Question What nails do you use for ...

[Cliff Wilson]

MDF?

Hardwood or softwood v-nails?

I've tried both and haven't noticed a performance difference, but the hardwood nails "feel better" going in, so I've been using those.

Is there an enginnering reason for choosing one over the other?

Also, side question, do you always pre-drill before putting a screw in MDF?

 

[PaulSF]

I use hardwood for the MDF, and I always predrill any holes.

 

[FramerDave]

I believe Framerica recommends hardwood nails for MDF.

 

[Ylva]

I use hardwood for the MDF, and I always predrill any holes.

Same here Cliff.
Both hardwood and softwood nails work, but I found the hardwood worked better.

 

[Jay H]

Isn't hardwood nails less sharp to avoid spliting?

 

[Jeff Rodier]

The hardwood have a duller edge on them for 2 reasons. The first is to prevent the wood from splitting. The second is that the sharp edge on the softwood wedges causes the V-nails to split down the middle while being inserted in very hard mouldings. Once they have split it takes very little work to tear them all the way to in half.

Oh, and to answer the actual question, hardwood for MDF. Predrill small profiles and the large doesn't need it.

 

[Artrageous]

Pistorius recently switched to a Universal vnail. Unless you have some old stock, all their vnails are the same, regardless of the packaging.