Positive Placement Nailers

carpentershane

I have a couple of big decks coming up on the docket and I am tired of handnailing ticos into dozens of joist hangers. I was wondering about the experiences of all you deck builders and the pros and cons of the Hitachi and Bostich PP nailers. Both of these nailers are readily available at my local yard... the Hitachi shoots 1 1/2s and 2 1/2s and the Bostich only shoots a 1 1/2s. I would be interested in any problems and positives you have had with each.

Thanks,

Shane.

Greg Di

I have the Bostitch and love it.

We still hand nail the 2-1/2's but only because I haven't had the motivation to buy yet ANOTHER nail gun.

I've good and bad things about the Hitachi FWIW.

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BuiltByMAC

I own the Hitachi NR65 and have good success w/ it. I wouldn't build another deck w/o a PP nailer.

Shootin' the 2 1/2s as well as the shorter ones is great when doing ladder or scaffold work - load your bags w/ both sizes but only deal w/ one gun...

Mac

Winchester

I've been thinking this would be high on my priority list for tool purchases.

I'm leaning towards the Hitachi, because of the sizes.

I'm a little slow right now, so at the moment I don't mind hand nailing

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Ryan

fast fred

the paselode is the gun to go with, but it's heavy and retails around 400.00. It's a first class tank.

the bostich is ok, much lighter, but feels like it'll break easier, I bought one for around 200.00 and it still works, not to high on bostich guns though. but the price.......

never used the hitachi or the adapters you can put on framing guns.

deckman22

The OP is about guns that shoot joist hanger nails, not framing guns. They are not very much $. Sometimes refered to as palm nailers.

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John Hyatt

I use the Grip Rite palm nailer works great, so do all three nial guns they are the first I have used that will countersink brads into the end grain of Ipe. J.

KennMacMoragh

I used to use the Hitachi working for a large framing company. They work good when they work, but they are not very durable, they will break after a little wear and tear. I think the cost in maintaining them will almost outweigh the money you save in time using them. Someone told me the Passload is way more reliable, but I haven't tried them.

I couldn't see myself buying one for just a couple of decks. It doesn't take me very long to hand bang four Tico nails in a joist hanger, the ones in the joists have to be hand banged anyway with 16's. I'd probably have to build 100 decks before one of them paid off. Seems to me they are better suited if you have some tract framing to do. But if you have the money to spend, that's cool I guess.

Willie T

Good buys, all. And IMO you cannot do without also having a palm nailer.

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redwood

I have the Bostich that shoots both sizes. It's a great, great buy if you have a lot of hardware to nail. It can pay for itself in almost one job. In Ca., we have to use a lot of hardware.

It does jam up occaisionally, but it's pretty easy to clear.

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Los Gatos, CA
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curapa

I use the Bostich, no complaints.

I have used the Grip Rite and Paslode and they worked O.K., the Paslode was heavy as hell though. Never used a Hitachi positive placement nailer but that is the ony brand I use for framing guns.

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BuiltByMAC

quick clarification - positive placement nailers are different from palm nailers. You will need both types at some point in your career though!

It's not 4 nails, it's 400 +/- on larger decks. As has been proven w/ framing guns, using a gun is much faster than hand nailing. Joists can be nailed w/ 2 1/2" Tecos using the Hitachi. That's 8 nails per hanger driven by a gun in a matter of seconds. To say nothing of elbow wear and tear from swinging a hammer (and the occasional bashed fingertip!)

Of course, there are holdouts that feel framing should still be hand nailed too. To each their own.

To the OP, snag yourself a $40 palm nailer too - that way you can get nails into the tight spots where a gun or a swinging hammer won't fit.

Mac

Greg Di

Yup. Mac is right as usual.

Gotta have a palm nailer too. That's what we use on the 2-1/2's. I have (had) an older Senco that had all sorts of attachments with it like chisels, a hammer head, and something else. The tool was POS though. Leaked from the day I got it and I was too lazy to take it apart to futz with it.

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Timuhler

We have owned and used the Hitachis, Paslode, and both Bostitch guns.

I prefer the Bostitch guns because the first Hitachi we had, had issues.

The Paslode it just too heavy.

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loneframer

Just bought the Bostich that only shoots up to 1 1/2" nails, but the price was right. Display unit from HD for 105 bucks. Typically I used a palm nailer and ran 12D commons in every hole. I liked the added shear strength going through the ledger into the box joist, as I did a lot of rental units in shore communities. Code enforcement started requiring through bolts a few years ago, due to several deck collapses.

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SAcarpenter

We have the paslode that shoots the 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" and like the others said, it's heavy as hell. It is however, capable of driving the long nails into micro's and such as fast as you can line up the holes. We also use the bostich "strap shot" that only shoots the shorties but it doesn't have as much power IMO so it only get used for hurricane clips. (We usually have a guy at each end of the truss nail it down and put the clips on as we go so we need both guns.)

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KennMacMoragh

It depends what kind of job it is. I just did a deck 44 feet long with 2 x 6 hangers, 4 Tico nails per hanger. I set all the joists and installed the hangers in 2 hours nailing the Tico's by hand. If I had a positive placement nailer, I probably would have gotten it done in 1 hour 57 minutes? Buying the gun wouldn't be worth it to me.

carpentershane

Thanks for the info all. I have been picking up more decks as of late, and as I usually work solo, I try to find more efficient means of doing things.
I don't build decks with smaller than 2x8 joists, so by the time you hand drive the nails in 48 joist hangers at 8 nails a hanger it adds up in time. The palm nailer speeds things up some but I think the positive placement will save me enough time to pay for itself in the long run.
As to palm nailer, it is a given...

John Hyatt

Guys...take it from a ol Carpenter that usta frame with a rig ax for hmmmmmmm a lot of years. Anything you can do to take the load off your elbow Now when your young will help keep you from having bone spurs sticking up and 30 % extention movement gone in your right arm Like the Jon Mon.

Buy the GD air tools and use them any place you can.

Warren

Every carpenter should own a palm nailer. So inexpensive and handy. They can get into places that a gun can't. As for the positive placement nailers, we have had a paslode for about 7 years. Never been in the shop, although the brass tip has worn down a few times. Biggest problem with it is the cost of the nails. I figure that even if you break even, at least the job was easier with less stress on the body.