A brad nailer is a great addition to anyone who performs woodworking jobs. Whether you are a professional or DIY homeowner, the brad nail gun will ease out lot of your woodworking projects in the blinking of your eyes.
Thanks to the versatility of the brad nail gun, it has become part and parcel of every carpentry job to hammer nails through any surface. But what is a brad nailer used for in practical life?
Well, its application includes hanging panels, attaching molding for decorations to walls, crown molding, etc. But the brad nailer applications aren’t limited only in these jobs. Once you know how to safely use the brad nailer, you will open up virtually limitless uses of the hammering tool.
What is a Brad Nailer?
Brad nailer is a popular home improvement tool and used to shot mainly 18-gauge nails. The 18-gauge nails have a rectangular head and uses for woodworking projects where you don’t need large nails. The nail size varies from 5/8-inch to 2-inch. Also, brad nailers mainly use stainless steel or galvanised nails for their jobs.
Brad nailers are moderately powerful and depending on their power sources, you will find two types of brad nailers. These are:
Battery-operated brad nailers: The battery-operated or cordless brand nailers use the power from its battery to generate the power. As it doesn’t need any cord, you can easily reach the hard-to-reach locations for nailing jobs with it. It gets the power from the motor and works pretty fast.
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Pneumatic brad nailers: As the name suggests, pneumatic brad nail guns use an air compressor to get the required power for shooting the nails. It uses a hose to connect the air compressor with the main nail gun and drive the nail with the required power.
The pneumatic brad nailer is famous for its neat and clean finish. Also, you will love its easy application similar to cordless brad nailers.
What is a Brad Nailer Used for?
A brad nailer is a great power tool that makes your most woodworking jobs easier. Sadly, most people don’t know the full range of applications a brad nailer can perform. Thus, they can only use a portion of the immense ability of the brad nailer.
If you want to know the uses of brad nailer, the following points will be of great help for you. It will make your DIY carpentry jobs fun and easy.
Crown Molding
You may require replacing the thin nails for window casing or crown molding jobs. The brad nailer is a more than handy tool in this regard. Since brad nailers are designed to work with smaller and thin nails, it makes your crown molding jobs easy and ensures a beautiful finish.
The crown molding refers to the border on the gap between the wall surface and ceiling. The border has a lining and it is the crown molding. The brad nailer can reach such heights with ease and allows you to shot 18-gauge nails for a perfect finish.
Baseboard’s Attachment
When you attach baseboard with the wall, you don’t need large nails. Baseboards are generally thinner and needs small nails for connecting with the wall surface. It is also crucial since larger nails or powerful nailers may damage the board.
Thus, brad nailers with its small nailing capacity make the baseboard attachment job convenient. It easily fires the small nails through the baseboard and offers a neat and clean finish. Thanks to the brilliant finish provided by the brad nailer, you don’t need to apply carpenter putty over the nails to hide the imperfections.
Crafting jobs
Another less-known but excellent applications is done by the brad nail gun for crafting jobs. You can use the 18-gauge brad nailer for small furnishing jobs and create different wooden models for kids. Also, you can use the nailers for different decorative purposes.
You may even guide your kids to use the brad nailers to create their pet’s home or school projects as they are pretty safe to use.
Other uses of brad nailers
The uses of brad nailer aren’t limited only here. Some less-prominent but effective applications of the brad nail gun include:
- You can put up the drywall easily right on the wall with the brad nailers
- You can use the brad nailer to install wall trims perfectly
- You may temporarily hang the panels on the ceiling until you apply glue
- Installing the window and door frames and shiplap
Tips on The Brad Nailer Safety Requirements
There’s no doubt that a brad nailer is an excellent power tool and would make your home improvement easy. However, likewise all power tools, mistakes during brad nailer applications and not following proper safety requirements might put you in seriously dangerous conditions. Hence, you must know and follow the safety requirements before using the brad nailer.
First off, when you use the brad nailer to shot the nails, always wear gloves. If the nailer fails to shot any nails, it may hurt your fingers. Also, the backspin from the fired nail might hurt your badly if you perform the job bare hand.
When you fire the nails, make sure your fingers are away from the drive path or else, it could get damaged easily. On top of it, when you change the belt of the nail gun. Make sure that you don’t load the old nail belt twice accidentally.
Finally, avoid shooting the nails in a steeper angle. If you shot the nails too steeply it might skim off instead of sinking into the surface.
Final Words
A brad nailer is a pretty versatile power tool made for firing thinner and smaller nails for different projects. You can use it for crown molding, baseboard attachment, trim wall installation, small handcrafts and what not!
You will also appreciate the neat and clean finish of the brad nailers. It saves you from investing on a carpenter putty to hide the imperfections and also, makes the nails jobs pretty faster. Hence, it could be a great addition to your tool’s inventory.
