Recently there have been questions about what type of stapler to use in LQ construction, electric etc. My experiences with electric drivers have been poor. Mine have been unreliable and the only common staples I've found, are the same as used in the manual drivers, which are short and only have wide widths. They will not drive well into hard woods and are better suited to installing insulation into studs. It took three replacement tools to find one that would continually work.

I have worked with air tools for decades in industrial settings and home construction. In the last few years, just as with the wide spread availability of quality battery tools, there have been made available, a good selection of air tools that work well for non-contractors at greatly reduced prices from the commercial grades.

Air tools require only a minimum of maintenance, are long lived, versatile and quite powerful. The products they use, nails and staples are commonly available in every big box store or mail order. Best of all, the tools are relatively inexpensive, and make your tasks very much easier to accomplish.

For instance, to install a crown molding typically would involve having a second pair of hands hold the trim in place, while you drill a hole, insert a rather large trim nail, bang it into place whilst being careful not to dimple the wood and then setting the head with a nail set. With a brad nailer, the entire job would have been finished in a shorter time than it took to read that sentence, with only one person. There would be no tell tale hammer marks, and the nail heads would be half the size of the finish nails.

The first thing you need is a compressor. If you have one of almost any size, it will power air nailers. If you don't, I would recommend this one at the minimum:

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog/product/view/id/3141/category/708/

Professionals will scoff at its size and price. I have four compressors, varying in size from a large industrial unit I used in fiberglass boat construction, to the purchase of this one. This is very versatile and is now used more than the others combined. It should not be compared to a contractor's grade pancake unit, in anything other than size and appearance. It uses a much smaller motor and as a result its output is a fraction of the commercial units.

But that is what enhances its usability. At 20 lbs, I can carry it to any room in which I'm working, upstairs or down, mine or my daughter's house with the same ease. Because of its low electrical consumption, I can plug it into any outlet, or the end of a common 14 AWG hundred foot extension cord. I can take it to a trailer's tire, instead of firing up a large fixed compressor, dragging out long and heavy air hoses, just to add a few pounds of air.

The price is right too. It lists for ~$70, is often on sale for ~$55- $60 and I found a coupon for $39. Added to $6.95 shipping and it was delivered to my house for under $50. What a bargan.

Two tools are handy for LQs and house hold work. The first is a brad nailer. Name brands can be purchased for well over $100 and up, or for much less, $20 guns are available. Most name brands of which we are familiar are manufactured in China or Taiwan, so are the inexpensive ones.

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/nailers-staplers/18-gauge-brad-nailer-68021.html

The second is a narrow crown stapler. It will drive staples through most materials and leave a very small head showing. For upholstery, ceilings, anything the holding power of a staple is needed over a brad, this is an ideal tool. I've used my narrow guage stapler to affix many squares of cedar shake shingles, during several projects. I've used it to secure carpeting, the covering on a foot stool and the upholstery on a carriage.

 http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/nailers-staplers/18-gauge-14-crown-air-stapler-68018.html

There is another tool of which I have not used. It is a combination of a stapler and brad nailer. I don't know about its performance, but many manufacturers make these combination tools, and apparently have little difficulty shooting both products.

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/nailers-staplers/18-gauge-2-in-1-nailerstapler-68019-8341.html

I like having seperate tools, ready to use and not having to change fasteners when my needs change.

Regarding fasteners. Many years ago I purchased a HF brad gun, only because it was so inexpensive and they were among the first suppliers to offer it. I also bought some of their brads. I was installing some very small moldings into a glass paneled door, I made for our living room book cases. My larger finishing nailers are too large for this purpose. The first few shots with the brad nailer were excellent, and I congratulated myself on owning the perfect tool. After a dozen or so shots the gun jammed. The nose piece had to be dissassembled to clear the jam, almost a five minute job. After another dozen shots, the jam was repeated. In disgust I threw the gun in the cabinet. and didn't use it for many months.

When I was at the Home Depot picking up some staples for my sheathing stapler and nails for my framing gun, I noticed brads of the Porter Cable brand. I bought a box, dug the gun out of the cabinet, loaded it up and fired the whole strip into a 2X4. No jams, no misfires. A second strip resulted in the same performance. Many years and thousands of nails later, the gun has performed flawlessly using name brand brads. My Porter Cable finishing nailer has shot well over 25000 nails with no jamming, using only brand name nails.

For less than $100, you can buy a compressor, a 25' hose and two guns. You will have a better job, less work and will enjoy the construction process. As your skills and familiarity with the tools increase, you will be able to tackle even more projects and find the tools even more useful.

The coupon number for the compressor at $39.99 is lot # 95275 coupon # 56028680 and the combination stapler/nailer is now being sold for $15.99 lot # 68019 coupon # 32439577

Nail/brad/stapler gun maintenance: keep air inlet free of dust and debris. Keep gun clean. Add a few drops of oil to the inlet at the beginning of each days' work. That's it, you're done.

Enjoy years of reliability and function.

 I just ordered that compressor and stapler/nailer. Just tore out my LQ and starting over, so I'm sure it will come in handy!!

I would appreciate knowing how well the combination tool works. If you have time to relate some comments after you have some experience with the tool, I'm sure others would be interested as well.

As I previously posted, I would purchase the fasteners at a local supplier and not HF. Also, if it isn't supplied with the gun, pick up a small container of pneumatic tool oil. Add a few drops to the air inlet before it is used during the day. If the gun is being used heavily, reoil every four hours or so.

BOL