000 pcs for $3.99. They also sell a 23ga gun for around $20 that is reported to work well. I own the Senco model 10 and it works great. They now offer a model 11 that shoots larger pins.

[Jim Becker]

23 gage pinners are more popular than ever, judging by both the number of times they come up in discussion as well as the number of options available. And the latest tools have the power to shoot longer pins very nicely, which makes them more versatile for nearly invisible use installing things like face frames and other tasks.

I have two of them. My original Accuset which only shoots up to 3/4" pins and my Grex which will shoot up to 1 3/8" pins. Both get used with frequency, in the shop and in the house.

If you can't find pins locally, don't fret. You can get them easily from Amazon or Coastal Tool and since they don't weigh much, shipping is minimal.

[Steve Clardy]

I bought a Grex 23 gage pinner from Rockler with a coupon or during a sale; don't recall which...very satisfied!

I buy the pins on ebay: Secure Fastening



Mike

Thats who I get mine from.
Boxes of 10,000 I think.

Much cheaper than buying the small packs

[Rick Fisher]

We stock the pins and guns (Building supply stores). We have the Bostich and a cheap $29.00 gun.

I looked at the history of these the other day. We have stocked them for 2+ years. Sales of pins tripled in the last year, compared to the first year.

The cheap nailer outsells the good one 10 : 1 and they are bought by Pro's.

I think the finishers and builders are buying the cheap $29.00 guns so they arent too invested. We sold 39 cheap ones in 2 years and 4 better quality ones.

[Michael Donahue]

The HF guns only shoot up to 1" I believe. Is this too limiting do you guys think?

[Peter Quinn]

My local building supply store stocks the pins and several brand of guns. 23GA pins are no secret among pros, maybe a bit hard to come by in non speciality stores or DIY sellers? Woodcraft has them too round here. Luckily a box of 1000 goes a long way and doesn't take up much space or cost much to ship!

[Brian Peters]

I have the PC, its decent, better than the Grex guns IMO. Grex guns in my experience jam quite a bit if you don't use them perfectly. You have to be careful when going from different size pins all the time. Like if you switch back and forth between sizes sometimes one will get stuck at the top and jam it a bit. I have yet to have my PC jam for some reason. I use senco pins on my PC but I don't use senco guns anymore, they are too cheap now. They used to be better, but I have found they have declined in quality.

[steve reeves]

The HF guns only shoot up to 1" I believe. Is this too limiting do you guys think?

I wouldn't buy one that only shot 1" max length pins.... not versatile enough for me.

I've been looking at the Bostitch that will drive 1 3/16" pins but the reviews so far are mixed as to whether or not it countersinks the pins or just drives them "flush"...

A buddy has one of the HF models and it works great unless you need to shoot through 3/4" stock... the 1" pins don't have enough holding power even when just using them to hold a glue up in place.

On thinner stock the 1" pins work fine.

[Tim Sproul]

I have the PC, its decent, better than the Grex guns IMO. Grex guns in my experience jam quite a bit if you don't use them perfectly. You have to be careful when going from different size pins all the time. Like if you switch back and forth between sizes sometimes one will get stuck at the top and jam it a bit.

I haven't had problems with my Grex 645L. I frequently go from shorter 3/4 length when doing returns to using 1 3/4 inch pins when installing chair or built-up moldings. For furniture, I'm not switching sizes frequently.



I've been looking at the Bostitch that will drive 1 3/16" pins but the reviews so far are mixed as to whether or not it countersinks the pins or just drives them "flush"...


I had the Bostitch but then switched to Grex once the 645L came out. An easy way to get the Bostitch to sink pins further is to grind the nose a little bit. I did not do this and did experience difficulty when trying to shoot 1+ length pins through hardwood into hardwood.

I have to also say that a lot of times moldings aren't made out of the hardest of woods.....making the soft nose cover from Grex, Cadex and such a real boon. The metal noses on pinners like the Bostitch can easily leave dents.

