Machine nailing ironbark decking

[Theva]

Hi,

Does ironbark decking split when nailed using a nailing gun? The plan is to use 2.5mm thick 50mm screw shank nails with dome heads. Joists are green hardwood (blackbutt). Nailer is Duofast KD665Y coil nailer with adjustable depth of drive.

Any advice and comments will be appreciated.

Drilling the end boards is ok but pre-drilling all is Errrr requires a lot of elbow grease.

Thanks & regards,
Theva

:confused:

[q9]

Wuss!

We did decking in shed extension (how cool are we? we didn't extend the house, we extended the SHED!!) by pre~drilling each hole and nailing with a hammer. Nail gun? Pfft! For wimps!



Dunno the answer, the only way to know is to give it a go.









(Our way not recommended.)

[Theva]

Thanks q9,

Tried handnailing without predrilling; no splitting. The screwshank nail did turn as it was going in.

Will try with coil nailer tomorrow, then we will know.

Regards,
Theva

[Theva]

Yep,

It works. The trick is to nail it proud and then tap it with a hammer.

Since the screw shank nails come with dome heads (and in SS) only, punching them is not an option.

Regards,

Theva

[Marc]

I wonder if I can resuscitate this thread...

I have a largish decking job coming up and since I am looking for an excuse to buy another nail gun, and have no intention to drive 2000 nails by hand, I had a look around some decking web pages and found with disappointment that some manufacturers say they do not recommend using a nail gun, on the pretence that the nailer does not push the board down against the joist hard enough. Now since when one nails a decking board, the hammering is done exclusively on the nail, and you would avoid like the pest to hammer the timber itself and leave nasty marks, what is the difference?

As far as I know the Duo-Fast or the Hitachy decking gun with SS nails give a really mean whack, what else could be the problem?
Neatness of placement can be aided by a little jig I suppose ... Any thoughts?

[vsquizz]

I wonder if I can resuscitate this thread...

I had a look around some decking web pages and found with disappointment that some manufacturers say they do not recommend using a nail gun, on the pretence that the nailer does not push the board down against the joist hard enough.
Marc, 110 kg plus the weight of the nailer seems to pushem down for me :D

Cheers

[Theva]

Marc,

Those dome headed SS hails still need to be punched in. I used a small air hammer / chisel with a nail puncher (shaft machined down at local toolmaking shop to match the hammer).

Regards,

Theva