5 Responses to “Bostitch F21PL Round Head 1-1/2-Inch to 3-1/2-Inch Framing Nailer with Positive Placement Tip and Magnesium Housing”

1. Harris Hall said on November 21st, 2009 at 2:23 am

   This nailer has the power to drive ring shank fasteners through Hardy plank into engineered lumber all day long. No more having to pull out bent over nails or having to finish nailing by hand. My standard framing nailer needed max pressure to drive these nails without problems. This nailer doesn’t seem to notice a pressure drop. Metal hanger attachment works well also. All my nailers/staplers are Bostitch. Same high quality as all the others I own. Amazon service was excellent as always.
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. Web Surfer said on November 21st, 2009 at 4:23 am

   So far this nailer has worked great. I got a refurbished one several months ago, and I’ve used it both with the standard tip and the tip for nailing into joist hangers and brackets. Both seem to work great. After nailing thousands of nails, I had one misfire where it fired 2 nails instead of 1. It does seem a little touchy and sometimes will not fire unless you hold it at a different angle. This could possibly be the safety mechanism. I also noticed that it seems to depend on the user. It almost always fired for me, but my neighbor had more of a hard time with it.

   The only difficult part about this nailer is finding the nails. The longest galvanized nails you’ll probably find at a big box store for this nailer are 3 inch for the normal tip. I couldn’t find the metal connector nails for the other tip at any retail store so I had to order them online. I even checked at a specialty fastener store. So if you’re planning a project, make sure you order your nails far in advance. I found the cheapest option was to order online through my local hardware store and have them delivered to the store so I avoided the high shipping cost of the nails.

   If I was going to add a feature to this nailer it would be to add markings for the depth adjustment on the tip. The depth is adjusted by setting the tip in one of several unmarked notches. So if you have the depth adjustment exactly where you want it, and you remove the tip to change to the metal connector nails, it’s difficult to get it back where it was when you reattach the tip. This is more of a nit and doesn’t really affect the performance of the nailer.

   Overall, I’m satisfied with this nailer.
   Rating: 5 / 5

3. J. Hertig said on November 21st, 2009 at 5:10 am

   I’ve been intending to get a framing nail gun for a while, particularly after receiving a set of ’small’ nail guns as a gift. They really made projects requiring staples, brads or finishing nails ‘fly’, so when I had to rebuild my patio, I went for a framing nailer.

   I chose the Bostich because it had the widest range of nail sizes while still being at the low end of the price range. Also, because it had the capability of nailing frame brackets such as joist hangers, which I would be doing a lot of.

   Boy, did it make the construction go quickly. And relatively painlessly (the unit did wear a blister on one finger). Would I buy it again? Yes, for the same reasons I got it the first time. Is it the best value? Probably. Is it the most usable one out there? Maybe, but probably not.

   It really shines when nailing framing brackets. The special nails are hardened, and the nose piece makes it easy to get the nail exactly through the hole. And to go to regular nails, just slide off the nose piece and slide on the standard nose piece. And it works pretty well for regular nails as well. The major annoyance I had was that the largest sized nails seem available in ‘indoor grade’ only, so had to use a size smaller for rust resistance.

   It does seem to jam and misfire on occasion. To keep these to a minimum, never put in a new stick of nails when there is a stick already in there. It does not seem to be able to handle any ‘discontinuity’ between sticks. Usually a jam can be cleared without dissembly (besides sliding off the nose piece), but the ‘last’ jam ended up with a nail upside down and I had to remove the magazine to get it out. Fortunately, this happened with only 2 or 3 more nails to go in the project, so I didn’t have to worry about clearing it until later. And once I got around to it, was pretty easy to accomplish.

   It is a bit difficult to tell when the last nail has been fired, which makes not being able to slap in a new stick when you get near the end a problem. If you have enough light, you can just look in the nose to see if there is the tip of a nail there, or if you have good concentration, you can count nails. In any case, it does not appear to do any significant damage to the unit to fire it ‘dry’ on occasion. I would not want to do it ‘a lot’, and it does mark up what you are nailing, so it should be avoided where practical.

   So, unless you really like hammering, get a framing nailer if you are going to be doing much framing. And this one is a good choice, particlarly if you want the capability to use the largest nails available and/or do a lot of metal framing brackets. If neither of these are needs for you, then perhaps you could find one which is a little easier to use.
   Rating: 4 / 5

4. Jason Hughes said on November 21st, 2009 at 7:51 am

   I bought this gun for the full rounded nails. Me being prone to errors I figured it would be easier to pull nails out when I screw up. That turned out to be true.

   This nailgun certainly does the job, but I had 3 issues:

   1. The tip was not like other nailguns I used. For toenailing I found it more challenging than other guns I’ve used since there is only one “tooth” that digs into the wood.

   2. It was a little heavier than other framing nailers I’ve used. For weekend warriors such as my self an all day project may make you fatigued.

   3. The rubber grip is not tight on the tool. This means if I don’t grasp it firmly the grip slips around easily on the handle. This may not be the case with everyone.

   Other than these 2 things I haven’t had any problems like jamming etc.

   Rating: 4 / 5

5. WOODWORKER BILL said on November 21st, 2009 at 10:09 am

   GREAT PRODUCT–TWO NAILERS IN ONE WITH THE CHANGEABLE TIP FOR DOING HANGER NAILS–ADJUSTABLE DRIVING DEPTH FEATURE IS VERY GOOD–HAVE USED FOR ABOUT 800 NAILS WITHOUT A SINGLE JAM
   Rating: 5 / 5