Pin nails or a trim hammer for the last pass on outside corners?

I did the baseboard in a 1930s craftsman out in Beaverton a few weeks back and tried my 15 gauge finish gun on the outside corners instead of hand nailing with a 6d and a nail set. The gun was fast, but it blew out the tip of the corner on two of them, and I had to dig out the splintered pine and patch it. Hand nailing took me maybe 20 more minutes per room, but every corner came out clean and tight. I know a lot of guys swear by the pin nailer for that last little bit, but I am not sold. What do you all do on older soft pine, reach for the hand tools or let the gun eat?

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riley436d ago

Did you try turning the pressure down before you gave up on the gun? I used to be the guy saying pins and guns were fine for everything, mostly because I hated pulling out the nail set. Then I did a whole room of old growth base in a house off Lombard and the 15 gauge split three corners in a row. The pine was so soft the nail just shoved the grain apart instead of cutting it. Now I hand nail the outside corners on anything pre-war and save the gun for the long runs. My corners come out way tighter and I quit wasting time on patch work.

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