At Porter-Cable’s editor’s conference this summer in New York City, all of us were looking forward tolearning more about the battery-powered router that we’d heard snippets about, but had not really seen or believed. But the tool that stole the show, from my perspective, was a brad nailer that could be hooked up to a regular air compressor or powered by a built-in mini compressor.
The sturdy brad nailer (the BN200V12), was tough enough to do the job of installing molding, nailing cleats, attaching trim – all the tasks that a standard brad nailer would do. But the real hook was that built-in mini compressor powered by P-C’s 19.2 battery system.
As I tested it at the show, I found it to be well balanced and unremarkable as it drove its brads into pine and oak. The unit weighed in at about 7 pounds and sunk the brads nicely … but there was no hose attached to it. The little compressor did a good job of keeping the nailer’s little air chamber charged and ready to go. Of course, you could rapid fire the gun faster than the battery-powered tool could keep up with, but that’s not really how you use such a tool. When you are attaching trim, it is a more careful process, and the brad nailer was more than sufficent for the task as it is really practiced.
I can see this tool as a valuable addition to many woodworking shops, those without pneumatic systems in particular. Brad nailers are one of the most useful tools a builder can have. For making jigs, attaching cleats and plywood cabinet backs * you name it. They are one of those tools that, once you have one, you find more and more uses for it everyday. It’s easy to see how this portable and powerful little nailer could be a boon to the air-impaired builder and hobbyist.
So, while this nailer may not be a pure woodworking tool as some would define them, I’m one woodworker who is looking forward to getting this unit busy in my shop as quickly as I can. Jorge Silveria, a spokesman with Porter-Cable, told me the BN200V12 will be available for purchase early in October and should sell for around $279.
