I was picking up a new box of brad nails lately, and ran into a bit of a situation. I needed more 2″ nails for testing, and a smaller size for project use. Just maybe a thousand or two of the 2″ nails would keep me supplied for a while.
I was off to Home Depot to pick up some supplies, and figured I would check out the nail selection. In terms of brad nails, there was Porter Cable, Dewalt, and Grip-Rite.
I wanted to buy Dewalt, but they didn’t have any boxes of 2″ brad nails on the shelf. There were boxes of Grip-Rite nails, but I don’t need 5,000 nails. A 2,500 pack was the most I was looking to buy. So I ended up with a pack of 1,000 Porter Cable nails.
I use air nailers, and now cordless nailers, regularly, but I don’t often go through more than a couple dozen nails. So while I would have preferred to buy Dewalt nails, which might very well be the same as Porter Cable nails but in higher quantity packaging – this is a great question for me to ask – that’s more about general brand sentiments than nail quality.
My next thought was to wonder about how you guys buy your nailer nails.
Do you prefer a particular brand? Quantity packaging? Where do you go to buy your nails – online, big box stores, or other suppliers?
Looking online, I found Dewalt 2″ 18 gauge brad nails on Amazon (yay!), but in 5,000 count boxes (boo).
I realize that pro users will go through a box of 5,000 or 10,000 nails in the size or sizes that they use often. If you buy your nails in higher quantity packs, did you settle on a favorite brand, or will you use whatever’s most easily available or at the lowest price?
Please tell us all about your nailer nail preferences!
Although I mentioned brad nailers, the same questions apply to staples, finish nails, framing nails, and the such.
One more question – have you ever come across compatibility issues, say with 18 gauge nails frequently jamming or otherwise not working in your brad nailer as well as another brands?