Old framer told me I was using my nail gun wrong for years

I was out on a job in Portland last month and this guy in his 60s walks over and watches me for a minute. He says I was holding the gun too loose and letting it bounce after each shot. Turns out I was jamming the nail head too deep into the studs and losing holding power. I kept my wrist stiff and pressed firm after that, and my frames actually stayed tight. Has anyone else gotten a simple grip adjustment that saved them time redoing stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_perry3d ago

Buddy of mine from job sites down in Salem had the exact same thing happen. Older carpenter watched him for a solid 5 minutes before saying anything. He was shooting nails at an angle without even knowing it, just because he was rocking his wrist back on the trigger pull. Guy told him to keep his elbow locked and drive it straight. My friend said it felt weird for about a week but after that his connections stopped splitting the wood and his framing actually held square. Simple stuff like that can save you hours of fixing things later.

nora103d ago

That bit about rocking the wrist back is so true. I read an article online recently from one of those old school trade magazines, they said the same thing about nail guns and how the angle of the nail changes the holding power by a lot. They had pictures showing how a nail driven even 5 degrees off can actually pull out of the wood way easier under stress. Your buddy's story about the older carpenter noticing it in 5 minutes is exactly how I've seen it play out on my own projects. Sometimes you don't even feel yourself doing it until someone watches you.