Feature Tool: Pneumatic Finish Nailer

We’re always excited to receive new donations of tools here at the VTL but it was an especially good day when we heard we’d be getting a Porter-Cable Pneumatic Finish Nailer. This had been on our wish list for a while now and we are happy to now be able to offer this to our members!

Photo courtesy of Home Depot

Pneumatic tools use compressed air instead of electricity to produce a mechanical motion. In the case of the finish nailer, the air helps drive a fastener into the material with which you’re working. There are a few advantages to this type of tool over their power tool counterparts:

• Simple to use and control – they are quite light and lessen the risk of splitting your material;
• More reliable – they require less maintenance and have longer operating lives; and
• Safer – these tools do not jam as easily.

Pneumatic finish nailers are used for projects where a hammer just won’t cut it. Sometimes, a hammer is all it takes – I wouldn’t advocate the use of a finish nailer to hang a picture, for example – but a finish nailer is excellent for those projects where one hand is necessary to hold a piece of material in place or the work surface is large. Speed and efficiency is the name of the game with this tool.

With the pneumatic finish nailer, it is easy to set the position of the fastener, control where the fastener goes, and move swiftly. A home project that could’ve taken hours is reduced to a few minutes.

The great thing about the Porter-Cable finish nailer specifically is that it has an adjustable exhaust air vent which allows the user to direct the air away to deflect contaminants. This adds to the safety features of the tool. The nails are easily loaded into the magazine and, unlike some other nailers, it does not require oil for the magazine.

Popular Mechanics has a great run-down of a few different types of finish nailers: Finish Nailer Face-Off: We Test the Top 10 – Popular Mechanics

Here is an informative video from Porter Cable that touches on the mechanics of the nailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkghLLWDphE.

If you’ve done a project with a pneumatic finish nailer before, upload your pictures to our Facebook page or tweet it to us.