Adam Savage's Guide to Staplers and Nail Guns!

Adam gives a primer on the different kinds of nail guns and staplers you may encounter in the many different facets of making they're used. From the ubiquitous hand-powered T50 staple gun to versatile pneumatic staplers Adam favors for box-making, here's how to choose the right stapler for your own builds--and the ways in which to be mindful and careful while operating these powerful tools!

Shot and edited by Jerico DeGuzman

DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Brad Nailer
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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#AdamSavage #FavoriteTools

[atlehassum]

Another safety concern from a hobby forester: be mindful of knots in the wood. They can be incredibly tough. Some knots can withstand an axe, let alone a nail or a staple from a pneumatic gun. Moral is: knots can deflect nails, bending them as they're driven into the wood, and as Adam says, crave your sweet flesh. Just another reminder to think twice before pulling the trigger

[Frank_D]

I'm also so happy to hear your "respect" to the table saw. Every time I use one I suspect that I will fall directly on the saw and be split in two. Glad I'm not the only one

[fndne]

Nailguns and staple guns that use plastic nails are super useful, especially in the CNC age. You should get one and use it to make a box or something, and demonstrate how it's fine to cut and drill the plastic nails. Very very handy. Time saver, blade saver.

[FrederickDunn]

Hi Adam! Just that tip on putting a sample staple on the front of the organizer drawer was worth my time watching this video! THANK YOU for all you share and do. EXCELLENT safety notes! I have so many stories of accidents and incidents from my time in the Navy... don't get me started.

[stephengrice]

The most important information that Adam imparts in this video. Is that the Internet is great. But absolute takeaway is that meeting people gives you the best ideas.
Adam going to other people's shops bought the biggest smile in the video. Well done Adam.

[kkjhn]

My grandfather was an upholsterer and the entire family worked in the store at one time or another, it was like a rite of passage. My first job was sweeping and cleaning the shop until I graduated to making buttons, taking couches apart and sanding frames. My hands would shake like an alcoholics' by the end of the day using a palm sander to make frames feel like glass. I asked my grandfather why I was doing this when no one was ever going to see it and know what it was like. He just looked at me and said, "I'll know".
He and my uncle used to challenge me to use a staple gun while they used their old school method of tacking fabric, a magnetized tacking hammer and tacks in their mouths. They would bring the hammer to their mouths, pick up a tack and drive it into the fabric and frame like machines. I could never finish as fast or as tight as they could.
His most prestigious job was upholstering the chair that Pope John Paul II sat on when he came to NY in 1979 and visited Shea Stadium. It's a good thing he never visited the store, my grandfather would have treated him like all his customers and told him to go away until the work was done.

[georgeb.]

I believe the 23 gauge nailers are typically referred to as "pin nailers" where they have no visible nail head. Just a clarification for those searching for these tools 👍

[philreynolds]

Two stories, both from my time framing houses decades ago:

First, smaller fasteners, like the staples and brads you're demonstrating, are held together by that lacquer stuff, but bigger fasteners like framing nails and roofing nails are sometimes held together by strings of plastic or wire that disintegrate when the nail is driven. Those pieces of plastic and wire can be ejected along with the air discharge, so it's vitally important to know where the air discharge is pointed so you don't blast yourself in the face with tiny bits of 100 psi plastic and wire.

Second, while working in a framing plant, I was mashing down on a slightly out-of-tune 2x4 while shooting a nail through the intersecting 2x into the bottom of the first 2x. The nail went straight through the board and through a knot, and the knot blew out and went THROUGH a leather work glove I was wearing and into my left palm. I still have the scar nearly 40 years later.


Air tools are fantastic. They make us much more productive. But always, always, always respect their power.

[Iget]

I held my breath every time the staple/ brad gun waved past the camera operator.

[jarodtracy]

From the repairman working on my framing nailer: Don't let the spring snap hard into the nails (as satisfying as it is). This causes the rack of nails to buckle and cause jams. Also the nails will wander to the sides of the nails that are chiseled. Fire the nailer so the chiseling is perpendicular to the face of your material.

[isegrim]

Reminds me so much of a Meme from years ago.
It was basically a screenshot from one of those Question and Answer Sites:
The question was "What is the fear of chainsaws called?" and the answer was "Common sense!".

Fits for every flesh eating tool around you.

[CotyWK]

One thing that was overlooked, maintenance wise, is to add a few drops of oil before hooking up your air supply.

[joesgarage]

“Pin nailer. It will change your life.” Words from A. Savage in a previous video. True that!

[Chayatfreak]

My parents were upolsterers and worked from home in a big workshop. The sound of a pnumatic t50 staplegun is the sound of my childhood. that and the BRRRR of an industrial sewing machine

[keithreay]

Adam sure does point it right at us all throughout… and I feel it viscerally each time.

[Iget]

I'm glad you showed the staples coming out of the side. The nails and staples are sharks swimming through the wood, and they will come for you.

[absolutjackal]

When he introduced the finish nailer I thought to myself “leaves it to the Finns to make a good tool”…and it took me longer than I’m happy to admit to realize that wasn’t the kind of Finnish he meant

[custos]

Thank you so much for going over the Edison connector and transformer. I've seen tons of conversion/DIY projects, and they rarely explain the critical detail of making sure the power is stepped down to match the limits of your motor.

[Ivenison]

Hey has great trigger control and danger awareness. Even in the back of everything he does. What a 10/10

[halohub]

Dude I swear I could listen to your stories for hours! So much detail about the smallest of things I wouldn't even remember