I'm in need of advice. I'm just about ready to lay a solid oak T&G
floor in our lounge, the boards are 200mm wide (and 20mm deep) and
I've read that face nailing is recommended for boards this wide and
I'm not too sure how this would look.

I have various options, visible nail heads, filled nail heads or
plugged nail heads. I think the latter two would ultimately be
noticable and my eye would be drawn to any inperfections whenever I
looked, so I'm leaning towards visible nails. This would be in keeping
with the rest of the house, the original exposed pine boards in other
rooms obviously has them. But I've never seen an example of a new T&G
oak floor with visible nail heads. Can anyone help me here, has anyone
done this, do you have pictures? And secondly, if I'm to do this,
which nails? I don't fancy modern floor nails, does anyone know of
somewhere that makes reproduction old nails?

If I face nail these boards am I not increasing the chances of them
splitting as I'll be fixing them in multiple places across their width
unlike secret nailing? Is there a way to try to prevent this?

Finally, has anyone laid boards this wide and not face nailed them?
What was the result, was there any cupping? For reference, my floor is
a suspended floor over a ventilated void. The joists are insulated,
then 18mm ply, then building paper then the boards themselves.

Thanks for any help you can give,
David.