I have a couple hundred sq.ft of 3/8" solid koa T+G (3-1/4" wide) to go down over 3/4" OSB sub floor, with 15# felt. In looking at the range of staplers available, I have been trying to find a gun that would be good for this job and other future flooring jobs (perhaps with thicker wood) but haven't found anything that really knocks my socks off as a general purpose gun from thin to thick boards. So I think I will just try to get the absolute best gun for the current job with 3/8" solid Koa. If you had to pick the best stapler for this case, what would it be?

The most readily available candidates candidates seem to be the Bostich Floor Runner (1" long 3/16" crown staple) and the Porta-Nail Model 461 (1" to 1-1/4" long, 1/4" crown staple). The SPOTNAILS WS4840W2 looks like a great gun, but if it only takes 1-3/8" staples as advertised, I think that would be too long for 3/8" flooring (if it did take shorter staples, that would be another choice for me).

Looking at the various staple sizes, the 3/16" crown staples seem to be properly sized for the delicate-looking tongues on the boards, but I wonder about the penetrating and holding power of the thin wire gauge and the 1" length. The 1/4" crown staples look like they would penetrate and hold in the OSB a lot better, but may be more prone to splitting the tongues. I have no real world experience with flooring, so maybe someone could comment.

Being a woodworker, it has crossed my mind to just use a standard 1/4" crown stapler and free-hand it. Something tells me it might be more time consuming than just pointing and shooting a floor stapler, and the safety would either have to be over-ridden or fussed with.

Anyway, I am ready to buy and would appreciate any recommendations you folks have. Thanks in advance -- Craig

TTT

I have the same question so I'm bumping this post in hopes of a few responses. Thanks.

Well, I can tell you what worked OK for me -- I ended up getting the Bostitch floor runner with the 1" 3/16"-crown staples, and it seemed to be ideal for the 3/8" Koa. It's definitely the right scale/gauge staple for this size and type of wood. I ended up going much lower on pressure than expected (~ 62 psi) but that's what worked. The floor came out great.

Thank you very much skier. Anyone else have recommendations?