Nail Gun vs. Hammer for house framing

MY Father and Uncle were in the construction business for their careers, I helped out during my early school days. The two are distinctly different in application. The hand held nails and hammer combination is preferable in places where balance is required and finesse is what is working for that area. The nail gun is great for open areas and can really put the section together fast. The nail gun takes only a squeeze of the trigger and a hammer and nail usually takes 2 to 5 swings of the hammer.

A great hammer/nail carpenter can produce just as fast as a nail gun wielding one.

Wrong. Dude, you are so freaking wrong. Pride is tough to swallow, especially in big peices.

No offense, but you are sooooo freakin wrong.

Time is money.

A nail gun is less strain on the user?

I recently re roofed a flat roof, I used an electric scew driver and some of those tasy new screws designed to cut their own hole, brilliant. I started with hammer and nails but the roof has some bounce and if you put a nail though and miss a joist (cos they aren't very evenly spaced you can get it out again.

The big plus was speed accuracy and energy...must be the same for a nail gun.

I'd think a nail gun could easilly give a better join, less vibration, consistent fix.

Hey and you can always shoot yourself and end up on TV in one of those medical programs, or in Reader's Digest!

About 35 years ago I watched one of the great old style carpenters nailing my roof together. He handled the hammer like a magic wand sinking a nail in very few blows. (I think it was only one blow but as PetroPower has said - we tend to romanticize the past) The roof will last for a long time.

Not so long ago I watched a secret service carpenter (he did not want anybody know he is a carpenter) hammering a roof together. He scraped about half the nails and some were just flattened when they bent. This roof should not last.

I have not seen this new hammer used yet. But I believe it was designed to deliver straight strong blows. Given a choice I would rather have a butcher use the gun.

Has anyone tried driving a nail into a masonry wall without using a "Hilti" tool or gun?

The Great carpenters I spoke of could drive in a nail with one blow, one in particular used a 9 ounce hammer. In his grasp it looked as a Childs toy, but those nails sank as fast as he could swing the hammer. Everyone on the site was extremely friendly with that guy.

On a very good day I could use 2 or three blows, so slow you know?

And they never even seem to hold the nail.

2 blows only if I said the magic words!

We call this 9 ounce ones pig guns. Does it hurt? - only if you get your fingers in the way!

2 blows only: one to set the nail, and one to drive it... I wish I had that talent, of course I am not a professional at it.

Regarding nail guns... THINK SAFETY!!! I was using one last June to nail a sheet of masonite to the back of a bookcase. I was holding the front of the bookcase taught with the backing with my left hand when I nailed the nail with my right. I missed the side of the bookcase with the nail and it went through the tip of my index finger... part of the nail sticking out one side, and part sticking out the other side (through my finger nail)... and YES!! It is painful. If my finger had not been in the way, and someone had been on the other side, they would have taken the nail in the tummy, and I am sure it would have gone in deep... meaning a trip to the Emergency Room. As it was, I just pulled the damn thing out, and treated myself. I was lucky.

Sincerely

Bill

One advantage the nail gun has over the hammer is in rework or remodeling. I re-sided my house, and the hammer version was loosening drywall nails inside the house. A friend of mine, who spent his life in residential construction, said to use a nail gun. The one quick blow of just a nail entering the wood has much less of an impact than even one strong hammer blow, not to mention the 3 to 5 hammer blows it takes normal humans to drive a nail.

A point that nobody seems to have mentioned is that there are nails for nail guns which have the following characteristics, (I have sadly forgotten the name, it was a long time ago!!) they are just fantastic!:-

1) Nail is made of better quality steel, is thinner than a normal nail (less chance of splitting the wood) and is rust proofed

2) Nail has circular ridges along its length, it looks a bit like a strange wood screw at a quick glance, but the ridges are NOT a thread, and they hold well in wood.

3) The ridges are filled with a glue that is warmed up by the friction as the nail is shot into the wood and hardens immediately, bonding nail into wood, impossible to remove most of the time, so be right!!!!

Perhaps someone can remember the name of the company that produced them.....I used them in the UK about almost 30 years ago!!

I think they are called ring-shanks.

I just finished building a playhouse for my daughter. We used the nail gun for the framing and to tack up the siding. Then I drove most of the siding nails in by hand to prevent driving them through the surface of the siding.

The nail gun framing nails were straight (no ring shanks), but they did have the glue mentioned above on them. I tried to pull out one of these nails a few days after and it took quite an effort. If you pull it out immediately (before the glue can set up) it is not too bad to remove.

The main advantages I saw were less splitting and less vibration because it takes me several blows to drive a nail in. Just be careful when toe nailing...I tried that with the gun once and the nail slid along the side of the first board and imbedded in the second. You could possibly shoot a nail that would go a long way.

Heck, I'll go one different and say I like the screw gun with those long thin drywall screws or a bunch of other different types of screws. Pulls the pieces together, holds together very stout and if you goof, you can take it out and do over. You can use different size screws for different application-framing, deck, wall board, etc. I don't know about heavy high-production house-building applications where the nail gun might be faster or cheaper, , but for my do-it-yourself work the screw gun is just fine.

...for the most part, the speed of the nail gun makes it the obvious choice.

there are a few applications where it is not. specifically when driving a nail to the proper depth to maximize the strength of an anchor. an over or under driven nail will reduce the capacity of a hurricane strap. (Florida, right?)

I've used both. My elbow prefers the nail gun. Plus the advantages previously mentioned of less vibration, able to drive a glue coated barbed nail in a single shot, etc. The nail guns are adjustable for force, so it's pretty simple to do a good job with one.

I'd be screwing things down if I lived in hurricane country....