[Ron Bontz]

Hi. I have a PC pin nailer I have been happy with for about 3 years. Does anyone know if these pins are inter changeable with other brands? :)

[John Keeton]

I have the PC, its decent, better than the Grex guns IMO. Grex guns in my experience jam quite a bit if you don't use them perfectly. You have to be careful when going from different size pins all the time. Like if you switch back and forth between sizes sometimes one will get stuck at the top and jam it a bit. I have yet to have my PC jam for some reason. I use senco pins on my PC but I don't use senco guns anymore, they are too cheap now. They used to be better, but I have found they have declined in quality.
I've had my Grex for 4-5 years as I recall, and never had a problem. Only pin nailer I have had so can't knock the others.

[Dave Lehnert]

Hi. I have a PC pin nailer I have been happy with for about 3 years. Does anyone know if these pins are inter changeable with other brands? :)

Nothing special about name brand nails. I use PC, Harbor Freight, Senco in my Senco brand guns. Never a problem.

[Dave Lehnert]

I don't use senco guns anymore, they are too cheap now. They used to be better, but I have found they have declined in quality.

Yes! They are not the gun they use to be but I would not go as far to say they are not as good as other brands. Living within walking distance of Senco I own nothing but their guns. Never a problem with any of them.
The old Senco guns were the gold standard but they were getting their a$$ kicked in sales with import guns. Like one of the other post said sales were 39 cheap vs 2 Name Brand. You would go into Lowe's and see a Senco USA gun for $379 and the like gun by PC for $149. Everyone buy cheap so Senco had only one option to move overseas. They do make some industrial guns here and most of the nails in Cincinnati also.

[Denny Rice]

I haven't had problems with my Grex 645L. I frequently go from shorter 3/4 length when doing returns to using 1 3/4 inch pins when installing chair or built-up moldings. For furniture, I'm not switching sizes frequently.



I had the Bostitch but then switched to Grex once the 645L came out. An easy way to get the Bostitch to sink pins further is to grind the nose a little bit. I did not do this and did experience difficulty when trying to shoot 1+ length pins through hardwood into hardwood.

I have to also say that a lot of times moldings aren't made out of the hardest of woods.....making the soft nose cover from Grex, Cadex and such a real boon. The metal noses on pinners like the Bostitch can easily leave dents.

The Bostitch is a good pinner, I have heard of people grinding the tip and thought about doing that to mine when I discovered a warranty issue on the pinner. The pinner had an issue with the larger nails and Bostitch fixed this. They will send to you free of charge a new piston driver for the pinner. All the ask for is the model and ser. number of pinner. Its a 5 minute job, mine works great now.

[Chris Friesen]

Interesting that you should have issues finding pins...up here in Canada there is a Ridgid pinner available at Home Depot, and they stock various sizes of pins as well. Seems to be a decent gun, I've put maybe 400-500 pins through it without any issues.

Got mine for $80 on sale, with lifetime warrenty (for whatever that's worth...).

[Charles P. Wright]

Interesting that you should have issues finding pins...up here in Canada there is a Ridgid pinner available at Home Depot, and they stock various sizes of pins as well. Seems to be a decent gun, I've put maybe 400-500 pins through it without any issues.

Got mine for $80 on sale, with lifetime warrenty (for whatever that's worth...).
The RIDGID pinner isn't in US HDs, but the Porter Cable one is. The ones near my house both have 1in 23 gauge Porter Cable pins.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I was in a HD yesterday to pick up some screws.
The store is 50 miles from home. They had a display of PC pinners and also a small assortment display of 23 ga pins.
I was in that same store 2 weeks ago and they didn't have guns or pins, so it must be a new item for a lot of the stores.
I'll have to have a look at the HD close to home to see f they stock them now.
I hope Lowes follows suit, since there's a Lowes 5 min from my house.