Tool Review: Brad Nailers for $100 or less

Cool stuff:

• Free up clamps in short order. Apply the glue and clamp the assembly, punch in a few brads to secure the joint, and reclaim your clamps immediately for the next glue-up.
• Speedy, glueless assembly. You can assemble birdhouses and craft items in no time flat. Cabinet backs go on in a flash.
• Forgiving. Unlike a screw or ordinary nail, an 18-gauge brad won't seriously damage a blade or bit should you accidentally saw or rout through it.
• No-stick stack-cutting. Instead of using double-faced tape to hold together workpieces for stack-cutting on a bandsaw or scrollsaw, tack them together with brads fired into the waste area.
• Reinforce mitered joints. End-grain to end-grain joints, such as the mitered corners of a picture frame, are stronger when fortified by a steel fastener.
• Less splitting. A brad's small diameter and speed of penetration lessens the likelihood of splitting--even in small moldings and fragile workpieces--without predrilling.

Not-so-cool stuff:

• Compressed air required . Although airless nailers have come on the scene recently, most nailers still require an air compressor. A small one will set you back $150 or so.
• Willy-nilly wire. Brads are made of wire, and they can veer off course, following the grain of the wood right out the side of your workpiece.

• For the complete review including performance ratings click here.