Hint. He's a regular here. I got together with him on my way to the NWFA basics school last week. Brief blog article on the class below...

Hardwood Flooring School

I wood love to attend that school, I'll bet you guys had a great time, pretty cool.

Well...That's how I picture our "other fearless leader" Keith. Did I win the trip?

I too would love to go to that school and thanx for the compliment but I this is site is great because of the quality installers and their ability to explain things well.

Now as for 3 guesses , first I can eliminate a couple because this gentleman looks slightly younger then I picture some. My guesses would be Jeff, Or Kevin, and maybe Jerry.

Ken, bout time you made it to basics school.

Seen that guys face somewhere before. Was he in the NWFA mag recently?

Well I bombed on my 1st guess But I'm suppose to get 2 more, I'll take 1 at a time...I figure Keven, cause he's closer to the school, and I dont think Jerry has a showroom. Darn, I thought for sure it was you Keith.

tis me! Nice to get to see you face to face Ken.

So mods can i get my pic up in the "meet the panelist" or is it pay to play?

Perfect Ken, while your there...perfect opportunity to insert my "more professional" pic

Kevin:

Write up a bio and you'll be there. Been thinking of getting to that Howard but now the monitor on that old PC is on the frits

I have to say Kevin's posts are outstanding. His knowledge of the wood flooring industry is pretty much absolute. I have definetley learned a few things from his posts. I for one am very happy he devotes his spare time here at Ken's forum.

I think that basics school is a must for anyone wanting to get into hardwood installations. I took the class back in the late 90's when Mr. Boone and Don Bolinger were teaching it. After that class I was driven to get more into hardwood than any other flooring. So much to learn, so many tools to buy.

I bought Don's book; Hardwood Floors; Laying, Sanding and Finishing. It its a wealth of information, old school.

Agreed SP. I'm glad Kevin found us.

I found it interesting they don't use staples at those classes, nor do they promote the use of using pneumatic nail guns for top or blind nailing. Boone claims when a board is top nailed with pneumatic the nailing actually forces the board to rise ever so slightly from the subfloor because of the force. He may have been referring to plywood over concrete, not sure (1 1/2" nail hits concrete). But I do recall some installations where I had to walk over the area (after nailing) so the boards would "set." Without doing so and the floor is likely to crackle a bit because of the small void underneath. So his installations are done strictly with drill and finish nails. That one really surprised me.

And trammel points. Anybody use that procedure to find the center of a room out of square? It's also a finite method to find the squareness of larger layouts. I never saw anyone use that method in my day. First time I saw Aquabar too. That newer underlayment. Good concept. Much easier to use opposed to #15 felt, doesn't smell, doesn't mark up drywall, and boards slide with ease. I asked one instructor about it and he claimed it was more politics than anything..you know special interest. I saw a bit of that going on there in so far as manufacturer relationships and maybe some biased reasons for some product uses. But, it could have more to do about donations of material and so forth for the classes only.

Well, up here I have only heard about Mr. Boone; but I must say, I am glad to hear that he does not endorse staples. I too have issues about them, lol.
As far as finishing nails over brad guns, half my guys dont even own a hammer, sheesh; so thats a losing battle for me.
All my working life, I used a leather grip 20 ounce Estwing and the leather wore into a grip custom formed to the shape of my hand. If I lost that, it would be like losing an old friend. When my son wanted to start in the field, I suggested he purchase one for his own use and already (after about 8 years) the leather is starting to mould to his hand. I hope to leave mine to my grandson, as a momento, not for actual use, but I he decided to use it in whatever future endeavours he might get up to, I would be thrilled.

I remember seeing a video of Don B drilling, hand nailing and also gluing. Wonder how he bids that, its gotta take forevah and evah.

Steve, a poular product up here back in the day was unfinished 3/8th inch by 1 3/4 inch oak (tongue and groove, not that type of square edged floor that is face nailed.) I used to be able to hand nail about 300-350 ft a day, and between my father and I, we would turn out an average entry level bungalow before crawling home. Sounded like a machine gun war going on when we were both nailing at the same time. BTW we got 5 cents a foot for this, 5 1/2 cents if the material was only 1 1/2 inch wide.

Were a big cleat market here mainly due to the fact one of the oldest and largest flooring companies in town is strictly a sports floor company and thats all they ever used manual nailer with cleats. One thing you see here more than drilling and finish nailing is guys breaking off single cleats and hand driving them. Its a real test if the cleat is worth a damn too, cant do it with cheap knock off cleats has to be the real deal. Im a fan of the aquabar it works, takes a little adjustment if you used to felt, its a bit thinner and will bunch on you if you dont watch it, most of the time its not that big a deal just cant bear down on the peices as you slide them back into place.
And Ken ill get to writing that bio, it may take a day or so but ill get around to it, it makes me feel good to help others always know their will be A time where I need some help and hopefully someone will repay the favor.