I have slowly worked my way up to a nail gun with a compressor , this is my nail gun , I started out with a brad nailer/stapler eclectic by arrow , after 1 job it pretty much broke , and moved onto a cordless HEAVY brad nailer , was ok for a while but was like I said heavy and not very good .
Now I am not one to favour "girly" tools , I want useful tools , I would never buy a pink tool , I actually find them rather insulting , but enough about that , I want what tools will do the job, but I will fully admit heavy is what I will steer clear of any day , and that is why I love my brad nailer , it is perfect for trim work .
I was scared to death of a compressor when I first got this machine , literally it made me shake , but I have learned to trust it more now that I have used it . I think it is a great tool for $110.00 , but it is having some troubles , so I will most likely find myself a new gun eventually , the chamber is popping open when I shoot , minor , I simply hold it shut.
My advice is buy the best you can afford . These little brad nailers are very light and make the job of nailing trim a breeze, it took me 4 hours to install all of the wood to my bedroom walls yesterday , that is a 270 sq ft room , it would have taken me days to do the same with hammer and nails , which is hard as some of you will know holding wood against a wall , level , and holding a nail and hammering is work for an octopus.
If you don't want to buy this , if you are doing a job say a one room , I would suggest renting from your hardware store , it will turn a three day job into a one day job .
There are cordless nailers but keep in mind they are heavy because of the batteries, and you can find great deals on compressor brad nailer kits , at places like Home Depot and Sears all the time .I wanted to answer a couple of questions :
- I do cut the wood myself at home .
-I will prime the pine with Zinsser BIN which is a shelac based primer that will seal and hide all of the knots so that they do not bleed through over time.