Ditched my old cable stapler for a hammer tacker after a job in Phoenix

I used to rely on that electric stapler for everything (thought it was saving my wrists). Then I got a call for a new build in Phoenix where the drywall was so hard the stapler just bounced off, took me twice as long. Switched to a $15 hammer tacker halfway through that job and never looked back. Has anyone else hit a wall where a staple gun just won't cut it and went manual?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_sullivan3d ago

That line about the stapler just bouncing off the drywall hit home for me. Had a similar thing happen on a garage job where the plywood was just too dense for my electric model. I fought with it for an hour before grabbing a cheap hammer tacker from the truck. Night and day difference. The manual one just punches through whatever you put in front of it and you don't have to worry about cords or batteries dying. For me it was a no brainer once I saw how much faster I could move.

linda_reed3d ago

Wait, you had a stapler bounce off drywall? That's insane, I've never had one do that unless the wall was concrete. @ray_sullivan that must have been frustrating watching the staple just fall on the floor after all that effort. I can totally see why you'd switch to a manual one after that mess.

wendy_henderson213d ago

My buddy Ray actually told me a story similar to what you said about "just bouncing off." He was doing a shed roof with this fancy electric stapler and it kept skipping on the cedar shakes. After smacking it against his palm a few times in frustration he grabbed a hammer tacker from an old toolbox he found in the truck and it went through like butter. He said he couldn't believe he wasted half the morning messing with the electric one. Makes you wonder how many more of us have that same experience hidden in our tool sheds.