I intend to use solid oak skirting on my self build.
Various carpenters have stated that using a compression gun (as their preference, for speed of fixing obviously) to effectively project nails under high pressure into the wood (and the masonary to the rear) will/ should NOT cause the oak to split/ crack.
My instinct says to me (as have a couple of non carpenters) that screws should be used instead.
Any ideas from carpenters or otherwise would be apreciated?
There's also the issue of covering up the nail/screw head.
For a screw, you'll need to drill holes through the skirting and countersink, for a nail you can nail in and counterpunch.
Then fill both with appropriately coloured filler.
I've had to do both with my pine skirting - I prefer the nails as they have a neater finish, but the distance to the uprights in the wall sometimes means I have to use screws (TF house - so your block situation differs somewhat!).