Choosing the Ideal Nailer for You

Unlike some tools, nailers are not designed for general purposes - there is no all-purpose nailer that you can use with all your work. Nailers are designed to carry out specific jobs, so prior to acquiring a nailer it's important to understand the work it will be used for.

The varieties of nailers are:

- Framing nailers: These are designed for driving bigger (1-1/2" to 4") box-type nails into large pieces of wood. These nailers are usually fairly big and heavy and are almost always stick-type nail guns, they there are some coil-types available also.

- Finish nailers: These nailers are often also called brad or pin nailers. They are meant for nailing small finish-type nails into light pieces of material. These nailers are usually smaller and lighter than framing nailers, and they tend to be used for trim or finishing work. These are almost always stick-type nail guns.

- Roofing and Siding nailers: These nailers are intended for the specialized task of putting up either siding or roofing. They store large numbers of nails that are designed specifically for the task at hand (siding or roofing). These are usually coil-type nailers.

Once you determine the type of nailer you want, some other attributes that are useful to have and which you should look for are:

- An adjustable exhaust output. When nails are driven in, air is expelled from the nailer. It's nice to have this adjustment so that the exhaust air is not shot into your face.

- A easy to pull gun trigger. If you are planning on using your nailer outdoors in frigid weather, you'll likely be wearing winter gloves. In this case you will want to have a easy to pull trigger so that you can operate it with gloves on.

- A swivel on the air connector to the nailer. If you will be moving around often with your nailer, this helps reduce the knotting of your air hose.

- An easy-to-use depth adjustment. Just about all nailers have some sort of adjustment to controlmanage the force with which the nail is put in. Using this adjustment, the nail is not left jutting out of the surface, or sunk in too deep far in. Many nailers need tools, and time, to change this setting, others have an adjustment that can be done by hand and these are almost always much quicker to set up. If you think you will want to be changing this setting fairly often, the easier and quicker it is to adjust, the the happier you will be with your nailer.

- If you are planning on nailing a lot of nails, you will want to consider the capacity of the nailer and also the ease with which nails can be loaded into the gun. Choosing the correct nailer can save you a lot of time on a job, or cost you a bunch of time if you make the wrong decision.

In conclusion, make sure you research the reviews for the nailer you are thinking about buying. Checking out a tool in a store or on line, it is tough to be sure how well it will work on site. By consulting the reviews of people that have used the nailer, you'll get a much better idea if this nailer will work for you.

Article Source: http://www.dummiesguideto.com

Brad has been framing houses and doing finish carpentry for many years. He owns, or has used, over 30 nailers over his career. You can find his nailer reviews at www.nailer-reviews.com. where he is a senior contributing editor.

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