Beginner asks: which staple gun drives staples only part way in?

[Michael_Kubiniec]

I am building a strip built Kayak from a kit and before I even started stripping my old staple gun failed. On all those cool youtube videos (thanks Mr Schade!), the staples are easily removed because they do not drive all the way in, flat against the wood. How do I achieve this, or which stapler should I buy that does this for me? Home Depot and Lowes are nearby, but I thought I would ask here first, thanks.

-Mike

[Howard_Spira]

Hi Mike,

i use an inexpensive ‘powershot’ heavy duty manual staple gun…..about $27 dollars at lowes/home depot before tax.

i have built 6 strip kayaks with it and it still works fine. i have also been using the Arrow 9/16 (the longest staple) in my builds.

getting them to not go all the way in is a bit of an art and depends on the gun, the strip and the underlying form material…..and your technique. so i usually start each build with a bunch of test shots to sort out my technique to get the preferred result.

if i had feedback on this approach/tool:

• the good: its inexpensive and can be made to work with some practice and finesse.
• the negatives i have experienced 1) the staples themselves sometime break when i try to pull them out….its very frustrating when this happens as it can take a lot of work to get out a broken staple (again i have developed my techniques to minimize this but if i could find a better/sturdier staple than the arrow brand, i would happily switch) 2) it takes finesse….and i wish sometimes that i could adjust the power to more consistently get the staples where i want them.

i could clearly afford a more sophisticated tool…..but i make do….i have a long relationship with this staplegun and some of my older tools….and i suppose i will likely keep my dinged up powershot until the end. i hope some of our other strip buildier will chime in…i am curious how they approach it.

picture of one of my favorites built with the tools/techniques described….

h

[David_Dewitt1]

I have used a couple of different solutions. Sometimes I tape a thin (1/8”) strip of wood to the bottom of the stapler. Other times, I drive each staple through a small square of heavy duty cardboard (not corrugated).

[Peter_Martin2]

When building my Petrel Play I bought a Stanley Fat Max stapler from our local DIY store. This is in the UK, not sure if you can find these in the US though. This has an adjustment which controls the amount of force the stapler uses. When set to the minimum the staples were left proud of the wood allowing quick and easy extraction, and I didn’t have any breakages either. I used Stanley TRA206T1 type A. 3/53/530. 10 mm staples.

One word of caution, make sure you don’t allow the staples or wood to get wet while they are still in the wood, you will find marks which are impossible to remove, yes I found this the hard way when I allowed a wet cloth to sit on the partially stripped hull overnight.

[David_Dewitt1]

Wow. I have never seen a stapler with a force adjustment. Looks perfect

[Michael_Kubiniec]

Thank you, everybody. This is exactly the help I needed.