What Brad Nailer Does Norm Use?

[Steve Kohn]

In my years of watching NYW Norm uses a brad nailer to pin tops and bottoms into a dado on the side of cabinets. I have a PC brad nailer but the nose piece is not pointed enough to fully drive the brad into the joint. I am always left with about an 1/8 inch of the brad still sticking out.

Does anyone know what brad nailer Norm is using?

[Adam Cavaliere]

I guess this is a very silly question as I have only had a brad nailer for a little while, but have you tried turning up the pressure on the gun? On my PC nailers I can adjust the depth of the brad.

[Chris Padilla]

He probably has a pin-nailer: 21 or 23 gauge brads are shot with it.

I just picked up a Grex P635 pin nailer, which shoots 23 gauge brads of varying lengths (up to 1 3/8" for this model but Grex makes other that will shoot to 2"...price goes up as the length of brad shot increases)

[James Hart]

Steve,

That PC brad nailer will sink the right size nail into most material.

When I've had the head sticking out it's usually from either moving too fast for my little pancake compressor to keep the pressure right (rarely), not holding the mailer firmly against hardwood when firing or trying to use too long of a brad in very hard wood.

The most common is not holding the nailer firmly down when working with oak or maple.

Jim

[Jerome Hanby]

This guy has pages fro Norm's tools. Here is a link to the nailers:

http://www.normstools.com/nailers.htm

[Adam Cavaliere]

I want to pick one of those pin nailers up. Got to play with one and they are great!

[Steve Kohn]

Jerome, thanks for the link. I will need to look more at the nailers and try to figure out what he is using. As suggested it might be a pinner. The tool Norm is using has a very sharp nose. This allows him to get well into the 90 degree angle formed by the joint of the sides to top or bottom pieces when they are put together.

I know it is not the PC nailer I have. The nose is too blunt to get far enough into the corner to drive the brad all the way. Therefore the drive rod on the nailer can't push the brad forward enough. I use the PC nailer all the time and the obvious issues (holding it against the work and air pressure) are not the problem.

[Jim Becker]

He's used quite a few different tools over the years...mostly PC, but I've seen an Accuset gun on-set as well as a few others if my memory serves. The "Norm's Tools" site is pretty kewel...check it out.

[Chris Padilla]

I'm sure Norm paid for every one of those tools, too.....

[Jim Becker]

I'm sure Norm paid for every one of those tools, too.....

Early on, he probably did for some percentage of them!

[Jerome Hanby]

I like the guys commentary. When he talks about Norm's Timesaver Thicknessing Sander:

When I first saw this on NYW, I was embarrassed. Up to that point, I was naively viewing the shop and the show as something attainable for all of us. My tool acquisitions demonstrate that.
But when this $10,000 machine showed up, it was sort of like when I found out about Santa Claus.
And for those who still believe in Santa Claus, disregard.

I know exactly how he felt

He's used quite a few different tools over the years...mostly PC, but I've seen an Accuset gun on-set as well as a few others if my memory serves. The "Norm's Tools" site is pretty kewel...check it out.

[Alan Schaffter]

Norm mostly uses his trusty Senco SLP20 brad nailer. That is the one with the pointy tip that gets nicely into corners. He uses it often to temporarily pin shelfs into dados.

[Joe Spear]

This thread made me think of something. You know how Norm always shoots a couple of brads "to hold the joint together while the glue dries?" After the glue dries, how does he get the brads out?

[Jim Becker]

This thread made me think of something. You know how Norm always shoots a couple of brads "to hold the joint together while the glue dries?" After the glue dries, how does he get the brads out?

Umm...he doesn't take them out. You really can't. This is one of the wonderful things about today's crop of 23 gage headless pinners...you can still do this, but the fastener (and the hole) are pretty much invisible, unlike an 18 gage brad and its companion hole. Norm's background as a carpenter probably encouraged his use of brads in this manner as it's typical behavior for the building trades. (And less noticeable in most cases) I'm working on memory, but I think Norm did this less and less as time passed and his furniture projects became more intricate and "high end". But I could be wrong...I haven't seen the show in awhile.

[josh bjork]

It is the one real lie in that show. They don't tell you he has a magic nailer. It never blows nails out the sides and when a few brads "hold things in place till the glue sets" the piece doesn't start falling apart when he moves around to glue the other side.