Should I buy a nail gun?

[Henno]

Hi guys,

Have a couple of small projects coming up which will require either some small nailing (35mm) but plenty of them. Not sure if I should fork out some cash on a Ryobi 18ga brad nailer or just quietly accept the fact there will be bruising and broken nails (mine).

I don't have any of the Ryobi line of products and $320 is a bit of a cash outlay for several projects.

Maybe I'm just getting lazier as I grow older!

I do have a Powerpass and $40 worth of unused vouchers.

Anyway, all I need is a little bit more convincing or an easier way of driving about 1000 nails.

Yours in DIY

Henno

[Brad]

I went with a cheap air option when there was a decent special on them.

I was too slow on the Bosch 18v nailer and by all reports that may of been a good thing. I looked at Dewalt but the nose piece was fairly large for what I wanted to do, now I have a few oddball Ryobi 18v tools I may add the nailer one day as well to cut free of the compressor...

When I put a bookshelf together it was in the instructions to hold the nails with pliers to start them off to avoid damaging anything important. I know some people would say that is a soft option, you should let them hold the nails for you.

[Henno]

Thanks for the input Brad.

I love it when irony comes together as easily as this! A bloke named Brad answering my question about a "brad nailer". Loving it!

I'm reading some decent reviews about the Ryobi 18ga, so I might just wait until Father's Day before I "pull the trigger" and buy one.

The only thing this does is commits me to the Ryobi One+ range of products and I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

At the moment I'm committed to a German brand which shall remain nameless, but let's say it rhymes with Schmetabo. This has suited me down to the ground, but is in the upper range cost-wise and for the purposes of these projects, not in my price range.

I might just put the acid on the kids to give their dear old Dad something other than undies and socks this year!

[Jason]

Just thought I'd tag @ProjectPete in this discussion as I'm keen to hear his thoughts. 

Other experienced members who might have invested in nailguns include @She_Skills, @Yorky88, @LePallet, @royq and @woodalwaysworks.

Thanks for joining in the discussion,

Jason

[Brad]

Your not commited to a brand till you get the t-shirt...

[ProjectPete · Accepted solution]

You're spot on there @Brad 

@Henno it's a tough one. Either it's worth the $$$ to you for a single project or it's not. Performance wise, they're a great tool. Can you see yourself using it again? There's always the option to sell a near new one to recoup some $$$. Know anyone you can borrow one from? A way to justify it (or not) is to calculate the difference in time it'll take manual vs automatic and multiple that against your hourly rate.

From my perspective, Ryobi and Makita are my brands of choice and I've been very pleased with the improvements in Ryobi products more recently - great value for money. On the point of being tied to Ryobi, it's not quite the case - you can buy battery adapters for about $70 these days to use battery/tool brands interchangeably. I'm not recommending it as I haven't looked into it enough but do know they exist.

[Henno]

I think you might be right here Pete.

Weighing up the pros and cons I reckon it will save me time as well as using the right tool for the jobs concerned. You can't pfaff around trying to make do with the wrong tool and botching the job.

As far as recouping some cash from the original purchase, I'm not too worried because I can always hand it on to a mate or my son.

It can come in use for other things like holding stuff in place whilst fixing in a more permanent fashion as it is only an 18ga and I'm sure I will be able to lend it to friends. But isn't there a saying about lending things to neighbours and friends?

Anyway, I think I'll bite the bullet and commit — but only on a small battery scale. Perhaps I can snag a charger and battery cheaper on eBay.

Thanks for everyone's input, I'm looking forward to Father's Day now. Just have to drop a couple of hints to the kids...

[Kiwifr33]

Hi @Henno, it sounds like you’re fairly committed to battery, but Ryobi has an air kit of framing nailer, 18ga bladder and stapler for $245. For all three.

Forked out for my recent shed build and have barely used the Brad nailer yet, but it’s there when I need it. The biggest pain is storing the hose...

[Henno]

Yeah @Kiwifr33, the extra cost of buying a compressor and hoses and then finding storage for same would not be cost-effective for me. You also have the extra upkeep of maintaining the compressor and all the other stuff, once again lacks appeal. Being able to just "charge and go" is a much better proposition. Thanks for the input though!

[Adam_W]

For what it's worth... I have one of the Ryobi +ONE nailers & it's a pretty good machine. Certainly good value for money. Being in the +ONE ecosystem it does mean that you can then easily add more skins from the range.