I need to replace the cedar pickets on the fence around my backyard and considering buying a nail gun to make it easier. I noticed they come with different nailing angles.

What do I need to know before I buy one?

Since I will seldom use it, should I consider Harbor Freight?

Thanks in advance.

Framing gun will give you a variety of different nails to choose from but most fence guys use a coil gun.

Fence guys use coil guns.

Pick on up at a pawnshop

You can also get a paslode nailer. Just be sure to set the depth so it dosent blow your fasteners thru the board

I can say that Hitachi makes a good framing gun.

For doing fences you want a coil gun. Hitachi and duofast make great ones, the ones that I rent out just keep working and they are 10 years old and seen many cases of nails with out any problems. Like said above try to find a used one at a pawnshop if you really want to buy one. Looks like a new Hitachi from homedpot is about 300 bucks.

Walter

I hate nails for fences.....over time as the boards warp the nails pull out. (Ie - the 8' fence I had built here 3-1/2 years ago)

My neighbor and I built our fences together at the old house 16 years ago. Drove by there the other day and while the boards have aged NONE have pulled loose.

Defiantly takes longer to build but it turns out a quality product.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Will my 3 gal, 100 psi compressor hold enough volume and punch to run a nail gun.

Yes, screws would be better, but I don't mind driving an occasional nail or two in the future.

That little compressor will most likely struggle.

Most fencing material has a strong tendency to warp. You will be much better off with screws from the start.

I know the fencing companies use nails. However, they are trying to make time, and they will be back sooner to fix the fence when it falls a part after being nailed up. They can look at as job security.

Use glue lined ring nails. You'll not pull those out easily.

^ ^ Good solid advice right there

When some of the boards start to warp you will wish you had used screws. Buy extra boards, you will need some of them later. The guy that did our fence had me buy 1% extra, over the next 2 years we used just about all of them. Slowly one at a time some had to be replaced, mostly they just bowed real bad, but some twisted like they were pretzels. 16 years later and the fence is still there.

Use Stainless steel screws. Everything else will rust and leave drip stains on your fence.

I've had good luck recently with these........


http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?part...w&cId=PDIO1

Get ya self a senco screw gun and never look back. Spend the money on the rustoleum,self drilling screws. No rust or runs in the wood and wont pull out of the runners. That screw gun will not be much slower than a nail gun with far superior results. Do it right and walk away never worry about again . Any future repairs that may rise you will be happier trying to remove some screws than beat out some nails.

Is it the Harbor Freight compressor?

Small compressor will work just fine. You are using small burst of air, not a constant high flow like a impact or paint gun. I watched 200 roofs put on this summer after our massive hail storm and almost all crews used 2-3 gallon pancake compressors.

When I used to work at Home Depot, we sold a ton of hitachi coil nailers. Everything else was broken and returned. The internal gas paslodes suck.


Use stainless screws though. Do it right or wait and do it right when you can afford to or want too.

Thanks again for all the tips and suggestions.

My father-N-law built his fence over twenty years ago as a family project.They stained each board before placing it and each board is secured by screws.Surely not the fastest way to build one but twenty + years on a fence that is still solid is a rarity.

Cedar pickets will not warp nearly as bad as treated pickets, galvanized ring shank nails out of a coil gun you'll be fine. However treated 4x4 posts and treated 2x4 will warp something fierce. Best go in with metal poles and cedar 2x4s as well as cedar pickets. Small compressors work fine for nailguns. The nails you need for fence pickets out of a framing gun are godly expensive. Probably close to 3 times as much as coil nails

I use a Hitachi coil siding gun with shanks galvanized nails. Works well for my application.