[JohnnyQ]

What are the longest 18 ga brad nails do you folks use (if you use them). I am a novice wood worker (book case for the girls room) and I have some molding to install. HD has a porter cable for $50 and it shoots up to 1-3/8 inches long brad. The next model up ($100) shoots 2 in brads. Will I ever need to shoot 1.5 to 2 in brads or will I instead jump up to a 16 ga finish nailer?
Thanks
Merry Christmas
JohnnyQ

 

[JBfromMN]

1 1/4" brads are about the longest I use. That will get me through one 3/4" board and well into the next board. If for some reason I need a longer nail, I would go with the finishing nailer. That is a rare need in most cases. When wood working, if I need something with that long of a nail, I would look for another way to do the joint. The finishing nailer I have is used in home remodeling, I can not remember a wood working project I have ever used it on.

 

[Gregn]

I use 1 1/4" down to 5/8" with the 18 ga. If I need something longer I jump up to the 16 ga. nails.

 

[a1Jim]

If I'm using finish nails longer than 1 1/2" it is for hanging doors. I do have a couple of guns that shoot up to
2 1/2" nails one of them is a Grex 22 ga.

 

[Brian024]

1 1/4 is the longest I shoot. Check to see if they have a Campbell Hausfield, blue brad nailer. I bought it for $30 at HD and it gets used fairly often when I makes jigs.

 

[Raymond]

I use from 5/8 to 2" Just depends on the application that I need. For installing trim work in my house we used almost totally 2" nails. For some reason when our house was build they used double layers of 5/8 drywall. Under that was plaster and lath. Makes for a very thick wall.

 

[sbryan55]

Johnny, all my nailers shoot nails up to at least 2" in length. To tell the truth I have largely gotten away from using brads and now use my pin nailer almost exclusively. For trim I will generally go with 2" nails and for furniture use anything from 5/8" to 2".

 

[makedust]

I do a lot of cabinet type work. I use my brad nailer with 5/8 to 1-1/4 brad nails constantly. I use my pin nailer mostly for smaller molding installation…Ron

 

[Sawkerf]

I use 18ga brads from 5/8" to 2", 23ga pins from 1/2" to 1", and 16ga finish nails up to 2.5".

If you get a brad nailer, get one that can handle several brad lengths.

 

[richgreer]

I just did a job yesterday where I used 2 in brads. In theory, I could have used my finishing nailer but that would have been over kill. Besides, I would rather leave the smaller head of a brad visible instead of the larger head of a finishing nail.

I have an 23 gauge pinning gun, an 18 gauge brad nailer and a 16 gauge finishing nailer. I only use the finishing nailer when I am working as a carpenter (not a woodworker). If I could only have one, it would be the brad nailer.

 

[syenefarmer]

On occasion I have shot 2" long brads but the majority of my brad usage is the 1-3/8" length brads.

 

[Loren]

The 2" 18 ga nails can be useful, but they have a tendency to curve as they go in,
sometimes blowing out the side of the piece - which is hard to fix and a pain besides.

Stick to under 1 3/8" to avoid blowout in 18 ga brads. Even then, I learned as as
pro to put a bit of "english" on the nailer to hedge against blowout. I suspect
all experienced brad gun users do the same, but I've never read about it. There's
definitely a technique to using the guns that you learn from experience.

With so many affordable nailers on the market these days, it's not hard to have
a 16 or 15 ga. nailer too. The 18 is definitely the most useful for cabinetmaking
and trim work. The 15 ga. and 16 ga. nails come in angled varieties which is useful
for getting into corners. The 15 ga. nails look more like "real" nails. I prefer 15,
but that's a bit arbitrary - either 15 or 16 will do fine for a bigger cabinet nailer.
Look at the angle of the magazine as it seems to vary from brand to brand.

Also, look in your local phone book to see if there's a shop that sells air tools and
find out what they keep on hand. The big box stores seldom have all the nail
sizes you would need for cabinetmaking, and certainly not for all brands of gun.

 

[EEngineer]

Just this summer I acquired a compressor and bought an 18 ga brad nailer. I ended up using a lot of 2" nails. Blowout can be a problem, but I've found that 2" nails hold like nothing else.

A couple of weeks ago, I put up about 70 feet of chair rail up the stairs and around the hallway in my house. I used 2" nails for the main body (tried to hit every other stud) and 5/8" on all the outside mitered corners (all with construction adhesive too). I actually had one 2" do a complete 180 and come back out the chair rail ~ 1/2" from where it went in. I wonder if there was a rock in the plaster.

I love woodworking with this thing. Rather than tying up all my clamps for each glueup, I clamp and glue, nail brads to hold everything together while the glue dries and move the clamps on to the next stage.

 

[DrDirt]

I have used the Porter Cable BN200 and used 2 inch brads to tack up a chair rail since it was about 1 inch thick sitting on top of 1/2 inch drywall, there is only 1/2 inch of brad in the studs + whatever portion of the brad was countersunk.

You can always shoot short nails with the BN200 but not long nails with the other gun.

 

[pmayer]

I shoot 2" brads all the time, and I think you will not regret spending the additional $ for the capacity.

 

[Julian]

I have been a trim carpenter for over 15 years and I never use a brad longer than 1 1/4. If it needs to be longer I just use a 16 gauge nail. I also love using 5/8 pins in my micro pinner. It is all about the right nail for the job.

 

[cranbrook2]

I am the same as Julian .