Took me 3 years to stop hating those battery powered nail guns

I used to be one of those guys who swore by pneumatic nailers for everything. Last month I was up on a roof near the North Valley fixing some loose sheathing and my compressor hose kept snagging on the shingles. My helper had a little 18ga battery finish nailer he'd just bought from Home Depot and I was ready to give him a hard time about it... but he handed it to me to try on a tricky spot near the edge. It sunk that nail perfect and I didn't have to drag the hose around. Then last week I used his framing nailer to put up some furring strips in a tight crawlspace and it never jammed once. I finally broke down and bought my own set on Monday and I gotta admit I was wrong about them. Has anyone else had that moment where you just give in to battery tools after swearing by air for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

hill.barbara7d ago

Damn, you actually got three years out of hating them? I was a diehard pneumatic guy for almost a decade. I remember the first time I used a battery framing nailer at a buddy's barn build back in 2018 and it felt like a toy, kept waiting for it to misfire or leave proud heads everywhere but it just kept driving nails flush. The real kicker for me was when I was doing a lot of work on a house with a steep metal roof and trying to keep an air hose from sliding off was just a nightmare. Now I got four battery nailers sitting in my truck and my old compressor is just collecting dust in the corner of the garage, feels like betrayal but they really do just work.

taylorb947d agoProlific Poster

Nah man, I still can't get there. I've tried a couple of the big brand battery framers and they just feel off to me. Heavy as hell, awkward balance, and I swear the one I borrowed ran out of juice halfway through a deck and I had to wait twenty minutes for a charge. Give me my hose and compressor any day, at least I know it'll still be working after four years without dropping a couple hundred on new batteries.