Hello,
Well, I’m making good progress on my fireplace mantel and surround project, but I’m getting closer and closer to the point that I always dread when I build anything, that is, the nailing issue. I hate using a nailset, since no matter how careful I am, I usually miss one or two and wind up banging the wood or being unable to set the nail deep enough.
Now I have an even bigger problem, since with my mantel project, I’ll be installing many moldings onto it. The smallest molding that I’ll be using is a base molding made of oak. The molding is about 1 3/4 inches tall and about 3/4 inches thick in the "fat" part, but the place where I’ll be nailing (into the recessed area) is only 3/16 inch thick. I’ll be nailing this molding onto a piece of 3/4 inch solid oak.
I’ve been getting very serious about getting a compressor and nail gun set. Home Depot has a Porter-Cable set with a nice compressor and a 16 gauge finish nailer and an 18 gauge brad nailer. I know that I’d use the finish nailer on the "big" parts of the project (those where I’d be nailing 3/4 oak onto 3/4 oak), but it’s the molding that I’m worried about, so here’s my question.
Will the 18 gauge brad nailer be what I’d need for attaching the molding (at the 3/16 inch point) into the 3/4 inch oak? If anyone says that the 18 gauge brad would be too large and that I’d need a 23 gauge pin nailer instead, then the Home Depot kit wouldn’t help me, since it has no pin nailer included.
Maybe I should be asking this question also. Is there any rule of thumb that can be used to determine what type fastener (finish nail, brad nail or pin nail) to use in a given situation?
Louis