I have ordered and received a finishing nailer from Harbor Freight. It
is called "16 GAUGE HEAVY DUTY BRAD TACKER":
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=31317

And yes, it works. I can use it to toe-nail two pieces of wood
together, and the nail head is slightly below the surface of the wood.
The depth of the counter-sink of the nail head depending on the angle
of where I position the nailer head against the wood. And it is not a
piece of finely polished equipment, it is quite rough. But at least it
works, and it is cheap.

The only reservation is that it doesn't have anyway to adjust the depth
of the counter-sink, other than by changing the angle of the nailer
head against the wood as mentioned above. This works for toe nailing
on two pieces of soft woods (4x4). I don't know if it will still work
OK if I toe-nail two pieces of hard woods. We will see.

Jay Chan


wrote:
You are quite right. I tried toe-nailing with a Senco finish nailer
(15-gauge), and the result is exactly the same as when I used a Senco
brad nailer (18 gauge). This problem must have to do with the gap
between the nailer head and the wood surface when I need to tilt the
nailer for toe-nailing. Oh well... This means I need to find a cheap
nailer that I can remove the safety assembly from the nailer head to
reduce the gap, and use it just for toe-nailing. And this brings me
back to my original question of this thread: Where can I get a cheap
nailer that can do well with toe-nailing?

Jay Chan

CW wrote:
The finish nailer is unlikely to be any different.
wrote in message
oups.com...
Swingman wrote:
wrote in message

Seem like there is something wrong with
shooting a nail at an angle that cause the nail not be able to
penetrate into the wood completely.

Dollars to donuts that "something", with your particular tool, is the
angle
of the head of the nail gun when toenailing.

IOW, not being in full contact with the surface of the material being
nailed, the extra distance the brad must travel is just enough to keep
it
from penetrating to the desired depth.

IME, most _brad_ nailers will not toe-nail consistently. Neither of mine
will (Delta and HF), I would suspect that with those that will, it is
more
or less luck of the draw.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/05

I think you are right. The nailer head cannot maintain a good contact
with the wood surface when I use the brad nailer for toe-nailing. And
this probably creates the problem.

If brad nailers are not appropriate for toe-nailing, sound like I
should try my finish-nailer for toe-nailing to see if it works better.
I didn't think of using finish-nailer for toe-nailing because finish
nails may be too long for toe-nailing. I may try the shortest finish
nails to see if they work better than the brad nails. If finish nailer
doesn't work well either, I will have to use pocket screws.

Jay Chan