Why does nobody talk about trim nails blowing out the face of pine?
Was setting baseboard in a 1920s house up in Akron last Tuesday and kept getting blowout on the face every 6 or 7 shots. Turned out my compressor was pushing 110 psi and I had the nailer depth cranked way too deep for that old soft pine. Backed it down to 80 and turned the depth wheel out a quarter turn and the rest of the room ran clean. Ended up filling 14 little divots with that pine-colored putty, which took way longer than the trim itself. Anybody got a psi they swear by for older softwood, or do you just test on a scrap piece every time?
Ran into the exact same thing doing a porch rail out of old reclaimed pine last summer. My little Senco was set around 100 and I was getting that crescent shaped blowout on almost every shot, drove me nuts until I figured out the wood was the problem and not the gun. Dropped to 75 and it sank them flush with barely a mark. Now I keep a scrap cut from the actual board on the sawhorse and pop two test shots before I touch the good stuff, saves me a ton of putty time.