Arrow Fastener Arrow 506 T50 Heavy Duty Staples, 3/8-Inch Leg Length, 3/8-Inch Crown Width Staples for Upholstery, Construction, Furniture, Crafts, 1250-Pack

A dependable 3/8-inch staple for real-world shop and site work

Staples are easy to overlook until you pick the wrong size or a box full of off-brand strips starts jamming your gun. I’ve been running Arrow 506 staples—the 3/8-inch leg, 3/8-inch crown T50 profile—through a rotation of upholstery, insulation, and light construction tasks over the past few weeks. They’ve earned a permanent place on my shelf for one simple reason: they’re consistent. Consistency in staple quality translates directly to fewer jams, cleaner drives, and work that moves faster.

What you’re getting

• 3/8-inch leg length, suitable for thin to moderate material stacks
• 3/8-inch crown width, the standard T50 wide crown most guns are built around
• Heavy-duty steel construction with sharp “precision” points
• 1,250 staples per box

The profile is the classic T50, so they fit the usual suspects: Arrow’s T50 manual guns, the PT50 pneumatic, and their hammer tackers (I used an HT50 for housewrap and plastic sheeting). They also ran without issue in my older T50 manual gun and a compact electric stapler.

Setup and tools used

To see how they behave across different driving forces, I tested with:
- Arrow T50 manual gun (general shop use)
- Arrow PT50 pneumatic stapler at 75–90 PSI (bench and site)
- Arrow HT50 hammer tacker (wraps and plastic)

Materials included softwood (pine, spruce), plywood, poplar, and a couple of oak boards; medium- and heavy-weight upholstery fabrics over foam; poly sheeting; kraft-faced fiberglass insulation; and a carpet runner.

Performance across common tasks

• Upholstery: The 3/8-inch legs are a sweet spot for chair seats, slip seats, and back panels where you’re pulling fabric over foam and fastening into hardwood or plywood frames. The staples sank flush and held fabric without tearing, and the 3/8 crown distributed pressure well for tight folds. For extra-thick stacks (multiple layers of fabric and welt), I’d bump up to 1/2-inch legs, but 3/8 handled most of my chair work.

• Insulation and housewrap: In studs and sheathing, the points bit quickly with the hammer tacker and pneumatic gun. For kraft-faced batts, the 3/8 leg holds the facing tight without blowing through. On housewrap and heavy-duty plastic, legs set cleanly without excessive tearing at the edges, especially when I kept the crown aligned perpendicular to the material grain and avoided over-driving.

• Carpet runner and underlayment edges: Into pine treads and plywood, the staples seated flush and resisted working loose. I wouldn’t use T50 staples for structural subfloor tasks (use narrow crown or flooring fasteners for that), but for temporary hold or fabric-backed runners they’re perfect.

Drive quality and jam rate

This is the category where the 506 staples stood out. The strips were straight, the legs uniform, and the points sharp. In the pneumatic gun, I experienced zero jams across a couple of boxes. In the manual T50, I had one partial feed due to me short-stroking the handle—cleared with a quick slide and reset. That’s about as good as it gets with staples.

The precision-ground points matter more than marketing suggests. In harder substrates (oak, dense plywood), the legs tracked straight instead of skating or splaying, which reduced proud staples and rework. With the PT50 set around 85 PSI, I consistently got flush sets without crushing the crown.

Holding power and finish

Wide-crown T50 staples aren’t invisible, but they grip. The 3/8 crown provides enough bearing surface to hold fabric and membranes securely without slicing. Removal with a staple lifter was straightforward, and fewer bent legs meant cleaner pull-outs when I had to reposition. If you’re stapling delicate fabric that marks easily, consider backing off drive power or switching to a finer wire; otherwise, these are a solid match for everyday upholstery and shop tasks.

Choosing the right length

Leg length is where most misfires (figuratively and literally) happen. A rough guide that works:

• Light fabrics into hardwood frames: 1/4–5/16 inch
• Most upholstery into plywood/hardwood: 3/8 inch (the 506 sweet spot)
• Thicker stacks or softwoods: 1/2 inch

Aim for penetration into the base material roughly equal to the thickness of your top stack. If you’re consistently seeing proud staples in hardwood with a manual gun, it’s not the staple—it’s the driver force. Step up to a pneumatic or electric stapler, or switch to slightly shorter legs.

Materials and corrosion

These are heavy-duty steel, not stainless. They’re fine for interior use and dry environments. If you need long-term outdoor exposure, damp basements, or coastal settings, switch to stainless or monel T50 staples to avoid rust staining and corrosion. I used the 506 staples for a temporary plastic weather barrier outdoors; they were great for the job, but I wouldn’t leave them exposed for the season.

Compatibility notes

No surprises here: they fit Arrow’s T50 family—manual, electric, pneumatic—and the HT50 hammer tacker. They also worked in an older non-Arrow T50-style gun I keep in the truck. If your tool specifies T50 staples, the 506s are the right profile. Always check your gun’s manual for minimum and maximum leg lengths; most T50 guns are happy from 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

Packaging and ease of use

The strips fed cleanly, broke predictably at the glue joints, and didn’t shed or warp in the box. The 1,250-count feels like the right unit for most shops—big enough for multiple projects without committing to contractor-case quantities. The size is clearly labeled, which helps avoid the inevitable “grab the wrong leg length” mistake when you’ve got multiple boxes on a shelf.

Shortcomings and trade-offs

• Not corrosion-proof: For exterior or high-humidity installs, choose stainless or monel.
• Wide crown visibility: If you need an invisible fastening line on fine textiles, a narrow crown stapler or brads will leave a subtler footprint.
• Manual gun limitations in hardwood: The staples themselves are fine; driving into dense hardwood with a manual tool can leave legs proud. A pneumatic or electric driver solves this.

None of these are flaws in the 506 staples so much as inherent trade-offs of the T50 platform and steel fasteners.

Practical tips from the bench and site

• Test on scrap: Fire a few staples into the same substrate and stack you’ll use to verify drive depth and hold.
• Align crowns with the load: On fabrics, place the crown crosswise to the direction of pull to reduce tearing.
• Space consistently: For upholstery, 3/4–1 inch spacing works for most runs; tighter around curves.
• Set air pressure conservatively: With the PT50, 75–90 PSI gave me flush sets without crushing material.
• Keep the gun square: Tilting the nose is the fast lane to splayed legs and proud staples.

Verdict

I recommend Arrow 506 staples for anyone working with a T50-format stapler who needs a reliable 3/8-inch leg for upholstery, insulation, window treatments, light construction, and shop tasks. They drive cleanly, the quality is consistent strip to strip, and the precision points reduce jams and misfires across manual, pneumatic, and hammer tools. While they’re not the right choice for exterior exposure or ultra-discreet fastening, they’re exactly what I want for day-to-day interior work: predictable performance at a fair price in a size that covers most jobs.