Choosing the Right Nail Gun/Nailer for You

Unlike most tools, nailers are not designed for general purpose use - there is no all-purpose nailer that you can use on all your jobs. Nailers are meant to be used for specific jobs, so prior to buying a new nailer it's important to know the tasks for which it will be used.

The kinds of nailers are:

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

- Finish nailers: These nailers are sometimes also called brad or pin nailers. They are meant for fastening smaller finish-type nails into light pieces of wood. These nailers tend to be lighter and smaller than framing nailers, and they are usually 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 pick the sort of nailer you want, some other features that are helpful to have and which you should consider are:

- An adjustable exhaust output. When nails are driven in, air shoots out from the nailer. It's often helpful to have an adjustable exhaust so that the exhaust air is not shot into your face.

- A large trigger. If you are going to be using your nailer in cold weather, you'll want to be wearing winter gloves. In this case you'll want to make sure you have a good-sized trigger so that you can work when wearing gloves.

- A swivel on the air connector . If you move around often with your nailer, this will help reduce the snarling of your air hose.

- An easy-to-use depth setting. Almost all nailers have some sort of adjustment to controlmanage how hard the nail is put in. Using this adjustment, the nail is not left sticking out of the surface, or sunk too deep far in. Many nailers require tools to perform this adjustment, others can be set without using tools and these tend to be much quicker to adjust. If you think you will be changing this adjustment often, the easier and quicker it is to adjust, the easier it will be to use this nailer.

- If you are going to be nailing a lot of nails, should consider the capacity of the nailer and also the ease with which nails can be loaded into the gun. Choosing the right nailer can save you a lot of time on a job... or cost you a lot of time if you make the incorrect decision.

Finally, make sure you look at the reviews for the nailer you are thinking about getting. Checking out a tool in the store or on the internet, it is really problematic to be sure how well it will work on site. By looking into the reviews of people that have actually used the nailer, you'll get a much better idea if this nailer will work for you.