I have 1000 sq feet of 3" custom milled birch planks, tongue and grooved along length, but ends are unfinished (straight cut).

1.) viewtopic 5612 "How to Prepare Unfinished Ends" Gary suggests one can "rout a groove into every end and insert a spline".

I have a 3/4" Bosch plunge router - Does anyone know of a jig I can set up to route a groove on the end of 12 foot lon planks? Or do I have to build a router table?

2.) joists run parallel to 8 feet of 2 foot wide raised hearth. The hearth is raised 8 inches off the 3/4 in plywd subfloor. How do I nail flooring in this space?
The only thing I can think of is to lay the floor and screw into the birch flooring ends and sub floor from the basement, still unfinished.

Another possibility is to glue the tongue and groove ends together as I am laying the floor, making the ends monolithic, then screw into this from the basement.

Any other ideas?

1) No jig is required. Simply adjust the router to the proper depth of cut, matching it up with the grooved sides. Then use the "Easy Groove" router bit. It has a bearing guide. http://www.onlinefloorstore.com/store/product/?id=2240

2) I'm not quite clear on this. Are you saying the hearth is suspended above some of the subflooring and the hearth is in the way of nailing the floor down? If that's the case, then simply glue the flooring down to the subfloor instead of nailing. Do NOT glue the flooring together.

Thank you for your quick reply Gary!
1. I'll check out the "Easy Groove" router bit.

2. yes, the hearth is suspended above the subflooring and I'm unable to nail down 2 feet of the flooring ends beneath the hearth.

The room is 16 ft long, with 2 of those feet beneath the suspended hearth.
Do I nail down the clear 14 feet and glue down just the 2 feet beneath the hearth?

I drew up a quick 24KB png sketch to illustrate the situation, but don't know how to post it.

I uploaded sketch to flickr.com. I may be successful in posting the image to hardwoodflooringtalk!!!

Just glue down what you cannot nail under the hearth. You can use PL Premium Urethane Construction Adhesive. You MAY be able to toe nail (blind nail) through the tongue of the flooring either by hand or using a pneumatic finish nailer in that area under the hearth. I think my Senco would fit under there.

Thank you Gary!!!
Now to start the project !!

I hadn't even considered the flooring when we designed/built the house, so was putting off installing the floor, as I couldn't comprehend how to deal with the minimal space under the hearth.
Your tips are MOST helpful! Thanks, again.