Product Description:
Uses T nails; Lightweight and durable construction; Designed to seat nails properly with one or several hammer blows; Includes nailer with face nail shoe attached, hammer, wrenches, and plastic case.; Will accept accessory shoe for 5/8" domestic, 3/4", and 1" thick flooring (part# 40221 sold separately); Will accept accessory shoe for 3/8" - 9/16" strip/laminate flooring (part# 40230 sold separately)
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Customer Reviews:
Average Rating = 2.5
Total Reviews = 2
[1 Stars]: Failed on 3/4" hardwood maple flooring.
I bought this nailer instead of the Powernail face nailer based upon price. What a mistake!
Of a dozen attempts to drive Porta-Nail cleats into 3/4" unfinished hardwood maple flooring I succeeded in driving only 4 cleats below the surface of the wood as is the objective.
I had a professional flooring contractor I know try this nailer on the same material (thinking that it was probably a matter of my lacking experience and skill), and he wasn't able to drive any cleat flush with the surface, let alone to countersink them.
I personally found the ergonomics of the handle to be terrible: usable only if I was on my knees, and even then I found I could not really control the nailer to stay put while striking the plunger. That negated the ratcheting feature; If I failed on the first try to sink the cleat, and the nailer had moved at all, the next stroke invariably bent the cleat.
In short, if you are working with really hard wood, unless you think you are capable of driving a cleat in one stroke, swinging an 8 lb mallet, while on your knees, you might want to consider a pneumatic nailer.
[4 Stars]: Works well IF you use the correct technique...
Porta-nails 404p Face Nailer
Consider three approaches to face nail hardwood flooring (e.g., 13/16" strip oak):
1. Hand nail. Drill a small pilot hole so the nails don't bend. This is slow, tedious, and prone to damaging the floor if (when) the hammer misses, or if you have to pull a bent nail. The nails won't hold as well as Porta-nails, and you can hurt your hand/fingers if the hammer misses the nail set when countersinking the nail head. However, this approach requires no expensive tools.
2. Pneumatic nailer. E.g., 15 gage finishing nailer with 2" steel nails. This is the easiest method, since all you do is pull the trigger. You need a powerful nailer though, or the nail head might need to be hand-countersunk with a nail-set. The principal negative with this approach is the nail won't hold as well as Porta-nails flooring nails (which have barbs to keep the nail in), so the flooring might work loose over time. To mitigate loosening, glue the flooring down, use more nails, or choose option 3.
3. Use this face nailer. Having a good technique is the key to achieving a good result. The base plate of this nailer is a hard, slippery, nylon-like material, when obviously, it SHOULD be slip-resistant. Because of this, SIT on the floor when using the nailer, with the bottom of a foot on each side of the nailer to stabilize it; hold the hammer with BOTH hands, and carefully hit the drive-head of the nailer with the [heavy] Porta-nails hammer. Use a good whack, but not so hard you're trying to drive it in with that blow; then, give it a second whack, which will countersink the nail (if you've hit it hard enough). You're using both hands for control. Your most powerful hammer blow might drive the nail with the first whack, but it would provide less control over the hammer and thus a greater chance of breaking your foot if you missed. If you REALLY trust a helper not to miss, that person could wield the hammer blows. If you hold the tool with one hand while leaning over or kneeling, and whack the drive head with the hammer held in the other hand, you'd better hope the nail countersinks on that blow.
Using approach 3, this manual face nailer works well. Other than the barbed nails, which really grab, the principal reason to use this tool is the force of the hammer blow simultaneously tightens the board to the sub-floor while driving the flooring nail/cleat. The other methods don't tighten the board to the sub-floor to the same degree and the nails don't hold as well.
Porta-nails sells a conversion kit to make a face nailer out of a cleat nailer. That works, but it takes time to make the conversion. If you only occasionally need a face nailer, that's a good approach; but if you're doing even one big job, you'll waste a lot of time with this approach.
You might also consider a tool that requires a hammer blow (to tighten the boards) AND is pneumatic to countersink the nail in a single whack. However, these nailers cost much more than this manual tool.
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