shoe molding

[hazmat]

Wife is on me to finish up downstairs project.

Question - Is shoe molding a good excuse to pick up an 18ga pnuematic brad nailer? Or will my 15ga angled finish nailer do the job? I'm worried about splitting the shoe.

[Bird]

I can't say for sure, but I think you ought to get that 18 ga. brad nailer. I sure found mine to be handy for other things as well, such as building bird feeders and even built a doghouse for a big dog with it just to see if those brads would hold up, and they did.

[GaryM]

You ought to get a cordless if you're buying. Either a Paslode or the new Senco that is battery driven. The Sencor's a neat unit. A motor spins a flywheel. Then that energy is used to drive the nail. See them here: http://www.senco.com/products/af/index.asp

[Stoneheartfarm]

I put up an awful lot of trim with my 15ga angle finish nailer. Down to 1/2" quarter round and cove. Split a few pieces and had to re-do them, but not that much. Does leave some rather big nail holes though.

Steve

[AndyF]

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but the bigger nailer should do fine. I've put in a lot of trim with mine and as long as you don't mind filling the nail holes it will do a good job.

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> Is shoe molding a good excuse to pick up an 18ga pnuematic brad nailer? </font color>

Think about what you're asking, man! "My wife will let me buy another tool because she wants a project completed. Should I buy another tool or not?"

Absolutely! Whatever were you thinking??? [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[hazmat]

2 &amp; 1/2 for, 2 against. The aye's have it. (Gary your "vote" sealed the deal)

Since sears was kind enough to have a craftsman club sale starting today I picked up the Bostitch BT200 I went with pnuematic because I've already got the compressor &amp; don't want to deal with charging batteries or propane cartridges. Plus my bostitch angle finish nailer has served me well so far.

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Hazmat,

Glad I could 'help' on this one. The very idea that any male would pass up the opportunity to add another tool to his collection is just so foreign to me I couldn't believe this would have been close at all.

Of course, this is coming from a guy who just bought a bale spear... and has no bale to spear... and no baler to make a bale... and no hay to bale... [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> I'm worried about splitting the shoe </font color>

And oak shoe splits easily (I'm presuming oak, because of the history of this project).

By all means, grab whatever pneumatic nailer you can that will do this job, esp. with spousal permission [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] The alternative, for hand nailing, is to dull the points of your finish nails so they do not tend to split the oak. I used to tap them against the anvil of my vise to dull them when I had to hand nail.

To be 100% sure against splitting, if you have this much time, is to predrill the nail holes, using a finish nail, with the head cut off, as the drill bit.

I think the pneumatic nailer will serve you best. You might ruin some stock, but the total time spent wil be much less.

[Chuck52]

OK. I'll bite. Just what are you planning to spear?

Chuck