Biscuit Jointer vs. Brad Nailer

[djohnson573]

My best friend's older brother is a local contractor. He swears by Stanley Bostich nailers for outright durability. He said he has tried every brand and these are by far the best in every catagory.

+1 I've been shopping around and asked a friend who is a contractor and he said the same thing. This is the one on my wish list:

http://www.amazon.com/Bostitch-CPACK3-F ... roduct_top

[LelandCrooks]

Easy rebuilds is a big part of the SB line, the parts are available from stanley online. The rest of the brands require lots more pieces. Stanley is what I rent for that reason. But my Senco feels better.

[bgavin]

There seems to be no end of Bostitch models

I understand the angle feeders are more expensive for brads, less prone to jamming.
18 gauge appears to be the brad size of choice among the builders that use them.

How does one make an intelligent choice from all this?

[gdougherty]

I have a Dewalt 18ga that's done finish work all over a smallish house and built all my speakers with brads every 3-4 in on edges. It's never jammed so the angle isn't that big a deal. Straight nail sticks are common and easy to find in the smaller gauges and that's pretty much all I see for nailers at the big box stores. Fine Woodworking does a regular roundup of various tools and I know they've done small brad nailers within the last year or so.

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... px?id=2900 14-day free trial will get you access to this and many other articles.

[Tim A]

How does one make an intelligent choice from all this?

Just buy one. Tools are like anything else. By-and-large anything in a certain price point will all be similar. People like to shoot down Craftsman, but I've been using one of their $90 guns for well over 10 years with no problems. And trust me when I say the number of brads it's driven building BF cabs is a fraction of the number of brads that've been through it.

If all you're going to do with it is build cabs, you can save some $ by getting one that has a narrower range of lengths. Mine does from 5/8" - 2-1/4". I rarely shoot 2-1/4", but I have. They actually come in handy when attaching the top and bottom extensions to a DR before mounting the back.

But whether you end up with Porter Cable, Bosch, DeWalt, Craftsman, Stanley, or whoever, just get the best one you can afford with the features you want and you'll be fine. Don't overlook Rigid either, they have an excellent warranty.

One thing, a compact unit can come in very handy. Sometimes you'll want to drive a brad and a larger framed gun won't fit inside the area.

[wb2]

Don't overlook Rigid either, they have an excellent warranty.

Ridgid has a huge reputation in certain industrial tools, for example, pipe wrenches, threading machines, ridge reamers, sewer augers, etc. When I saw a few years ago Ridgid coming out with tools marketed to the home owner/small contractor, I was curious but skeptical, expecting off shore junk with the Ridgid brand attached. I've been very impressed with the quality. Having said that, the only reason I bought my set was because they looked so cute together.

[bgavin]

Just buy one.

I did that when I married the first wife. Wish'ed later that I woulda shopped around a bit more...



I have to take a trip to Lowes for some touchie-feelie time, and checkout the general availability of brads. I don't want a unit that is like a Dell printer... you can only get the supplies from Dell. (no longer true, but you get the point).

[Tim A]

I don't want a unit that is like a Dell printer... you can only get the supplies from Dell. (no longer true, but you get the point).

That'd be a good reason to look at Craftsman. Sears keeps a good supply of parts for their stuff years after production. I was able to get some parts for my old (early 70's?) RAS from them, no problem.

The gun has driven brads of many brands, including Craftsman, Bostich, even Harbor Freight.

[Wes Whitmore]

I have had the same 18ga Craftsman brad nailer for 16 years...still works as good as the day I got it.

[DaveK]

I have had the same 18ga Craftsman brad nailer for 16 years...still works as good as the day I got it.

OTOH, I have the cheap Craftsman electric brad nailer. After a couple thousand brads it now jams on every other shot. I wish the Sears return policy applied to power tools

[bgavin]

I think I will do the Bostich, or other non-Craftsman if the price is within reach.
The missus got me a Bosch jig saw for christmas last year, and it just oozes quality.

[LelandCrooks]

The missus got me a Bosch jig saw for christmas last year, and it just oozes quality.

The absolute best, in test after test. I have one, it's broken, bought a Porter Cable to replace it, their top of the line model. Not a contest, the Bosch outperformed it in every way.