A great addition to a tool arsenal is a Nail Gun. You can speed up your job faster, more accessible by using this gun. That means the right size nails and types of nail gun is perfect for your projects. A Framing Nailer uses larger projects such as fencing, roof sheathing, sub-flooring, deck building, and definitely framing.
If you want to make a fence, then from the beginning, you should think that what size nail gun do you need for fencing? Generally, you don’t need to use a nail gun to attach wooden fence slats, can complete the work with the traditional hammer. But the whole process must be very annoying and exhausting. If you can get the right gun, you can make the work faster and easier. The framing nail designer’s design helps attach large pieces of Wood, and you can get an excellent fence.
What Size Nail Gun Do I Need for Fencing?
You can see different types of fencing around us. But in this article, I will discuss with you two major categories: wire or mesh fencing and wood fencing. For fencing up quickly, you need to use the perfect nailer as well.
Types of Fence
Wire and Mesh Fencing
These fencing types are prevalent for chicken or cattle fencing, garden fencing, pet enclosures, barbed-wire fencing, vineyard trellising, different types of welded wire fencing, and electrified single wire fencing. Here you need to attach a wire or metal mesh to wood posts.
These types of fencing can easily hold with the staple. Staple guns are very lightweight and easy to carry, but you can use a staple nail gun and brad nailer combo to do your job accurately. This is a very versatile tool, and you can use it in other projects also.
Wood Fencing
This type of fencing includes pet fences, picket fences, privacy fences, rail fences, and many more varieties. Here you are attaching the wood planks or boards with the wood posts. To make a wood fence, you need a more extensive and heavy-duty nail gun, so I think the Framing Nail Gun is the best choice for you. Generally, you need to use a 2″ to 3-1/2″ length nail with a Framing Nail Gun. If you want to use a small nail size, you can consider a brad nail or finishing a nail for your projects.
How can you choose a nail gun for fencing?
To make your decision more reliable and to help you to make the decision, I will show you the main nail guns that the homeowner used to use-
Framing Nailer
You can use framing nail guns to drive some of the large size nails, that is from about .113″ to .131″ in with lengths from 1-1/4″ long to 3-1/2″.
Finish Nailer
It is a versatile tool, and this nailer drives either 15- or 16-gauge nails. They are used for smaller projects than framing nails. Finish nails are very sturdy to hold all those larger pieces.
Brad Nailer
A brad nailer can drive smaller, 18-gauge brad nails. Working on an ongoing project, brad nailer can support you the most. Hammer is so frustrating to drive your nails. So, you can use brad nails for this purpose.
Air-Powered or Pneumatic Nailers
This tool is very affordable, powerful, and convenient to power your nail gun. Here you have to use compressed air to drive nails.
Gas-powered Nail Guns
Here, you have to use a fuel cell with a rechargeable battery. No, need to use any compressor, hose, or cord here.
When you select your Framing Nail gun, make sure that this gun can be dispensing the ring-shank nails. However, this is the perfect option for fencing. Decide which nail gun is suitable for you, whether it will be a compressor-powered gun or a cordless one. All that uses an onboard gas canister to expel the nails with force. It would help if you deal with the air hose and potentially an extension cord to reach far areas of the fence. When you use a cordless nail gun, you need to change the gas cartridge frequently. This type is suitable for smaller fence repairing work rather than building a fence from scratch.
Can I Use a Finish Nailer for Fencing?
Good fences can provide adequate security, privacy, and increase the value of your property. Fence building is more time-consuming and, at the same time, costly but long-lasting and exceptionally durable as well. If you maintain your fence properly, it will last more than 20 years.
Here I would like to recommend a pneumatic nail gun for nailing and constructing fence panels. To make an excellent and robust fence, you can use a finish nailer, which will give you good service.
Are screws or nails better for a fence?
Hardware that you use to your fence looks like a small deal but holding together is a big deal. Nails or Screws, which one is better?- is a question based on the performance. There is a long-running debate between the constructors to choosing the right hardware. Both of them have their merits but some significant demerits also.
Screws and nails are both widely used for interconnecting pieces of Wood together. In a particular situation, there must be one that is better than others. Here I will try to give you a complete and transparent idea about the differences between both of the tools as well as their advantages and disadvantages. And also talk about the application of both nails and screws.
Nails vs Screws: Which One to Use for Fence?
Screws and nails are both fasteners. Let’s see what exactly makes the nails a nail and the screws a screw. For comparing with the nails in this article, let’s discuss different screws you need to fence.
Wood Screws
Wood screws are fasteners and can cut the piece of Wood it drives into there—the screws forced by the screwdriver, or by impact driver, or even manually—most of the screws are made by steel. Wood screws are sharper than the other screws, which makes them easy to penetrate the Wood. The shorter one has a shank that can threaten throughout while the longer one has an unthreatened portion. The untreated part can prevent the screw from grabbing. And can join two pieces together very tightly.
Most of the time, this type of screw head comes with the Phillips drive, but the slotted drive is also standard.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Screws
The three main benefits of screws are-
- Safe to Drive with the Power Tool: If you want to compare, a nail gun is slightly a dangerous tool rather than an impact drive. So, to drive the screws, you can use this power tool safely.
- Stronger Holding Capacity: Due to the right tensile strength, the screw can hold two pieces of Wood together very firmly.
- Very Easy to Unfasten: If you want to disconnect the pieces you already joined, you can easily unscrew them.
The Disadvantages of Screws-
- Split Wood Easily: Due to the threat, the screw is thicker than a nail. So, it will be effortless to split the Wood.
- Cannot Withstand More Twisting: Because of their good tensile strength, they can break quickly when you twist them.
- Can Get Stripped: If you use it improperly, the screw may get damaged or stripe. It’s very frustrating if you want to remove damaged screws.
- It Takes a Long Time to Drive: If you want to drive manually or use a power tool, it will take much more time to tighten the screws.
- Expensive: Though the difference is very minimum, generally, the screws are more expensive than nails.
Nails
Like the screws, nails also are a fastener and are used to join two separate Wood pieces together. They are used as hangers, and the part of the nail sticks out of the material. This metallic body has a long unthreaded shank and also a sharp tip with a round flat head ( not always) on its other end. You can find out headless nails also.
Though nails have no thread, you have to drive it into the workpieces by applying your force. For this, you have to use a hammer or nail gun.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Nails
Some advantages of nails are-
- Can Withstand a Lot of Twisting: Due to the construction, you can twist the nails many more times rather than screws. But it will not break.
- Difficult to Tamper: Like the screw, anyone can remove the nails, but it is much more difficult.
- Diven Very Quickly: If you have a pneumatic nail gun in your hand, it will take only a few seconds to drive a nail. It is faster than compared with the screws.
The Disadvantages of nails-
Let’s see some disadvantages of nails are-
- Cannot Drive with Precision: Sometimes, you may need a part of the fastener to stick out. It’s not easy to control the depth like the screws.
- Tough to Remove: Sometimes, you may feel this is an advantage, but it isn’t easy to reconstruct anything. Without damaging the Wood, it’s very difficult to remove the nails.
- Driven by Force Against the Workpiece: Nails are generally driven by applying force in the workpiece’s direction. So, they are not suitable for delicate applications.
Screws vs. Nails Which is Better for Building a Fence?
It may be a matter of liking whether you want to use nails or screws for your fence. If you’re going to use the nails, you can do your job faster than the screws. Some people like to resist this; then, they should apply the twisting force to the joint.
At the same time, when you are using screws, you can replace pickets more easily. You may use nails for making a frame and screws for attaching the individual pieces of wood.
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