I've used brads, staples, pnuematic brads, and gone stapleless. Staplelees is the way to go, it takes a little more time, but looks nicer. Staples leave too many holes, and some woods will "bruise" if you drive the staple too deep. Shiny brads leave too big of a hole and the tough strips slide up the smooth brad, when you are not looking. You must becareful to remove them with a straight pull away from the surface, if you rock them to the side the hole gets bigger. Pnuematic fired brads (Senco brand) have a rough surface and a smaller diameter. They hold so tight that I have broken the heads off trying to remove them. On realy tough stips I"ll use these through a small scrap of wood to get the job done, but I usually reget it when it comes time to remove them.

Happy Buiding, Jer