On 2014-06-27, Norminn wrote:

The old-fashioned trick I've read about is to drive nails at an angle;
usually two on the end of a board are driven at slightly different
angles.

I don't know about it's done, these days, but I watched for a whole day
as a couple floor layers layed an entire hardwood floor when I was jes
a wee tyke, back in the 50's. You never even saw the nails when done
correctly.

As I recall, the hardwood boards were alternately lipped and the nail
driven in at an angle so the next board covered the nails and
presumably helped keep the nails in place.


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/ --nail


Back then, they all used a hatchet with a hammer head on the back
side. Said they were better balanced than regular hammers. I
remember jes a tiny tap to start the nail, then a single well placed
stroke to drive the nail home.

Looking online, I see all kindsa special tools to get the proper nail
angle, from alignment jigs to air staplers. Even high quality
adhesives that eliminate nails, altogether. Seems to me if you have
nails coming up outta the flooring, somebody did something seriously
wrong.

nb