Different Types of Air Nailers - Part 3
This is our follow-up to Part 1 and Part 2, where we introduced some helpful basics that can help you pick the air nailer that’s right for your needs
Joist Hanger Nailers
Installing joists and other metal hardware has always been a particularly annoying challenge.
You’re often required to work at odd angles in order to drive a nail into a small predetermined hole. If part of your job involves doing this over and over for an extended period of time, you’ll soon realize why joist nailers are so useful.
The noses on these units are adapted to make it easier to find holes and insert nails with greater precision.
Although Joist nailers look like regular air nailers, they usually operate using a jackhammer motion that’s similar to palm nailers. Then, when you push against the nail, the nailer works on its own to drive it into position.
The multi-blow functionality makes these devices safer than traditional single-blow tools.
Try to find something lightweight and well balanced, since you’ll often be working in awkward positions when installing overhead joists.
Other Specialty Nailers
Everything from nailers adapted for building wrap, to units designed for large 6 inch nails can be found. More new adaptations are being created all the time. If your current nailer isn’t cutting the mustard, surely another model exists that can meet your needs. You just need to do a bit of research.
Other power options:
There are a lot of different power options, such as electric, battery power, and even combustion-power.
By far, compressed air nailers dominate the field.
Combustion-powered nail nailers (that work with cartridges) are showing a lot of promise. They offer all of the power, weight and convenience benefits of a traditional air nailer, but without the inconvenience of having to drag a hose around behind you.
Unfortunately, they usually can’t provide the speed of the old fashioned tank-and-hose models.
If you’re laying out shingles on a roof, you need to be able to lay out lots of nails quickly in rapid succession. At this point, cartridge-driven combustion nailers generally require a few seconds to reset between nails, making this type of bump-firing capability impossible.
Although for other applications, they are certainly a convenient option.
We want to hear from you:
Have you recently purchased an air nailer? Send us your review. We would love to hear about it: reviews@airtoolreview.com.
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