I actually do not possess a nail gun anymore, mainly because I do not have the work that requires one, but also as I am not a great believer in (normal) nails as a method of construction!

The glued gun nails held as well as any screw, provided you set the power correctly, that I can vouch for and the quality of the nails and their resistance to rust was fantastic!!

I tend to screw things together, with wood glue if I do not want to ever take it apart again.....and of course I have 3 battery screwdrivers!! Fantastic!!!! I have even worn several (cheap ones!) out over the last 20 years!!! And gone higher and higher in voltage!!!!

Great machines.

If I was doing a lot of wood construction as a living, I would buy the glue coated nails and a nail gun immediately again!!! Brilliant!

Nail guns are good for mass production without a high level of quality control needed, places where you have a lot of nails to drive for a long period in a very repetitive manner and being a little off a nailing point or damaging the aesthetic quality of the surace is not a concern. Driven nails are good for short burst nailing or where you need control to keep a clear surface or the nailing accuracy for location or angle. Nailing guns are good for framing and roofing, or other places where surface marks are not an issue. Hammer driven nail better for finish carpentry (except in mass produced developments where time is worth more than quality).

Maybe I am sticking my nose in the air a bit, but what have nails and carpentry in common?

Good carpentry has at worst a carefully placed and driven wood screw that you usually cannot see, but not nails!!! Even some carpenters will wince when I say that!!! Probably correctly too!!

I do not call house building, roofing, hut building or drywalling "carpentry" .......sorry.

Carpentry for me is making a table or chair or something that looks good for the home and it gets lacquered or polished, not filled and painted......

There are places for nails, I have driven quite a few, they can be very very useful and are a quick way to build a structure or two......I have nothing against them in the right place.

Rant over.....

We build masonry houses with wooden structure roofs, wooden skirting's etc. The hammer swingers are called carpenters by law.

Some of the high class carpenters are called cabinet makers.

In a furniture factory they are also called carpenters.

There were also Carpenters in the music industry.

Present day carpenters should be called erectors. Everything is ready made.

PERFECT!!!!

Furniture is mass produced by assembly line processes with laborers supporting the production machinery, except when there is some archeologist doing a study, a hobbyist wanton for the life in the 1800s, or someone who is capble and wants custom items cheap. I have made furniture, mostly out of boredom and because i wanted something customized cheaply, and worked as a carpenter. The carpentry in housing takes more skill, since it requires a substantial knowledge of the building codes and ability to work in many adverse conditions at productive rates.

I don't have a nail gun either, can'y afford one. I decided to use my S&W 9mm to drive the nail, but I have to step back a bit to see well enough to aim and I can't seem to find anybody to hold the nail. Isn't that strange?

You ought to learn to shoot more accurately!

Can't resist this one. When I was a teenager we built a new barn with the help of a 'live in' carpenter. The materials, including the nails mainly came from the old barn we tore down. The carpenter assured me that by the end of the summer I would be driving nails with ease. I find it like golfing. Works OK if you do it every day. Very frustrating when done periodically.

The frustration of split wood and bent nails, not to mention blackened fingernails drives me nuts. Last summer I was fortunate enough to pick up a nail gun on sale just before I started framing my deck. It is an absolutely heavenly tool!!

I agree, if you find you have a big job, having the correct tools for the job can save many days (and black nails!)

Nailing is good for speed. Woodscrews for quality and longevity.

I am not real sure how or why the bulk of these replys were generated, but man alive... give me a break. I thought that this was an intellectual forum.

A nail gun is far more productive than hammering and nailing. That is why 99.9999% of all contractors/carpenters use them. Air tools provide efficiency and speed. The nail gun is for process carpentry: speed = $$$. Contractors don't make money unless they are time efficient. One respondent stated that a "good carpenter with a hammer and nails can keep up with a nail gunner...". You were joking, right ? There are nail guns designed for 16 penny nails and all the way down to 1" brads. You can shoot adhesive coated nails, galvanized nails, finishing nails, roofing nails, etc. All you need is a compressor, air hose, and the appropriate gun. There is nothing more satisfying than "bapping a few nails"... but be realistic and get the job done faster using advanced and modern tools. Smoooches.

I agree fully, but stop being an unknown Guest and join CR4 please, you ARE needed!!!

I love this site let me tell you for some of the genius ideas that come across this site this is one stupid topic i once did a half a roof with a hammerin about a day then my buddy brought me a roofing gun i finished up in like two hours the two are uncomparable it's like walking verses driving a car

I love this forum. I am not an eng by degree. Sometimes I make a comment or ask a question that must make engineers scratch their collective heads.

Then I read about how to install automobile tires or how to use a hammer and I am suddenly very thankful for my upbringing.

No offense guys but come on. Go back and re-read some of these statements. I wonder if... never mind.

cr3

...and good infos from you. Many thanks.

Wonder if nail guns really speed up the process , or just drive in more nails ? I know that where I work they use nail guns and power staplers in the shipping department . In a joint where two nails would be sufficient , they shoot in four . With staples , they shoot in at least five irregardless of the purpose or intent of the joint just because it's easy . Kind of wonder if a hammer swinging carpenter putting in the correct number of nails where they belong can get as much productive work done as someone blasting nails in like a madman . A good carpenter uses the right hammer for the job and knows how to swing it . We have some pretty big boys at work that may as well have been using a tack hammer as poorly as they understood leverage and balance . They took too many shots with a hammer and bent nails , and often didn't seat the nail fully . We had a girl who could take the same hammer and seat the nails with one tap , a second swing to slam the nail home . From what I hear , her dad taught her how to handle a hammer as a little girl . (well before she became the doll that she is today)