# Forum Home Renovation Doors, Windows, Architraves & Skirts  1.6mm or 2mm nails for Skirting and Architrave?

## Lexi01

I made a little deal with our builder that I'd do a few of the jobs in our extension to save me some cash...one of which is the skirts and arcs. 
I've been trawling some old threads about nail size for skirts and went to ask a question in an existing thread only to be met with "An error has occurred Lexi01! You are not allowed to bump threads that are older than 365 days!" 
So my apologies if this has been covered before but I need to now the size of nails to use for skirts and arcs. 
I'm buying a nail gun and not sure if I should go for one that shoots 1.6mm or 2mm. 
The previous posts I can see give advice about nail length...material thickness + x + y ...thats all cool but I cant find anything about nail thickness. 
Some advice please? 
Thanks, Alex.

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## METRIX

> I made a little deal with our builder that I'd do a few of the jobs in our extension to save me some cash...one of which is the skirts and arcs. 
> I've been trawling some old threads about nail size for skirts and went to ask a question in an existing thread only to be met with "An error has occurred Lexi01! You are not allowed to bump threads that are older than 365 days!" 
> So my apologies if this has been covered before but I need to now the size of nails to use for skirts and arcs. 
> I'm buying a nail gun and not sure if I should go for one that shoots 1.6mm or 2mm. 
> The previous posts I can see give advice about nail length...material thickness + x + y ...thats all cool but I cant find anything about nail thickness. 
> Some advice please? 
> Thanks, Alex.

  What gun are you looking at ? 
We use "C" brads for all fixing out work, or DA if the material can handle the bigger nails. 
We use Paslode 14/16Ga, straight, as we had a lot of problems with the angled versions.  Paslode Australia 
You know the correct way fit skirting properly, ie scribing the corners and not joining by 45deg miters ?

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## Lexi01

Thanks for the reply. 
I'm looking at one of the pasloades. I was told to get the angled gun because they can fit into tight corners? But they only shoot the thinner nails. 
Yep, I've done skirts before and know how to scribe. I have a compressor with a framing gun and a DA gun...but rarely use it because its a pain to set-up. 
I'm figuring if iM gonna save a few thousand buy doing a house lot of work I can justify a new gun. 
What sort of issues did you have with the angled guns? 
Alex.

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## METRIX

Used to always jam up, it ended up in the skip bin, Went to DA for a while but found it splits delicate trims, so bought the non angled Paslode, its been fine, shot about 6000 nails only had a few jams when its hit a screw behind the trim, but otherwise it's been ok. 
The non angled one also get into tight corners, we use them for all fix out's and have no issues, If you do need to get right into the tightest corner, you can fire it, and then just punch the rest in, but this is rare. 
Yes these guns use the "C" brads, and these are supprisingly strong, but a DA will be stronger as they are bigger, but can tend to split delicate wood, where the C brads will go through ok.

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## ringtail

You must be doing wrong metrix  :Biggrin:   I can't recall ever having a problem with DA nails splitting timber and the plus side is you can use SS nails for doing balustrade ( if you want to do it properly that is). I hate those paslode nails. Weak as piss and really brittle IMHO :Biggrin:

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## vincentvega

I use 50mm DA (15ga) brads for all my trims. I havn't had any issues with splitting, just stay away from the edges. 
I love hitachi guns. My trim gun is a NT65MA4. Its nice and light and has never missed a beat. 
My builder mate uses the paslode C series gun. Sure its nice not dragging a hose around but the thing gives me the @@@@@! It always jams, his batteries are starting to die and the gas canisters go out of date in no time!

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## METRIX

> I use 50mm DA (15ga) brads for all my trims. I havn't had any issues with splitting, just stay away from the edges. 
> I love hitachi guns. My trim gun is a NT65MA4. Its nice and light and has never missed a beat. 
> My builder mate uses the paslode C series gun. Sure its nice not dragging a hose around but the thing gives me the @@@@@! It always jams, his batteries are starting to die and the gas canisters go out of date in no time!

  Agree, I also have Hitachi Air guns, DA NT65AA and C NT50AE2 , and they both have performed faultlessly, the DA being the oldest and has never jammed once, cant beat Hitachi finish nailers IMO.  
Only problem if you are running 3 or 4 jobs at a time it can get a real pain to drag the compressor with you, and set it up etc, sometimes you may need to just fix out a last piece of skirting or trim and the Paslode fits this purpose fine, you already have enough tools etc to carry to each job, adding another is not desirable. 
Sure if I am doing a big fixout in one go, then yes the compressor will be the go, I do have a little dual cylinder compressor which is great for transportation, and some high strength very flexible small diameter air tubes which make life easier, but still can beat the Paslode for portability. 
I am the first to admit I am not  fan of Paslode guns from the finishers to the framers, my Powers gas framer kills the Paslode without a doubt, Like most things it comes down to compromise. 
Splitting of the timbers is only noticed on small diameter quad trims, other than that everything else is ok.

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## jimfish

I used to use a hitachi da bradder but found I had issues with it blowing big holes in mdf . I used a paslode gas gun for a while but for the last 4 or 5 years have been using the dewalt angled battery bradder. Sure it's heavy and a little more costly than a paslode but it's depth control is imho second to none.
The painters love it and I would at this stage not consider another gun.

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