Well, your posts helped me decide on a finish vs. brad nailer. Now, can you help me with the difference betwee a flat based and angled nailer?

Thanks in advance.

Depends on what it is used for. The angled nailers usually have heavier gauged nails and are designed to get into tighter areas. The straight nailers have finer nails and are used more for exposed surfaces so you dont see the nailhead as much as you would the angled one. Basically you need to decide what the applications you plan to use it for and decide which would better perform for you. I have both types and use both equally.

Thanks for the reply. Most of what I'll be doing is straight baseboard and door casings, though I have these two really annoying corners where doors meet near a corner. I know that getting in there with the tiny cuts of baseboard will be a bear.

The straight one works best for trimming. The angled is best for building cabinets.

Actually the Angled are best for Trim work for several reasons. I've been doing finish trim, kitchens, commercial casework and architectual millwork since 1983. I own many nailers mostly senco, but my firt nailers were Paslodes.. which I still own and occasionaly use. The angled nailers are MUCH more convenient when running trim. The straight nailers get in the way of every process on trin work...from hanging doors, running baseboard, running crown, stair railing mouldings, chair rail or anything else. an example would be that an angled nailer can focus the driver into tight spots between the hinge and doorstop when hanging doors. The end of a straight nailer will also limit the options you can shoot from when doors are close to walls and can't fully open because they hit the door. When running crown again one is limited at the angle you can shoot nails because the straight nailer hits the wall at it's end... turning the stright nailer may help here but this inevitably causes you to shoot the nailhead across the grain and create a much more unsightly hole and in most cases, the proper area for shooting the nail cannot be correctly negotiated ( the small flat area at the lower portion of the moulding). When using nailers on baseboard, angled nailers make nailing the inside corners of rooms much easier and allow for shooting the nail downward into the 2x4 wall floor plate without the required horizontal positioning and angling of the nailer head of straight nailers which in most cases leave the nail head to close to the surface or even above it.
I've used both nailer types for years and use them every day...my paslode straight nailer has been collecting dust for an awfull long time now.
The ONLY benefit for using straight nailers is that the nails are generally less expensive because many more generic nail manufacturers can make them and with less manufacturing cost which trickles down to us the consumer

Guess that depends on the brand then. My angle nailer uses 15 guage nails and usually winds up splitting the wood. My straight nailers use 16 guage and tends not to split wood.

could be.. I use one of the newer Dewalt angle finish nailers and the guys that work for me use my Senco sfn 40's...I use the 16 gauge angled generic nails that are sold at L@we's by Fasteners Unlimited. I believe the genuine Senco finish nail is a 15 gauge but they cost twice as much as the 16 gauge generic which work just as well as the genuine Senco nail. I go through about 25,000 finish nails a week (not including brad nails) and only get an occasional jam which is ALWAYS caused by hitting a drywall screw or plate in the wall under the trim.
However even the 18 gauge brads will split wood if the nail head is shot in across the grain.

[This message has been edited by Cornerstone (edited March 31, 2003).]

Are you saying you use generic 16-gauge angled nails in your 15-gauge nailer without problems?