What are the Benefits of Using 23-Gauge Pins? This “toe nailing” technique will prevent the wood pieces from pulling apart. Tip: To increase the strength of the joint, drive the 23G nails at opposite angles. In fact, the pinned wood joints have enough holding power for most trim work and light-duty woodworking projects though they can not be used for structural applications. That said, contrary to the popular belief, the 23 gauge pin nails hold surprisingly well with sufficient penetration into the wood. This means that the customer base for these tools is also somewhat limited to users such as finish carpenters, cabinet makers, fine woodworking enthusiasts, and the like. For this reason, pin nails are usually used in conjunction with adhesives to provide the bulk of the bond strength. Pin nailers are certainly nice to have on hand for specific tasks, but their use is generally limited to delicate projects and finish-work due to the extremely light holding power of the pin nail bond. The pin nailer is ideal for finishing jobs as the small-sized headless nails leave almost no mark and avoid splitting which is a real problem with hardwood trims. The 23-gauge version is also known as a micro-pin nailer or simply pinner. The 23-gauge pins are about the size of a common sewing pin at 0.025-inches(0.64 mm) in diameter (21-gauge pins are about 0.84 mm) and are called “pins” rather than “nails” partly for this reason, and also because they are often consistent in diameter from top to bottom and often lack the head that other gauges of nails have, though pin nails do also come in varieties that have small heads (“slight-headed”) on them (usually 21 gauge nails). Pin nailers are the smallest nailers on the market today and typically drive very narrow 23-gauge pin nails into wood, though slightly larger versions also exist at 21G.

So what’s someone like me to do? Thankfully, magical little machines exist for this very application, and those machines are called pin nailers. It is tedious and monotonous, and it often feels like I can still see every single mark afterwards, even when others can’t or simply wouldn’t notice, something that many DIYers, makers, craftspeople, and builders can attest to when scrutinizing their own work. There are few things I enjoy less as a type-A perfectionist than filling and sanding the divots made by my finish or brad nailers or dealing with split wood, especially when working with delicate trim materials and veneers.

23 gauge micro pinner