I’m going to go out on a limb and state up front: The 23 Gauge Pin Nailer, HF item #60241, might be the single highest value-to-cost tool Harbor Freight sells. It’s an extremely reliable tool that works exceptionally well. At $20 after coupon, it’s an outrageous bargain. The nailer is perfect for delicate joinery work and small wood crafting projects. It handles pin nail sizes from 1/2″ to 7/8″. I’ve found it sets 5/8″ pins reliably in soft wood at pressure as low as 40psi. Wood that would readily split from wire brad nails stays intact when fastened with the pin nailer. And the nailer does a great job of flush-setting the pin without marking the wood’s surface. The pins are very inexpensive at less than $6 for 6000. An automatic pin length adjustment in the nailer means you don’t even have to change anything when changing pin sizes. The length adjustment is a lever in the nailer’s magazine, spring actuated by the opening and closing of the loading gate. It’s simple, durable, and works perfectly. Just open the magazine up, put a sleeve of pins in, and close it. You do have to be aware of the pin direction when inserting a new sleeve of pins: The pin heads are barely discernible from the sharp ends of pins, but the pin sleeves have arrow symbols stamped on the sides, making this hard to mess up. Note Harbor Freight items 68022 and 60664 are similar 23 gauge pin nailers, but have manual pin height adjustments. All three models are well reviewed on the Harbor Freight web site, but #60241 consistently gets the best reviews. My wife uses this nailer daily in her craft business. She's driven more than 10,000 pins with it. The nailer hasn't given a lick of trouble. She's good about oiling it daily. My only beef with this product is the same as the 18 gauge stapler/crown nailer: The lack of a passive safety. Both units have a manual trigger safety that prevents the trigger from accidentally being depressed when the safety is engaged, but the safety is manually disabled before using the nailer and not useful in preventing accidental discharges during use. It’s “point and shoot.” Eye protection is a must, and trigger finger awareness must be maintained. In fairness, this tool is meant for delicate work that probably would not stand up to pressure from a passive, nose-type safety. That one minor issue aside, this product is absolutely a five star winner.
Long term update on this pin nailer: We now have two of these. It's become so essential to my wife's business, we bought a second one, just in case anything happened to the first one, . She's easily driven more than 100,000 nails with the first one, maybe more, and it works as well as the first day we started using it. She gives it a drop or two of oil at the start of every workday. Amazing product.
