Old timer at the lumber yard called me out on my nail gun technique

Guy must have been 70, watched me sink a few nails into a header and just goes 'son you're gonna blow out that edge in about 2 years'. He showed me how I was holding the gun at a slight angle instead of dead square. I've been doing it wrong for like 8 years. Spent the next 20 minutes watching him work and he was right, his joints were way tighter. Has anyone else had some random stranger fix a bad habit just by pointing it out?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.tara2mo ago

oh come on, you could have been doing it wrong for 8 years and it probably worked fine. people act like there's one magic perfect way to do everything. i've seen guys who hold their gun at a 45 degree angle and their stuff stays together for decades. the old timer probably just wanted to feel important and show off. my grandpa used to sink nails with a hammer at weird angles and his porch is still standing 40 years later. sometimes "bad habits" are just different habits that do the same job.

xena_brown502mo agoMost Upvoted

Saw a guy once use a butter knife to tighten a bolt and his shed never fell down, some stuff just works even if it ain't pretty.

tarag2820d ago

Oh hell no. You really think 8 years of doing something wrong is no big deal? That kind of attitude is why half the decks in my neighborhood are sagging after 5 years. A nail gun that's off by a couple degrees might hold fine for a while, but it puts uneven stress on the joint. Over time that angle turns into a crack, then a split, then your whole header is trash. Your grandpa's porch is still standing because he built it out of old-growth lumber that doesn't rot or flex like the cheap pine we get now. That old timer wasn't showing off, he was saving you from having to rip out and replace a whole wall in a couple years.