Top Trim Carpentry Tools

Meet a pro

Jerome Worm has been a trim carpenter for more than 25 years. He has installed thousands of doors and many miles of base and casing, and shows no fear when faced with a curved stair rail or an ornate fireplace surround.

Features to look for

Whether you’re using a finish or a brad nailer, you’ll occasionally hit something hard (like a drywall screw) that will cause the gun to jam. This gun lets you clear jams just by opening the magazine. Others have a quick-release nosepiece. Without these options, you have to disassemble the nosepiece.

Some models exhaust through the handle, away from walls and trim.

Before you leave the store, check to see if the gun comes with a coupling. Many don’t. If it comes with a swivel coupling, buy a non-swivel version. Jerome says he’s never met a swivel coupling that didn’t leak.

Features to look for

Finish nailers come in two shapes. On some, the magazine is parallel to the handle. On others, it’s angled. Angled is the way to go. It’s easier to get into tight spots.

A gun with a fixed exhaust port can leave oily stains on the wall. An adjustable port lets you aim the exhaust away from the wall.

The gun should countersink nails without driving them so deep that they split the trim or blast right through. The crude way to control depth is to adjust pressure at the compressor. A better way is to get a gun with a depth dial on the nosepiece.

Polyurethane vs. rubber

Polyurethane air hoses are just plain better than rubber or PVC ones. They’re just as tough but much lighter (especially nice when you’re working from a ladder). Plus, they don’t leave those nasty skid marks on walls when you yank them around a corner. The downside is that poly hoses can be gangly, tangly and hard to roll up.

Oscillating cutter

You’ll never know how badly you need an oscillating tool until you try one. It’s handy for a litany of projects, including trim. The blade slips nicely behind trim to cut stubborn nails so you can remove trim without splitting it. It also lets you neatly trim shims—none of the slipping or cracking you sometimes get with the utility knife method. Jerome likes to hang a bunch of doors and then run around trimming them off. It’s almost fun. The sanding pad is good for trim work too, especially inside corners and around balusters.

Must-have hand tool

There are a hundred kinds of pry bars out there, but this is the only one in Jerome’s tool pouch. What makes it unique is that the bend at the claw is less than 90 degrees. With that gentle bend, Jerome can slip the claw behind base trim from below and pry off trim without damaging the wall above the trim. This pry bar (Hyde 45600, available through our affiliation with Amazon.com) is also a favorite of painters, so look for it in the paint aisle, at paint stores or online.

What's with the gunk?

It's wood glue that has built up over the years. Jerome closes the bottle by pushing the cap against his pouch. Gross, but efficient.

It takes two

Jerome always carries a nail set with a small tip. It’s good for setting nails with large heads and makes a good center punch to create starter holes for hinge screws. But a small nail set slips off the heads of brads, so Jerome also carries a larger nail set; one with a concave tip that locks onto tiny brad heads. Rubber-coated nail sets give you a better grip and—more important—the bright colors are easy to spot when you leave them lying around.