I learned wood working from my father. Back in the day, this wasn’t that long ago, every nail was driven by hand! Oh boy the fun that caused. Imagine you trying to nail two 3/4 inch pieces of plywood that have been beveled at 45 degrees and you are nailing on the joint. While pounding on the nail the two pieces slip just a little bit. Augh!!!
Fast forward about 16 years to when I began to set up my home wood shop. The first nail gun that I purchased was the Porter Cable BN200. It is an 18 gauge brad nailer that handles brads from 3/4” to 2” in length.
My needs at that time where quite simple, I was working on small to medium wood working projects and needed a basic easy to use brad nailer. The price to performance of this tool is excellent. The nailer is well balanced and light weight. I think it weighs in at 4 pounds.
The biggest complaint that I have is that I have gone through three sets of O rings. Yes, I use pneumatic oil early and often.
The next nail gun I added to my collection is a Porter Cable NS100A 1/4” crown stapler. I got a good deal from Amazon around Christmas 2000. It handles staples from 1/2” to 1”. It is a light weight tool weighing in at around 4 pounds. It has an adjustable exhaust port, nice for us left handed wood workers!
The latest addition is a Duo-Fast DAFN-6480 16 gauge angle finish nailer. I purchased it off of eBay three years ago. I am not sure exactly when it was manufactured. It is a heavier nailer weighing in at about 8 pounds. However, my wife can easily hold it in one hand and operate it. It has an adjustable exhaust port.
My dad still drives nails by hand. Go figure.
