TIL my grandpa's old nail trick actually works better than my fancy framing nailer

My grandpa always said to drive a nail at a slight angle for holding power, but I figured modern ring shanks made that obsolete. Last weekend I was building a fence in my backyard in Denver and the gun kept jamming on the treated wood. I hand drove about 60 nails at an angle out of frustration and dang if those panels aren't still rock solid while the others wobble. Anyone else ever ditch power tools for hand methods and get better results?

2 comments

2 Comments

park.troy18d ago

My dad's old Craftsman circular saw sits in my garage right next to my fancy dewalt and honestly I grab the vintage one more often. Last month I was building a simple pine bookshelf (just three shelves nothing wild) and the new saw kept binding up in the wood because the blade wobbled slightly. The old one with its thick steel base and zero-plastic parts cut through like butter and left a cleaner edge. Also those old hand tools just feel more honest somehow, you know? Like you can feel the cut happening instead of just hearing a motor scream.

michaela1618d ago

Started doing drywall repair in my basement last weekend with a similar setup. Grabbed my grandpa's old Stanley hand plane to shave down a door that was sticking. That thing is probably 60 years old, no adjustment screws, just a wedge and a blade. Newer plane I bought at the hardware store literally chattered across the grain and gummed up in two passes. Old one sliced through like it was still from the 50s. Ended up using the vintage plane for the whole job, new one's just sitting there looking pretty.