A power stapler or staple gun is a handy tool that drives heavy staples into masonry, plastic, and wood. There are many different applications that staple guns can be used for, including affixing various materials, such as upholstery, fabric, carpeting, wiring, roofing, house wrap, insulation, and much more.
Sometimes a nail gun won’t do it when fastening specific materials. If you are working with a weaker material like thin plywood or sheathing, you may find that the amount of force exerted by nail guns is too much.
Using a stapling gun, you can get the job done perfectly without the overkill of performing the task with a nail gun. Weaker materials like fabric, screen, heating, or plywood can be fastened and penetrated with staples.
A staple gun can be indispensable for many projects because of its lightweight, convenience, and durability.
On a Rush? Here Our Top Staple Guns
What to Consider When Choosing the Right Staple Gun
When picking out the best staple gun to purchase, you may be overwhelmed with the wide variety of staple guns available at the local home center or online. We have written the section below to show you what you need to keep in mind when hunting for the right staple gun.
Types of Staple Guns
Before selecting a staple gun for your project, you should be aware that multiple styles are available on the market.
Manual staple guns: Thick staples are fired when the lever of a handheld manual staple gun is depressed. These guns are the perfect solution if you need to hang exterior decorations or work on a DIY project.
Electric Staple guns: An electric staple machine either uses batteries or is plugged into a wallet sock and fires staples when you pull the trigger. Upholstery or carpet jobs that require many staples are straightforward with these guns as they are lightweight and durable.
Pneumatic staple gun: These staple guns use air pressure to fire thick staples into moldings and framing materials.
Flooring staple gun: Flooring staple guns are generally air-powered and fire staples when struck with a mallet. In most cases, they are used to drive staples into the tongue of a hardwood plank or more rigid materials.
Tack hammers: You can use a heavy-duty staple gun like a tack hammer to fire staples into hard materials by striking the surface with these tools.
Will a Staple Heavy Duty Staple Gun Work on Wood?
A staple gun is best used for softwoods, but if you manage to get yourself a heavy-duty model, you should be able to use it for most tasks. Some heavy-duty or pneumatic staple gun models require additional equipment to work, such as an air compressor or electric wall socket.
Finding the right staple gun for your upholstery projects or the hanging of Christmas lights is an easy task, but with a plethora of other models on the market, it makes it difficult to choose the most desirable one.
Always take the amount of money it costs and what you want to achieve with the tool into consideration before making the purchase.
How Do I Choose Staples?
The measurement used to determine staple thickness is done in gauges; thicker staples have lower numbers. In order to give you a better understanding, an example of this is a 14 gauge staple is more expansive than a 16 gauge.
Some upholstery guns can fire 22 gauge staples, while most all-purpose staple guns use 16, 18, and 20 gauge.
Industry-specific tools may use smaller or larger staples outside these ranges, but it all depends on the application.
Manual staples guns also use a common type of staple known as the “T50”. Other manufacturers have designed their staple guns to operate with them as the staple is a trademark of Arrow Fastener.
Comfort and Ease of Use
Manual staple guns often cause discomfort or require excessive arm strength to operate, making it challenging to use for some people with weaker grips or smaller hands. In this case, pneumatic or electric options may be the best solution.
You only need to depress the safety mechanism at the tip of the air or electric-powered tool while pulling the trigger with a single finger.
Electric vs. Pneumatic Staple Guns
ven though manual staple guns are valuable for a plethora of projects, performing heavy-duty tasks may not be the best idea. When firing a lot of staples or when stapling through thicker materials, a staple gun with a power source, whether pneumatic or electric, might be the best solution.
Pneumatic Staple Guns
Pneumatic staple guns tend to be more powerful and are great for driving staples deep into hard materials and wood. The only problem is that they require an air compressor to operate, which may be an issue for some users.
Electric Staple Gun
On the other hand, electric staple guns pack less punch and need to be plugged into an outlet. An electric model will be best if light-duty work is all that you require.
Our Top Staple Guns
Choosing a suitable model may seem intimidating due to all the online information. We wanted to make it easy for you to select the best model for your requirements, so we compiled this list of best-performing staple guns.
We deliver insightful information regarding these products’ features and benefits by seeing what these units can do and performing hands-on tests. Finding one of the best staple guns that work great and are accessible when loading staples is easy; all you need to do is check out the models listed below.
Let’s get started with our review of the top staple guns for various home, industrial or commercial tasks.
Dewalt Heavy Duty Aluminum Stapler
This manual model is a good choice because of its lightweight aluminum construction and durable design. It provides flexibility for various projects and fires standard T50 staples plus 18 gauges brads.
The DeWalt is a great staple gun that packs more of a punch than other units on the market. It can easily penetrate soft materials and is ideal for upholstery projects.
One downside of this product is that the brad nails are a little tricky to load at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will be off to performing your home improvement tasks. We can compare this model to the more common Stanley staple guns, but just with increased performance!
DeWalt 5 in 1 Multi-Tacker and Brad Nailer
This is one of DeWalt’s electric models that outperform the rest. You can fire different-sized nails and staples with the multi-tacker, including brad nails and T50s. There is a power regulator for hard and softwoods, an on/off switch for safety, and a comfortable rubber grip for convenience.
The ability to switch between brads and staples makes it a tremendously well-rounded tool that can be used for multiple purposes. What is excellent about this stapler is that it includes a wire guide to attach an electrical wire to the correct location safely.
Bostitch 18 Gauge Crown Stapler
The Bostitch 18 gauge crown stapler is our best choice for anyone considering switching to staples for their finished work. It’s a pneumatic gun that can be changed from contact firing to sequential firing at the press of a button, making it not only convenient but easy to use too.
A universal belt clip can be affixed to either side of the stapler, and it comes in a handy carry case to keep it safe when not in use.
When it comes to ticking all the stapling boxes and offering mighty penetration power, the Bostitch performs exceptionally well.
Senco 16 Gauge Construction Stapler
This tool can hold its own on a construction site because of its ability to fire staples up to 2 inches in length. It has a 360-degree exhaust hose and a comfortable rubber grip helping to make sure to machine is secure in your hands.
The tool requires an air compressor, but that shouldn’t be a problem as you can include an oil-free air compressor in your inventory. What’s great about this product is that it contains clear instructions on how to set up the device and provides details on performing stapling jobs.
With this powerful staple gun, you can easily fire staples through construction lumber or plywood. It can be used to create a robust mechanical bond that is challenging to separate.
Even though it can hold more than two sticks of 16 gauge staples at a time, this stapling machine is still lightweight and robust. The Senco range of tools is just what you need if you want to penetrate any hard material while on the job.
Conclusion
After this hands-on review, you should have a pretty good idea of which model to go with. The DeWalt manual option is one of the best choices on this list because of its power, flexibility, and dynamic design.
Using Bostich 18 gauge provides you with ease of use and excellent power if you have finished work. On the other hand, people working on construction prefer to use the Senco for its comprehensive capabilities and accessible point of access when loading brads or staples.
With this information, you can now go forth and purchase the correct tool for the job and finish those projects you have always wanted to.
