Shoutout to the old timer who told me my framing nailer technique was backwards

I spent about 5 years shooting nails at a slight downward angle like I was trying to sink them into the wood. Then this crusty guy named Bill on a job site in Denver watched me for like 30 seconds and said stop doing that. He showed me how the nail gun should be flat against the wood and you let the recoil do the work. I argued with him for a solid minute because I thought I knew better. Then I tried it his way and my nails stopped bending and I saved like 20 minutes a day on just not fighting the tool. Anyone else get a hard lesson from a random carpenter who knew more than they let on?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkerrodriguez22d ago

Same thing happened to me with a guy named Mike on a framing crew in Austin. He told me to keep the gun barrel dead flat and let the nail set itself, not push down hard. First few nails I did it his way felt wrong but he was right about the recoil doing the work. I still remember how many fewer nails I snapped after that one fix.

ryan65322d ago

Picked up a similar trick from an old framer in Phoenix who told me I was fighting the nail gun instead of letting it do its job. Felt like an idiot for about a week but after that my work got way cleaner and faster.