Builder Chris Burdett gets to grips with HiKOKI’s nailers and circular saw during the building of a garden room.
Garden rooms have become a popular addition to many gardens, especially since the pandemic when working from home became the norm. My company, Urban Spaces, builds garden rooms with timber and SIPPS, which means our main tools are circular saws and nailers.
So, I leapt at the chance to test HiKOKI’s circular saw and nailers. These are the cordless, gasless versions which have the potential to make life so much easier, especially on cold mornings where normally you would be trying to get the gas warm in your pocket!
First up came the NR1890DC 18V Brushless Framing Nailer. The first thing you notice is how light it is. That’s important when you have a lot of work to do and part of the weight saving comes from the compact battery. With 3.0Ah I am told it drives up to 400 nails per charge, which is brilliant for a job the size of our garden rooms. It will drive nails up to 90mm. What’s great is that there is very little kickback, but you get all the ‘feel’ of a pneumatic nailer, plus there’s a rapid fire option for speed. When I used it, the nailer powered through the OSB and battens and is a very solid tool.
The same can be said for HiKOKI’s second fix nailer (NT1850DFJXZ Cordless Brad Nailer). Again, it’s noticeably lighter and compact but doesn’t lose any of the traditional feel you get from an old-style pneumatic nailer. You’re just not going to get as tired using this as heavier, more cumbersome tools. The manufacturer says you can get 1,650 nails per charge with the 3.0Ah compact battery, which was included in the box, and I can well believe it. There’s no lag between nail drives either and you don’t need a tool to clear any nail jams. It fires 16 to 50 mm (5/8” to 2”) nails up to 1 to 1.25mm (0.131”) in diameter.
I really like the HiKOKI 18V Circular Saw; in fact it’s my favourite as it is so versatile. You have good visuals on the blade, which means you can get accurate cuts time after time. Although these tools are cordless, just like the nailers, this saw feels solid, with a good robust construction to the tool’s body. The saw also has an easy-to-use guide that stays in place during cutting and I really like its portability. Cutting battens and timber is no sweat for this tool.
Batteries
Of course, batteries are crucial to the performance of cordless tools. Although I used the compact 3.0Ah battery on the nailers to save even more weight, the Multi Volt batteries are a game changer for HiKOKI and provide mains-like performance. The batteries are very quick to charge – we used the multi charger and we didn’t run out of power all day. Because they can tell if the tool is an 18V or 36V model and adjust accordingly, switching tools is really easy. Taking the battery from the 36V Circular Saw I could put it on the 18V combi drill and off we went!
HiKOKI also sent us a Twin Pack to test. This has the DV18DC combi drill and the WH18DC impact driver as well as two Multi Volt batteries included, so is well worth a look. The combi has a maximum torque of 140Nm while the impact driver has a maximum torque of 210Nm.
Verdict
These are cutting edge professional power tools and provide a performance me and my team were very impressed with. You can tell this company’s engineers have really thought about the user when they designed them.
For more details on the NR1890DC 18V Brushless Framing Nailer visit NR1890DC | HIKOKI Powertools UK (hikoki-powertools.co.uk).
For further information on the HiKOKI’s 18V Circular Saws visit Products | Circular Saws-Cordless | HIKOKI Powertools UK (hikoki-powertools.co.uk).
