Toolamanjaro
Harbor Freight is a discount retailer in the truest sense of the word. Their products are cost just a fraction of what a similar tool would cost if it was made by a “brand-name” manufacturer. Of course all of their stuff is produced overseas, and not surprisingly the quality is at best questionable. However there are times when you’re willing to put up with a lesser quality tool in exchange for it being only 20% of the price of a good one. With that in mind, today we will look at the Harbor Freight 23 Gauge Pin Nailer, Model #97526. It’s sold under their Central Pneumatic brand name, as part of the Contractor Line. Read the full review after the jump.
Background:
Pin Nailers are a fairly new type of nail gun, and many people are not familiar with them. They aren’t anything fancy, really just a smaller type of brand nailer, with one key difference. The nails are headless, that is, they are the same diameter the whole way down. Really nothing more than a bit of wire, which in this case is 23 gauge or 0.0226″ in diameter (about half the diameter of the shank of a brad). This means that once they are fired, they are not very noticeable, and don’t require any puttying. In the photo above, a 2×4 is fastened with a drywall screw on top, below which is a standard brad, and then the little dots below that are the pins. (for reference the largest circle below them is 1″) Of course because of their small size and lack of head, they also don’t provide alot of holding power. They also can’t be as long as a brad, in this case maxing out at about an inch (other models can go a bit longer). This means they’re great for putting small bits of molding on projects, or holding something together while the glue dries, but can’t be used for things like window trim, or crown molding.
Harbor Freight operates both a mail order, and a brick and mortar stores, although they aren’t directly linked. Many people have mixed opinions on Harbor Freight, my personal opinion being that if you don’t need it to be precise, or durable, it might to a great job… or it might not. The only thing that’s a given is that it will be cheap, and with the proliferation of 20% off coupons, its even cheaper. This nailer retails for $25, or $20 bucks with a coupon. For that price, you can’t expect much, and one of those things that you can’t expect is a dent free box.
What you get:
Inside the box you’ll find the nailer, a pair of allen wrenches, a little bottle of oil, a pneumatic quick-connect fitting, and a poorly printed, although surprisingly informative manual. That’s it, no fancy case, or sample pins. Of course I’ve never found the cases to be overly useful, and a box of 6000 pins is only $4 so its not a big deal. The inclusion of the quick connect is nice as it saves a trip back to the store. The bottle of oil and allen wrenches get tossed straight in the trash in favor of nicer ones, but still a nice addition.
Design:
The design of the nailer is surprisingly nice. The main purple body is an aluminum casting with machined interfaces, with the rest of it being stamped steel. The only plastic bit is the pin size selector, which would certainly be overkill if it was metal.
Although there is no quick latch to take the top apart to clear jams, it only takes the removal of a pair of allen screws to open the chamber up.
The aluminum body seems to be well constructed, and the barrel is well machined. The piston is a simple affair not more than a aluminum disk with a o-ring around it. With a bit of oil this should have no problem lasting reasonably well. The hammer is a thin strip of spring steel, and should wear well enough to the point that if you wear it out you shouldn’t be shopping at HF for your pin nailer. Overall the design looks rather promising, everything seems well constructed, with good fit and finish and attention to detail. Unfortunately that doesn’t always bode well for how good a tool it is, as we will see in the next section.
Use:
Things started going downhill for the HF pin nailer as soon as I tried to load it with pins. Although they were easy enough to insert into the chamber, closing it was more difficult that it should have been, and required pulling back on the retaining mechanism while sliding it closed. Something that can’t be done one handed. This is however a relitivly minor problem.
The real issue comes when you attempt to fire nails. The nailer is very inconstant in the depth that it fires at. Sometimes the nails would sit a little proud of the surface. Which would require them to be set with a hammer and a nail punch. Due to the small size of the pins, this is quite difficult, and frequently results in marring the surface of the wood. On the other hand Sometimes they would be sunk so deep that the hammer would make a large dent in the wood, defeating the purpose of using a pin nailer in the first place. This would occur in the same board, with the same air pressure. The HF pins were also quite a disappointment. They are very weak, and although they hold fine, they are nearly impossible to pull out without breaking.
The safety of the unit was also a minor concern, unlike larger nailers which require the tip to be pressed into something for it to fire, this one only has a safety, that will likely be turned off once, and never looked at again. Thus whenever the trigger is pulled a pin is fired. Since the pins are so light, they aren’t dangerous more than a few inches away from the gun, however it would still be fairly easy to nail yourself in the leg or hand by accident.
Highs:
Well constructed.
Cheap.
Really cheap.
Lows:
Very inconsistent depth.
Difficult to load.
Dubious safety mechanism.
Verdict:
The inconsistent depth makes this tool nearly worthless.
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating: 2/10 
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