Pinner Advice: 21 or 23 ga

[Jim Knishka]

I've been researching pinners for a couple of months and have settled on the Cadex due to the feedback I've seen and their ability to shoot both straight pins and slightly headed brads.

I'm leaning toward the 21ga for a bit more holding power and lower price. I am a bit concerned that the industry trend is to 23ga, which could make 21ga pins/brads hard to find in a few years.

Any thoughts?

[Jim Becker]

I would share the same concern on the supply for 21 gage pins, but you can lay in a pretty substantial supply if you want to hedge! That said, 23 gage pins are pretty easy to come by these days...and being smaller, they are going to show less than the 21 gage fasteners.

[Curt Harms]

I've been researching pinners for a couple of months and have settled on the Cadex due to the feedback I've seen and their ability to shoot both straight pins and slightly headed brads.

I'm leaning toward the 21ga for a bit more holding power and lower price. I am a bit concerned that the industry trend is to 23ga, which could make 21ga pins/brads hard to find in a few years.

Any thoughts?

I'm with Jim, 21 ga. pins could become scarce. I'm surprised that 23 ga. pins are available in 1 3/4" lengths. I guess they drive more or less straight, that 's a long skinny piece of wire. I have an Air Locker pinner that'll drive up to 1 3/16" pins and will drive them full depth in oak. The little rascals will hold better than I expected, work great for trim and such. They can be driven into pretty small trim and not split e.g. 1/4" half dowels.

HTH

Curt

[Roland Chung]

I picked up the Grex 1 3/8 23 ga a long time ago and have been very happy with it. Not one misfire or pin curling out of the side. When the 1 3/4 model came out, I couldn't see spending the extra money on the 1/4". Now Grex has a 2 inch model that I will probably get.

At a show, several people asked about the problem with the pins shooting out of the side of the work. The rep demonstrated that by turning the gun the wrong way, it would consistently shoot a nail out of the side - by turning it 90 degrees, it reliably went in without curling. I think that the 23 ga pin nails have a shape that makes them slightly directional. I forget which way is which, but the pins seem to want to bend and follow the grain right out of the side of the piece if you hold it the wrong way.

[Thomas Barron]

What do you think of the CADEX CPB23.50 2" PINNER?

Will it, or others, shoot through the trim into sheetrock and then into 2x4 framing?

I am installing block paneling, pre-finished, and would like to prevent a lot of touch-up work. I could glue the plywood stiles/rails to the sheetrock and pin to the wall, then shoot the panel mold into place.

What do you think?