The construction industry uses a lot of power nailers today. Most of these are pneumatic simply because driving a nail in with a single blow requires a tremendous amount of power. A hammer delivers much less power, which means hitting the nail many times to get the same job done. But power nailers can have their problems, especially in a task where the nail must be driven in straight and to just the right depth like with the nailing of asphalt shingles on the roof. Many common roofing problems are related to poor nailing.
Battery operated, or cordless, tools have also become common on construction sites. But up until now, no one has made a battery operated nailer -- batteries just couldn't deliver enough power in a single blow. But then Stanley hit on the idea of adapting the concept of the multiple impact of a hammer drill to drive in a roofing nail. I took the TV cameras to visit the factory and follow the interesting history of the development of this new power tool -- the world's first cordless roofing hammer.
Not only is it an interesting history, but it is a great tool because of the greater control it offers in driving the roofing nail. Now we can get the precision of hand nailing with the speed and convenience of a power tool. However when I had it tested by a few contractors in Canada they had one serious problem with it: although it was designed with non-skid sides to allow you to sit it down on a roof and not slide off -- our Canadian roofs were generally too steep and it would slide off. That made it a bit heavy to keep on the belt all the time. Who would have though that heavier snow and steeper roofs would make a tool that is great in one region not so useful in another?
20.4V Cordless Industrial Roofing Nailer; Stanley model CRN38K