Last week we finally got to the step in our front door restoration project where we needed to reinstall the molding around each panel of the door. While we could have completed this task with a hammer, nailset, and finish nails, the whole process was greatly simplified with the use of our Porter Cable brad nailer.

After we purchased our pancake compressor a while back we were humming right along using the air nailer on lots of molding and woodworking projects around the house. However, we kept running into situations that required a smaller gauge and shorter nail than our standard nailer could accommodate.

We noticed that even the smallest nails on the larger finish nail gun had a tendency to split the edged of shoe molding or crown molding, and drive too deep in the small and softer pieces we were working with. We needed a nailer that could handle the smaller detail elements of work, a smaller sized nail to prevent it from splitting the wood, and much shorter nails for the various projects we were working on.

I was very happy with the Porter Cable finish nailer we already owned, so I started shopping based on this previous experience. I settled on one of the very basic Porter Cable 18ga. brad nailers. I've been more than satisfied with it's performance over the years, working flawlessly since day one.

We've used this brad nailer on every project that involves molding and have yet to have a piece of wood split due to one of these brads. It worked perfectly last week on the door molding, which actually had several pieces that were already slightly split, but this nailer didn't make a single one worse. I also know we will use this nailer on future furniture and molding projects where we need very small profile nail heads with a secure hold in minimal material. This nail gun will almost always be just what the woodworking doctor ordered.

If you're looking for a good brad nailer, or didn't know you needed a brad nailer until you read this post, you can't do wrong with this Porter Cable 18 gauge nailer. It accommodates the various size nails you need for pretty much any project.

Do you have a good quality nailer that works well for your needs? Possibly an electric nailer? If so, let me know, I'd love to hear.