Just heard someone say you should always use a nail gun for baseboards

I was at a hardware store in Portland last Friday and overheard this guy telling his friend that hand-nailing baseboards is a waste of time. I've been framing for 12 years and I still hand-nail trim on most jobs. You get way better control and don't have to worry about blowing through the wood. Anyone else prefer hand-nailing over a gun for trim work?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota4796d ago

Hey man, it's baseboards not brain surgery. Whether you use a gun or a hammer, the wood still ends up on the wall. I've seen guys with nail guns send 16 gaugers straight through mdf because they got cocky with the trigger. Meanwhile I've watched a hand-nailer spend 20 minutes trying to straighten out a single warped piece and then crack it anyway. Both methods have their screwups.

the_abby6d ago

You hit on something real with the whole "both methods have their screwups" part. It's like the whole debate between electric and gas snow blowers. People swear by one or the other but at the end of the day, if you don't know how to handle it, you're gonna end up with a wet driveway and a clogged machine no matter what you bought. It's the same with cooking - some folks will argue cast iron is the only way, but I've seen someone ruin a perfect steak because they had the heat too high and didn't know how to season it right first. The tool matters, but the person using it always matters more.

blairsanchez5d ago

Right? @dakota479 probably has a pile of cracked trim in his garage to prove it. Tools don't fix stupid.