My wife purchased a Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba) for our home and I have found that this wood is extremely hard. Much harder than oak. I tried a Bostitch nailer only to find that the cleats will not seat well in the groves. I found a local rental store that supplies the Powernail model 45 T&G...Is a better nailer? or what would you recommend. I was advised not to use a compressor nailer due to the hardness of the wood...and it would tend to crack the tongue...

Additional Info: Subfloor consists of 3/4 inch OSB glued and nailed on to 1/4 in Plywwod. Joists are 16 inch OC...

Second Question: With this subfloor can I use 1 1/2 inch cleats?

PS I read through the entire "sticky" thread and am still wondering....

You can use a Pneumatic nailer/stapler....I installed 400 square feet of Jatoba with a pneumatic stapler. There will be some cracked tongues some people use 3in1 to grease the staples/cleats to help. If a tongue is split all the way through, remove it.

Good Luck and get the pneumatic nailer or stapler.

A bar of Ivory soap, to dress your fasteners.

Thanks, I'll give the nail dressing a shot...picking op the Powernailer 45 this morning.