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ok, lets see, if it is my reply to Chuck, well, Chuck and I talk at least twice or more a week, and, enjoy our little "chats", a good verbal back and forth, because we are friends,
you see, I try and try to educate that ole georgia redneck hillbilly, but, he just won't listen to his elders who know better, what can I say? so sad, so sad, oh well, so sad,

Lee,
I am as erudite a man as you are ever likely to come across in your travels.

I come out of Appalachian hill folk on one side and Okeefenokee swamp folk on the other. I am not ashamed of my roots.
I yam what a yam..

I came across the thread on board expansion. Now I am no hardwoord mechanic, and I didn't read every item in the post, but it seems the overall conclusion reached wasn't entirely correct.

It seems that with expansion, the boards can only expand in the direction of the tongue. Why? Because of the angle of the nails. The nails can only pull out one way. All the talk about mass is irrelevant.

And this post...

"Here is a simple test...


Take a dry board (8%) and shoot it down, with your fastener of choice.

Take a pencil and mark down both sides of the board.

Now take you steamer and increase the moisture content of that board as it is fastened.

Once it has gained MC look for your drawn lines! "

...is not a real test of the conditions we're talking about in an installed floor. There are no opposing expansion forces from adjacent boards on the single board. The real test would be to lay a bunch of boards, not just one, and do the same thing with the pencil marks. Think about the way the boards act in conjunction with eachother.

I am sure some people to argue this point, but think about it before you do. Draw the cross section of a few nailed boards on a sheet of paper and think about it.

I think about it all the time, Socrates.

Chuck, you're a yam?