Dave got me thinking... say you snap a line in the middle of the room for the first row.

You're going to have to spline it on the groove side to start laying in the reverse direction, eventually.

Can you screw in some big hefty blocks butting up to the groove side of the first row, flush with the snapped line, butt your first row against these blocks and start nailing with the MIIIFS to your heart's content... using the hefty stopper blocks as a backstop to keep it all straight?

Then once that half the floor is in, unscrew the hefty stopper blocks, glue in the spline (double tongue), nail the glued-in spline side down tight, then go merrily along in the reverse direction?

This would save face nails and avoid the hassle of manual blind nailing the first few rows.

I just pulled this idea from reading these messages... I know there is a RIGHT way to do it... is this close?

I do that on 45 jobs, but still face nail (blind) the first rown. and gently staple the second row. Then check the straitness of it all, pop a few more rows in, then do the reverse side and work both ways.

(On a strait job) you are going to wind up with 2 times the walls to pull though, putting the end few rows in is harder than the first few rows...
Food for thought

So you leave that first face-nailed row in place? Or once the rest of the floor is set, do you peel up that row, put in a spline, and reverse direction?

I blind face nail it. (in the tounge) I leave the first row in. It shouldnt have any nail holes in the top of it.

How do you keep it from moving around while blind-face nailing it in the tongue when there is nothing to back it up against?

behind my first row I screw/nail scrap boards 6 inches long (or so) I usually have them on every joist, and where the two boards in the actual row I will be installing meet. Once I get the first row nailed in, and then staple a few rows out, I unscrew my temp boards, glue the spline in, and nail/ staple it in, then on to the next row.