so I am replacing the hardwood floors in my house since they are the laminate and I want real oak floors. Just the kitchen area mind you. My question is, I have seen some guys use the piston nail;ier that you hit with a hammer to hide the nail in the toungue and groove. I recently saw on DIY network a guy doing it and he was hand nailing with finish nails that he would then countersink, but when it was done you could still see the nail head and I thought that it looked pretty darn good. Is there a general rule about this style, or is it a lower quality way of doing it? I have friends that will help me do this so the time it takes to nail the finish nails won't be but a few hours in our small kitchen. Thanks for any feedback!

I would DEFINITELY rent a piston nailer that is pneumatic assist. They are cheap - like less than $30/day and they work great! The nails are a totally different type than finish nails. They are barbed and rectangular which helps them to not work loose and create a sqeeky floor. You can use them almost right up to the wall (all but the last 3 rows on 2 3/4 in flooring). FYI: you can get REALLY cheap wood flooring from Lumber Liquidators. We got the utility grade $0.99/sq ft red oak and cut out all the knots and splits. It looks fantastic. Kind of like a butcher block with all the small pieces. It pretty much takes forever... but it looks great and its cheap!