What is the Difference Between Flat and Conical Nails?
Coil Nail Guns tend to take either Flat Nails or Conical Nails. When looking at the coil of nails, conical nails will be layered from the outside of the coil towards the centre, creating a 'Cone', or domed shape. On the other hand, flat nails are also in a coil, but are not stacked on one another, making the coil flat. Please see the pictures below for reference:
Conical Nails (Left) and Flat Nails (Right)
IMPORTANT: A flat coil nailer will not fire conical coil nails, as a conical nailer will not fire flat coil nails.
If you are unsure whether your tool fires flat or conical coil nails, a good indicator is the pod that holds the nails. A cone-shaped (domed) pod will take the conical coil nails, while a flat pod will take the flat coil nails. A common mistake is to place your flat nails inside a conical pod, which is bad for the tool and will not fire the nails, causing jamming problems.
That being said, we do offer a Coil Nailer that will fire both the flat and conical coil nails.
When in doubt, give us a shout!