Brad nails are used as small finish nails due to the small footprint left when installed in various woodworking projects. Brads are available in galvanized or stainless steel. When installed properly, the "T" head of the brad is sunken typically 1/32 to 1/16 inch below the surface of the wood. This makes for easy filling and sanding of wood filler when required to hide the brad heads. Brads are ideal for fastening glued members together, thus no clamps are required when assembling work pieces.
Brads are made of 18 (.040-inch) gauge hot dipped galvanized steel. Stainless steel is available for corrosion resistant applications. Brads come in lengths of ½ inch to 2-1/8-inches. Brads are glued together in single row strips for easy brad nail gun magazine style loading. They come in various box counts of up to 5,000, depending on the size of the brad.
A brad nail gun is a hand held device that pneumatically drives a brad nail via internal piston. The gun comprises a motor (piston housing), trigger grip, contact safety interlock, brad preloaded magazine, on-mar tip and jam release lever.
Most pneumatic brad nail guns operate on a continuous compressed air supply of 70 to 120 psi. Lower air supply is sufficient for softer woods, such as pine or balsa, whereas higher air supply is required for harder woods, such as oak or maple. Air supply should be adjusted to sufficiently sink brad heads below the surface intended to be nailed.
.
The operator must first depress the contact safety interlock on the intended surface before the trigger can release air pressure to the motor piston. Once the brad has been struck, the motor piston automatically returns for the next trigger action.
Preloaded magazines (strips) allow for continuous operation by storing glued strips of brads. A jam release lever is located on the front end of the magazine allowing for removal of improperly driven brads. Use of brad guns with preloaded magazines, jam release levers and on-mar tips makes doing any fine carpentry job fast and convenient