Air Force Selling pneumatic tools and nails

,1|| LTHOUGH pneumatic tools are 4l best suited for professional applications, the drive is on by manufacturers to get "framing nailers" stocked in more home centers. Becoming familiar with the different types of nailers and nails can help in deciding which products to stockand how to sell them.

Due to the cost of the equipment and amount of set-up time required, pneumatic tools are usually not tle best choice for smaller jobs. Nail guns are ideal for applications requiring a lot of repetitive nailing, such as building walls and decks, nailing off plywood, wide open nailing or nailing overhead.

A framing nailer is classified as any gun that shoots 6d to 16d (2" to 3-114" long ) nails. They come in two different configurations - stick (or strip) nailers and coil nailers. Stick nailers are most conmon, and applications include framing, subflooring, sidewall sheathing, siding, deck construction and roof decks. Large coil nailers that can shoot up to a 3-l/2" nail are starting to catch on with framers. Yet coil nailers were not originally designed for framing housing but for industrial applications, including constructing pallets, boxes and crates. Coil nailers hold a single coil that contains up to 500 nails and typically have large air chambers with ample power to drive nails into hardwood. The large coils mean less time loading, but they make for a heavier, bulkier tool. Additionally, the coils don't fit well in nail bags, and if dropped, the wire collation will likely bend and tangle.

For stick nailers, there are round-head and clipped-head nails. Clipped-head (also known as D-head) nails have part of their heads cut off so they will pack in more snugly together.

Although there reportedly is little scientific evidence that clipped-head nails perfomr worse than round-head nails, building inspectors in some areas do not allow clipped-head nails on shear panels (plywood sheathing nailed to engineering specifications for added protection, such as for earthquakes).

Perhaps the most obvious difference between a collated framing nail and a hand nail is the shank diameter. A standard l6d collated nail has a

Story at a Glance

age hand-driven 16d cornmon nail has a.162"-thick shank.

Most all collated framing nails are coated, usually with vinyl. The friction of driving the nail heats the vinyl coating, which helps lubricate the nail. As the vinyl sets, it forms a bond that locks into the wood fibers. Since the bond is only temporary (the coating strength may last only a few days in wet wood), spiral-shank nails or ring-shank nails should be suggested if holding power really matters, such as preventing squeaks in floor sheathing or in exterior uses where the wood expands and contracts with changes in moisture content and temperature. Spiral-shank nails withstand shock loads better and are the best choice for subflooring.

Rust-proof nails are also available, with essentially three types of galvanized nail coatings: elechogalvanized, mechanically galvanized and hotdipped galvanized. Most basic are electrogalvanized nails. Their galvanized plating is fonned by dipping the nails in an elecfrolyte solution with a block of.zinc. The zinc dissolves in fte electrolyte and is attracted to the steel nails, forming a very thin (.0002") coating. Electrogalvanized nails can be recognized by their shiny, chrome-like finish. Sometimes a bright yellow dichromate sealer is added over the zinc plating to give the nail slightly more protection.

.131" diameter, often specified by generic nail distributors as a "framing" nail to distinguish it from a lighter "decking" nail of the same length with a.120" shank. The aver-

Mechanically galvanized nails have a dull gray, motfled appearance. The coating is applied by placing the nails in a tumbler with zinc powder and small glass beads, which pound the zinc onto the surface of the nails. They are slightly more expensive than electrogalvanized nails, but the coating is thicker (.0005") and provides considerably morerust protection. Heavy-duty mechanically galvanized nails are also offered with a .0021" thick coating.

Hot-dipped galvanized nails are formed by dipping in molten zinc. Although the coating thickness is about the same as heavy-duty mechanically galvanized, the zinc coating purportedly adheres better to the steel nail. Nevertheless, the coating is lumpy and hot-dipped nails are difficult to collate and reportedly jam easier in guns.

Finally, galvanized nails should comply with ASTM standards.