Plank fence nailer

[Hay hay hay]

My old arthritic hands don't handle a big framing hammer to drive nails through oak boards to repair horse fences. I'm trying to design a
simple fence repair kit. I have an air framing nail gun, but need an air compressor and power to the air compressor. My question is how to
get power to the compressor and how big a compressor do I need for about six or eight nails?
Can I run the compressor with a 2000 inverter? Can I use a very small capacity compressor, with an auxiliary airtank?
I'm hoping I can put a few pieces of equipment in the back of the pickup and go fix fence. A battery, an inverter, a small compressor, an
auxiliary tank, and a nail gun (or a palm nailer) . What do you think? Please share Your experience.

 

[Greg_Ky]

Follow the link.
Poke here

 

[544hydro]

How about using screws? Cordless impact or cordless drill if you have one.

 

[flembo]

I have rum my Sears 30 gal air compressor 110 v with my 5500 w Generator with no problem to rum my Porter Cable framing nailer. but one of those little pancake compressors is all you need and I am sure a smaller generator would work ok.

 

[Patsdeere]

Battery or gas powered framing nail gun. Easy squeezy.

 

[Jim.ME]

(quoted from post at 14:52:02 08/29/21) Battery or gas powered framing nail gun. Easy squeezy.

x2 on the battery or gas powered frame nailer. Yes, it will be an investment but it is pretty much pick it up and nail compared to loading and dragging along all the gear to support a pneumatic one. It sounds like you are looking at buying a generator and compressor anyway, so ditch the hose.

This post was edited by Jim.ME on 08/29/2021 at 12:33 pm.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

My hands are terrible now very weak and arthritic . I'm framing up my new workshop at the moment , I have a Paslode framing gun , the largest available and the really powerful compressor I repaired a dew weeks ago . Even with these I,m having a hard time punching 98mm nails through LVL beams , I suspect Oak , especially seasoned timber would be just as hard . It's also giving me so much pain .
I have a generic battery driven impact driver , it didn't cost much but is an amazing tool that last almost all day on a single battery .
Drill a pilot hole and you can screw six inch long batten screws into old gum timber that is as hard as iron . For the few fasteners you want to use this could be a good option .

 

[504]

I have a cheap pancake compressor that I can run off of the generator. The compressors I have have a high demand at start, and I would be afraid to hook them to an inverter.

 

[Janicholson]

Sell your air nailer and buy one thing. This is an example. There are also butane powered nailers. No cords, no compressor, no hoses, no complexity, less weight. all smiles. Jim
Paslode Nailer

 

[Hay hay hay]

Thanks for the input. I never like to spend money, but the stand alone nailer is likely the right way to go. Which do you suggest? Price and reliability?

 

[Janicholson]

Paslode, Metabo, DeWalt, Bostitich, Milwaukee, are several brands with pro level tools. Purchasing a non-brand name is not advised. Jim

 

[Tony in SD]

For a few nails, I just fill my portable tank. The one you fill to pump up a tire at a remote site. Works fine for a few nails. Then refill if I have too.

 

[Richard G.]

I have just about quit using nails for framing or timber work.
I use my Ryobi driver and torx head screws and very easy to use with my arthritis in my hands and shoulders.
A 6AH battery lasts a very long time.
I use long screws when fastening 4x4 treated timbers to 4x6 treated timbers.
Screws hold much better than nails also.
I have a Paslode gun that almost never gets used anymore.
Photo of a recent project using screws.
Even ran long screws through the rafters into the top plate.
Richard in NW SC

 

[cjunrau]

Only problem with the cordless paslode naillers is they dont like to sit in a shelf For a year and then work when you need them. They need to be cleaned occasionally. I would use air tank or cordless drill for the amount you sound like you will do

 

[Bret4207]

I agree with the idea of an impact driver and screws. Screws aren't much more expensive than nails anymore, they don't tend to pull out so bad and sometimes you can even reuse them. I've driven 8" screws (Timber-loc brand IIRC) with an inexpensive 1/4" Dewalt impact driver, the much beefier Makita works even better.

The few times I've used a cordless nail driver was with the stick type nail magazine and the nails were pretty expensive for what they were IMO. The Plaslode (sp?) nailers worked good, but the fuel cartridges were expensive locally and there was a period where you couldn't find them for love nor money.

 

[Determined]

We have several pieces of equipment with air brakes so when a big corral repair is in order I run an air powered framing nailer to install the wind break boards.

The bull rails are held on with 6 inch spikes.
I made a bit for an air chisel that has a cup on the end to hold onto the nail, works real good but you need to use a cheap air chisel as the good ones have a higher number of blows per second they tend to buzz and vibrate versus the cheap ones that drive the spikes effortlessly.

A 700 watt inverter runs a sawzall with a long demo blade, I never pull nails as it's faster and safer to cut them off and use new ones.

For any nails sticking out of boards that have been blown down a cheap 4 inch angle grinder run off the inverter with a cut-off wheel cleans them up quickly.

For the small number of nails you say you will need to install I would think a tire air tank would get the job done.

I used a tire tank with a brad nailer when we finished the basement, all the door and window trim plus all the baseboards, only had to refill it once.

 

[Uncle murph]

Go with the impact and screws,battery nailers are great for general framing but not quite up to shooting nails through oak.Paslode gas nailers will but they are expensive and extremely high maintenance. You will find yourself using the impact a lot more than you would imagine.

 

[DoubleR]

I too use my Ryobi 18volt impact driver and screws with the t-25 heads. Build everything now with it including the rail fence I redid. With bad shoulders its too hard for me to swing a hammer very good. Also when you mess up its easy to pull the screws and re-do it.

 

[Hay hay hay]

Update; based on your comments I decided to research screwing the boards on to the post. I called the local fencer who builds plank fence on the most prestigious horse farms in Kentucky. When I asked him about screwing boards on, He told me it was the best alternative, and worked well, but he continued to nail boards on because it is so much faster and cheaper than screws. He builds a hundred of miles of fence every year.
So, for my little repair jobs I plan to use HD 3 or 4 coated Torq screws driven in by my 18v Ryobi impact driver.
Thanks for the discussion.

 

[Janicholson]

Select screws with a shank that has no threads where the screw goes through the first board. this allows the screw to actually clamp the boards together. If longer threads, a clearance hole is used to allow clamping. Jim

 

[Hay hay hay]

Thanks...makes sense.

 

[T in NE]

My suggestion would have been a Viair compressor.