TOPIC: Boat upholstery:Hand staple gun or air staple gun?

I find I have two choices for putting upholstery together; air gun stapler you attach to a compressor and hand staple gun found at Lowe's and Home Depot for under $25.

I am making new seats and side panels for the boat. The ply it is going into is 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch Douglas Fur and am using Naugahyde.

It will be for a one time use on the upholstery.

Which would be better for my uses and why?

Since the intended use is on only one project the hand stapler should meet your reqirements. In addition to both the hand and pneumatic staplers there are also electric units for a little more $$ and well worth the added cost. I have all 3 variations and find uses outside of upholstery work for thier use.

Melanie


Not the one I have but gives you an idea what's available.

www.lowes.com/pd_44901-412-ET501_0__?productId=3361428&Ntt=electric+stapler&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Delectric%2Bstapler&facetInfo=

i use a electric hand stapler,and you can get stainless steel staples at lowes.john

I used a hand stapler for my upholstery- It'll work fine. Pneumatic guns are nice if you've got a lot of work to do, but probably overkill for one or two small projects. I've got one of the 'power shot' staplers, it works really well.

As John said, you can get the stainless and Monel staples at most Lowes stores... The Monel are more corrosion resistant, but WAY more expensive... Stainless is fine for most uses, especially in fresh water....

Heed the advice for the use of stainless steel staples. A crappy staple gun will only piss you off & waste your time. Get a decent one, or borrow a good one from a friend.

If you didn't know, rounding over the edges of the plywood coring is important. Use a router, file, sander, whatever. Just get the edge off. I like to round the edges by about 1/4". More than that isn't really necessary. You can also cut strips of vinyl or use scraps to cover the edges of the plywood before streaching the finished cover over them. This gives an extra bit of padding for the vinyl cover, makes it have a smoother look & it will wear much longer without tearing through the edges.