Ok, take warning guys and girls. Time to remember the common sense and cautionary tales according to statistics reported on the latest news about nail gun injuries. I was talking to my husband about getting a nailgun just for me to use in the house for small things like ..I don’t know, just small things.
He wasn’t real enthused. he has the heavy duty kind for exterior work and really likes it. Them. He has two, I guess.
Maybe he should write up some of the cautions he takes when working with power tools.
The cdc report says
“Trigger locks and other user modifications that keep the trigger constantly depressed or that disable the nose contact switch have been used to make rapid nailing easier, but this counteracts the safety features of the dual-action contact-trip mechanism.”
and
“consumers might be unaware of the need to replace older contact-trip triggers with sequential-trip triggers. Therefore, distribution of new nail guns with sequential-trip triggers and availability in home hardware centers of kits to convert contact-trip triggers to sequential-trip triggers might help reduce the use of the more hazardous tools.”
I found some advice online from ToolBoxTopics.com:
General Safety Rules for Nail Gun Use:
1. Never use a nail gun with the nose guard safety spring missing.
2. Be sure that when you carry a nail gun out of the work area, you do not carry it connected to the electrical or air power source.
3. When you are moving about the work area – keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire. Make sure you have only placed the nose guard against the material you are going to nail together.
4. Never rest the gun against any part of your body, or try to climb a ladder with the gun cradled against your body.
5. Remember that a nail gun is a labor and time saving tool — but it cannot save the time lost to an accident. Use it safely!!!
Technorati Tags: nail+gun, safety
I am definitely sold on nail guns, after years of not having one. They make the task at hand go much quicker (once you have done the initial set-up). Also, I have found that you do less damage with a nail gun than with a regular hammer. The repeated bamming on a nail with a hammer can cause plaster to crack, items to vibrate/bounce off shelves, hammer indentations in the wood, etc.
Anyway, I got a Campbell-Hausfield compressor, a Porter Cable brad nailer/stapler, a Bostitch finish nail gun, and a Campbell-Hausfield framing nail gun. I am happy with them, and recommend these brands in contrast to some of the “cheap” off-brands that are out there. You generally get what you pay for. I did keep my eyes open for these and when they were on sale (various times), I bought them. I got them at very good prices.
As the wife said, you do have to be much more careful with a nail gun. They can cause serious injury, whereas a regular hammer generally only causes a painful, swollen and bruised thumb (and sometimes some cussin’).