I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add braces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block wall is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid elecrtrical
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. Also needed to use those
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?

On Nov 22, 8:09*pm, Vic Smith wrote:
On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:31:32 -0800 (PST), jamesgangnc

wrote:
On Nov 22, 8:17*pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add braces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block wall is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid elecrtrical
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. *Also needed to use those
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. *I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?

Nailing into old wood can be difficult. *I was trying to hand nail
some just the other day and bent several nails.

Never found old wood hard to nail into unless it happened to be dense
or knotty. *Old wood dries and splits easily IME.
Green dense wood can be tough, even pine.
Palm nailers are pretty foolproof.
Probably hitting metal or you got some soft nails.
Try them in some scrap wood.

--Vic

If the nails were cheap, like from Menards, I would try nails from
another source.

On Nov 22, 11:01*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:

snip

If the nails were cheap, like from Menards, I would try nails from
another source.

Don't agree withe critique of Menard's nails. Used their MM brand for
years, very good quality, American made IIRC. Problem may have been
that the palm nailers don't work with air pressure too high or with
box nails. OTOH, the Craftsman Li Ion nailer handles the mean one
surprisingly well. Craftsman might be doing some serious upgrading to
their non hand tool line if this is an example. Bears watching.

Joe

On Nov 22, 8:17*pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add braces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block wall is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid elecrtrical
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. *Also needed to use those
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. *I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?

It's amazing you had the patience for six nail attempts. You're
inspiring.

R

"MiamiCuse" wrote in message
...
I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add
braces between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block
wall is to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid
elecrtrical conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. Also needed to
use those Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?


As James said old wood can be a bear. Never having used a PN my only
suggestion would be to use hex head screws or pre-drill the hole with a bit
about half the size of the nail.

Personally I find that hex head screws, a bit with a 6" shaft and a cordless
drill allow me to do a lot of things I can not do with a hammer or nail gun.

On Nov 23, 3:43*pm, Joe wrote:
On Nov 22, 11:01*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:

snip
If the nails were cheap, like from Menards, I would try nails from
another source.

Don't agree withe critique of Menard's nails. Used their MM brand for
years, very good quality, American made IIRC. Problem may have been
that the palm nailers don't work with air pressure too high or with
box nails. OTOH, the Craftsman Li Ion nailer handles the mean one
surprisingly well. Craftsman might be doing some serious upgrading to
their non hand tool line if this is an example. Bears watching.

Joe

I bought some finisheing nails from Menards that were so soft I could
almost bend them with my hands. Bought some others from our local ACE
hardware that workeding corectly. Also have found that machine screws
from Menards seem to vary somewhat in size within a given box, some
thread too easily and some are difficult to thread. Made in China, of
course. So I always go to ACE for anything where size, strength are
critical.

RicodJour wrote in
:

On Nov 22, 8:17*pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add
bra
ces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block
wall
is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid
elecrtrica
l
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. *Also needed to use
tho
se
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent
the nail. *I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?

It's amazing you had the patience for six nail attempts. You're
inspiring.

R

I agree. I tried 4 long ring shank underlayment nails before calling a GC.

On Nov 23, 5:17*pm, RicodJour wrote:
On Nov 22, 8:17*pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:

I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add braces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block wall is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid elecrtrical
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. *Also needed to use those
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. *I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?

It's amazing you had the patience for six nail attempts. *You're
inspiring.

R


Agreed... Definitely sounds like operator error/inexperience is the
issue here... There is always a shiny new tool that someone doesn't
know what it should be used for that needs to burn a hole in their
pocket...

~~ Evan

"RicodJour" wrote in message
...
On Nov 22, 8:17 pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add
braces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block wall
is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid elecrtrical
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. Also needed to use those
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?

It's amazing you had the patience for six nail attempts. You're
inspiring.

R

RicodJour, to explain it a bit better, the plumber that roughed in my shower
ended up cutting one stud complelely away (it's a load bearing wall) when
all he needed to do was drill two 3/4" holes. I made a square cut of the
stud above and below, and inserted a new piece to fit tightly in between,
then I wanted to nail in two sister studs to each side, but the copper pipes
and electrical conduits were in the way of me getting a hammer in there to
be able to have any sort of swing more than two inches, and I had to swing
from left to right with my left hand (I am right handed), that's why I tried
a palm nailer thinking it could deliver more punch with less "latitude".

On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 10:58:02 -0500, "MiamiCuse" wrote:


"RicodJour" wrote in message
...
On Nov 22, 8:17 pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add
braces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block wall
is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid elecrtrical
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. Also needed to use those
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?

It's amazing you had the patience for six nail attempts. You're
inspiring.

R

RicodJour, to explain it a bit better, the plumber that roughed in my shower
ended up cutting one stud complelely away (it's a load bearing wall) when
all he needed to do was drill two 3/4" holes. I made a square cut of the
stud above and below, and inserted a new piece to fit tightly in between,
then I wanted to nail in two sister studs to each side, but the copper pipes
and electrical conduits were in the way of me getting a hammer in there to
be able to have any sort of swing more than two inches, and I had to swing
from left to right with my left hand (I am right handed), that's why I tried
a palm nailer thinking it could deliver more punch with less "latitude".

Can you get a drill/driver in there? If I can't fit my pneumatic nailers into
a space, I screw things together, now.

On Nov 26, 10:58*am, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
"RicodJour" wrote in message

...
On Nov 22, 8:17 pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:



I bought a new Ridgid plam nailer, because a few places I need to add
braces
between studs there is no elbow room, there is no room and the block wall
is
to my left, and I am right handed, with copper pipes and rigid elecrtrical
conduits in the way, so no way to use a hammer. Also needed to use those
Simpson ties on some roof and ceiling pieces.

I opened the box and tried six nails (8d) and each one I tried I bent the
nail. I was not even pushing real hard.

Any special tricks?
It's amazing you had the patience for six nail attempts. *You're
inspiring.

R

RicodJour, to explain it a bit better, the plumber that roughed in my shower
ended up cutting one stud complelely away (it's a load bearing wall) when
all he needed to do was drill two 3/4" holes. *I made a square cut of the
stud above and below, and inserted a new piece to fit tightly in between,
then I wanted to nail in two sister studs to each side, but the copper pipes
and electrical conduits were in the way of me getting a hammer in there to
be able to have any sort of swing more than two inches, and I had to swing
from left to right with my left hand (I am right handed), that's why I tried
a palm nailer thinking it could deliver more punch with less "latitude".


LOL... It sounds to me like you could have taken care of the entire
problem
with tiny piece of stud you fitted back in and a short piece of angle
iron to
reinforce it -- sistering additional studs onto your repair sounds
excessive
in this situation...

~~ Evan