Crown Stapler vs. Brad Nailer: Which to Use?

Crown Stapler vs. Brad Nailer: Which to Use?

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When it comes to finishing construction projects off, such as attaching crown molding or veneers, or attaching upholstery to furniture, two tools that you may have use for are the crown stapler and the brad nailer.

Yes, they’re some pretty funny-sounding tool names. Don’t let that fool you, though, as they are extremely useful. The situations in which you might desire either are different, though. So, which one should you get?

Continue reading to find out.

Crown Staplers and Brad Nailers: The Basics

Before we start talking about the differences between brad nailers and crown staplers and finding out which one is right for you, it would probably help if we explained what both of these power tools are and how they function.

What is a Crown Stapler?

Crown Stapler The crown stapler is also known as the construction stapler, or what most people generally refer to simply as a staple gun. Its primary applications unclude upholstery, roofing, insulation, trimming, molding, sheathing, mattress construction, carpet laying, and more.

Crown staplers, as the name implies, are designed to staple materials together using large staples, pieces of metal with three sides, a flat top and two prongs, the latter of which help fasten materials. This does produce a good deal of holding power.

These tools are much like nail guns in the sense that they use a specific power source to drive that piece of metal into the material below, but of course, they use staples instead of nails or pins.

Crown staplers are often pneumatic, which means that they use compressed air to fire the staples into various materials, although there are also power staplers that use electricity with loaded springs to drive those staples.

What is important to note is that crown staplers can differ in terms of the size of the staples they use, and this is true on two fronts.

First off, the thickness of the staple, otherwise known as the gauge, can differ. You can have fine and thin staples ranging from 20- to 22-gauge, medium-thick staples that are between 16- and 19-gauge, and heavy-duty staples between 15- and 16-gauge.

The other difference from one crown stapler to the other has to do with the size of the crown. The crown refers to the top section of the staple, the flat part that will be visible. There are narrow, medium, and wide crown staplers. In other words, the crown really just refers to how wide the staple is, with wider staples being better for heavier duty jobs.

What is a Brad Nailer?

Brad Nailer A brad nailer is a specific type of nail gun, one that uses small nails that have a very little or absolutely no head, something like a small pin. Don’t confuse the brad nailer with the pin nailer though, because while both use what essentially amounts to headless nails or pins, those used brad nailers tend to be just a little bit larger than the pins used by pin nailers.

In terms of nail size, whereas pin nailers use 23-gauge nails that are tiny, brad nailers use either 15- or 16-gauge nails. The length of the pins or nails used by brad nailers can range from 1/2 to 2-1/2 inches.

Just like the staple gun, and just like other nail guns, the brad nailer requires a specific power source and firing mechanism to function. This could be corded or cordless, pneumatic, or sometimes even fuel-powered, such as butane. Nail guns also employ various firing mechanisms that thrust those nails or pins into the material below. The most common of those include air-powered, magnetic, or spring-powered.

Brad nailers are often used for lightweight construction purposes and for finishing jobs, for tasks such as cabinetry and shelving, for attaching lightweight trimmings, for molding, and various other lightweight tasks such as arts and crafts, or even for tasks such as birdhouse building.

Crown Stapler vs. Brad Nailer: What Are the Differences?

Alright, so now that we know what crown nailers and brad staplers are, let’s figure out what makes them so different, and therefore which one is right for you.

Points of Contact

First off, the difference between nails and staples is important to consider.

Staples have two prongs or points of contact/entry, whereas nails only have one. As you will see, when it comes to holding power and applications, this does make a difference.

Crown Staples

Penetration Depth

Another difference between these two tools, or rather between the things they dispense has to do with the depth at which they can penetrate.

The nails in brad nailers can be as long as 2-1/2 or 3 inches, whereas the staples from a crown stapler generally don’t penetrate deeper than an inch, usually even less. In terms of the applications, this does matter, because applications that use thicker materials that require joining, such as two thin pieces of wood, will require nails, not staples.

Brad Nails

Holding Power

These two tools do also differ in terms of holding power, and yes, this is related to both the depth of penetration as well as the shape of staples and nails. Due to brad nailers penetrating fairly deep, they have decent holding power when joining together two thin pieces of wood, such as for attaching trim and molding.

On the other hand, if you need to attach something like upholstery to wood, then those thin nails with no or little head will not perform well. Staples that have two points of contact have better holding power for thinner materials, such as fabrics.

Variety of Nails/Staples

With a brad nailer, you are usually limited to either 15- or 16-gauge nails, whereas crown staplers can use staples that range from 15- to 22-gauge. Although this difference won’t affect your overall choice that much, it is still something you should consider.

Applications

Brad nailers are better for applications where you need good holding power for thicker materials, for applications that require thin nails that won’t damage the material and are not visible to the eye, and particularly for attaching wood to wood (although not for heavy-duty applications).

You won’t use a brad nailer to attach a pair of 2x4s. Brad nailers are designed for cabinetry and shelving, for attaching lightweight trimmings and molding, and various other lightweight tasks such as arts and crafts.

On the other hand, crown staplers are often used for upholstery, roofing, insulation, trimming, molding, sheathing, mattress construction, carpet laying, and more. If you need good holding power to attach two thin materials, such as for attaching fabric to wood, then the crown stapler is best.

That said, attaching two pieces of wood to each other is not something you would use a crown stapler for, as it won’t look nice, it won’t hold well, and it may damage the wood.

Crown Stapler in Use

Damaging the Material

Speaking of damaging the material, because brad nailer nails don’t have heads and are very thin, they will cause no or nearly no damage to the material.

On the other hand, crown stapler staples can be quite hefty, not to mention that they enter the material at two points, thus creating twice the damage.

Power Source

Brad nailers can be powered by electricity, battery, fuel, or compressed air, whereas staple guns can be powered by all of those things, and they can use manual power too.

Cost

You can find low-end models of both tools starting at around $80 or $100, however, high-end brad nailers can cost twice or three times as much.

Can a Brad Nailer Use Staples?

Generally speaking, no, a brad nailer cannot use staples, but this is referring to just basic brad nailers. There are now tools out there known as combination crown nailers/staple guns and brad nailers. It’s almost like a gun with two types of magazines, one that holds staples and another that holds nails.

So, while a normal brad nailer cannot use staples, a combination stapler and nailer can. You just have to find the right product.

Which of the Two Should You Use?

When it comes down to it, this is not really a one or the other kind of thing, as both of these tools are very different and are used for different applications. You generally would not use a crown stapler to build cabinets, and you would not use a brad nailer to nail down carpeting.

Crown staplers are ideal for upholstery, roofing, insulation, trimming, molding, sheathing, mattress construction, carpet laying, and more, whereas brad nailers are meant for cabinetry and shelving, for attaching lightweight trimmings, for molding, and various other lightweight tasks.

Brad Nailer in Use

Summary

As you can see, people tend to compare these two tools because they look similar, but at the end of the day, they serve essentially different purposes and are designed for very different applications.

In other words, there is not really a choice here per se. It’s not like you would use both of these tools for the same jobs, and therefore the choice is already made for you. It all depends on the job at hand.

This is like comparing bicycles to cars. While both may have wheels, that’s about as far as the similarities go, and this is no different when comparing crown staplers to brad nailers.