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by Peter Brett - August 2005
For more information call Christine
01444 440188
01444 440188
Forget a hammer, try this
The TACWISE MASTER NAILER tells you what is in its name, simply a professional quality angled nailer, that will fire nails from 20mm to 50mm in order to construct furniture and cabinets and lay down decks etc.
For these tasks it is indeed hard to beat, as it does these things very well. I tried them all, or at least the test equivalents thereof, and found that the tool performed perfectly. There was never a shaky moment.
Place the point where you needed it push it down, activate the trigger and the nail was driven home perfectly with a firm thump.
It all starts with the look of the tool. It has a bright high visibility orange body with neat looking black rubberised trims, trigger and nail magazine. The orange body appears to be made of nylon reinforced plastic and is incredibly strong and rigid. It is very well put together, with no loose or “afterthought looking” bits. There is a black rubber inset into the handle grip, trigger and on top of the striker head. It is not simply cosmetic, it actually helps you grip the tool and use it properly. The trigger is a decent size and can be operated with two fingers or with gloved hands.
The rest of the vital bits are made of steel. The nail magazine for example, is a robust extrusion that helps keep the whole tool rigid and absorbs some of the impact during use. It is incredibly easy to load the magazine, as all you have to do is lay the nails points down in the tray and slide the cover over them until it clicks shut.
As I have mentioned before there are lots of nailers on the market these days at a wide range of prices, so why choose this one? First of all it’s a TACWISE. Developed from the Rapesco brand, TACWISE now have an internationally recognized brand. With the international brand brings international responsibility for ensuring quality. This TACWISE nailer does indeed feel like a quality product. From the moment you pick it up it feels solid and ready for what you can throw at it. All the switches and grips feel positive and capable of a long working life. The balance of the tool is good too, although it is by no means a lightweight at two and a half Kgs. This is achieved by having the transformer at the base of the handle to balance the weight of the striking bits at the front.
Secondly the tool works very well at its intended tasks. I managed to reach its limits by firing 50mm nails into a hard weathered oak post, and they were not quite able to punched flat into the surface. With softwood and softer hardwood like mahogany there was no problem at all in getting the nails fully flush with barely a mark on the surface due to the rubber protected safety switch.
Thirdly the tool promises a reliable working life. It has a metal nose construction that will be able to absorb a considerable amount of wear before it inevitably needs replacement after hitting umpteen thousand nails.
I used several thousand nails into all sorts of woods and situations and I did not have any misfires or bent nails. That is what professionals would hope for and expect in a tool that is used hard every day.
Despite its power it is a remarkably slim and compact tool. Maximum nose width is about 40 or 50mm and therefore it can fit into smallish spaces quite easily.
Having now managed to sort out most of my power tools with cases or bags I really appreciate the fact that cases can make your life easier. When you want a tool, you find it and stick it in the boot or van, knowing that its complete and ready to go. This TACWISE nailer has a well made case that holds the tool comfortably in place with enough space for its cord.
Also there is a dedicated space for several thousand nails in the case and it is strong enough to withstand the rigours of the worksite or the inevitable sling into the back of a van
Deciding which tools I can live with and those that I like and those that I actually can’t live without is a complicated business because it works at a subliminal level after a while. Usually good design and capability feature strongly in my choices, but that is something I usually discover later. The tools that I actually reach for when I need to do different jobs are sometimes surprising to me. Despite its power and professional bulk I found myself using the TACWISE machine for quite delicate jobs where a smaller nailer would have done just as well. It just feels like such a capable and professional tool that it feels right.
On worksites where mains electricity is available or in a production workshop, this TACWISE 500ELPro seems to me a good choice. It is a solid, no-nonsense performer, that is also capable of making a good fist of most fixing jobs.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications