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Hardwood flooring

Started by summerjob, October 20, 2004, 11:10:06 AM

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summerjob

Please give me some advise on cutting wood for flooring.  Does it have to be quarter sawn.  If so what is the best way to quarter saw large logs 3' plus chest high?  How wide and how thick should I cut boards?  What are the three best species to use.  I live in central PA.  Thanks in advance.

MemphisLogger

Quartersawn is absolutley better for flooring--shrinks less in width with seasonal humidity and won't cup.

What kind of equipment do you have?
Scott Banbury, Urban logger since 2002--Custom Woodworker since 1990. Running a Woodmizer LT-30, a flock of Huskies and a herd of Toy 4x4s Midtown Logging and Lumber Company at www.scottbanbury.com

summerjob

I have an Lt 25 woodmizer manual mill.  I also have a Case 1845C skidsteer to handle logs if that matters.

MemphisLogger

Summerjob,

I have a 1992 LT-30--probably not much different than yours.

If the logs are 3' in diameter, your best way to quartersaw them is to rip them lengthwise into 4 pie-shaped quarters first.

I put a pictoral post up on the Forum sometime last spring that showed the whole process but the searc engine seems to be down right now and I couldn't find it using Google.

If you want detailed instructions give me a call. I just PM'd you my number.        
Scott Banbury, Urban logger since 2002--Custom Woodworker since 1990. Running a Woodmizer LT-30, a flock of Huskies and a herd of Toy 4x4s Midtown Logging and Lumber Company at www.scottbanbury.com

Norm

If I had my druthers for flooring I'd use q-sawn white oak. Cut the logs into quarters with a chainsaw load them on the mill and cut out the q-sawn. I'd cut the boards to 4/4 and as wide as possible then rip after drying to the widths you prefer, 3-4" wide would be my preference. I've got this in my living room and it's very pretty and durable. My next choice would be flat-sawn cherry, not nearly as hard or as durable as oak but some of the most gorgeous flooring you'll ever see. Next on the list would be q-sawn red oak done the same way as the white oak.

fstedy

 8) Here is a link for Country Sawyer they had an excellent description of the quarter sawing process with great pictures.

http://www.countrysawyer.ca/index.php?page=quarter_sawing
Timberking B-20   Retired and enjoying every minute of it.
Former occupations Electrical Lineman, Airline Pilot, Owner operator of Machine Shop, Slot Machine Technician and Sawmill Operator.
I know its a long story!!!

Jeff

Scott, can you remember some defintie key words from you post? I will find it. The only thing I found so far was this one with you quartering a log.

https://forestryforum.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?board=sawmill;action=display;num=1066015133;start=0
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Jeff

Scott, thought I would give a quick explanation to why the forum internal search was disabled. I just ran it while monitoring the server with SSH.


 8315 forestry  16   0  4076 4076   804 R       0 82.9  3.2   0:08 YaBB.pl


That number in there that says 82.9?  that is one instance of the forum software and the % of the cpu resource taken! Thats why I have been trying to find an external method of spidering the site and searching it.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

MemphisLogger

I think the title was something like "quartersawing oversize logs"

I hear ya on the cpu demands the search requires. Back when that Logrite contest was going on I remember searches taking so long they'd time out.

What puzzles me is that Google used to have good spidering on the Forum but now it seems to have evaporated  ???
Scott Banbury, Urban logger since 2002--Custom Woodworker since 1990. Running a Woodmizer LT-30, a flock of Huskies and a herd of Toy 4x4s Midtown Logging and Lumber Company at www.scottbanbury.com

MemphisLogger

For the life of me I couldn't find the original post but I did find the pics on the server. Here they go again . . .















If you have any questions Summerjob, jest axe  ;)
Scott Banbury, Urban logger since 2002--Custom Woodworker since 1990. Running a Woodmizer LT-30, a flock of Huskies and a herd of Toy 4x4s Midtown Logging and Lumber Company at www.scottbanbury.com

summerjob

Thanks for the info guys very helpful.  Can chestnut oak (we call rock oak) be mixed in with the white oak in flooring.  Will there be a big noticeable difference.  I don't have much of a market for white or rock oak.  I am getting ready to build a house and might as well make good use of it.  Rock oak is fairly plentiful to me.

jgoodhart

If you are staining the wood it's hard to tell the difference. Natural it is darker than white oak more tan than a cream color but just as heavy and wears out planer and saw blades just like white oak and HI I'm just across the mountain from ya.

summerjob

Howdy neighbor!!  Do you have a woodmizer also.  Might you be the person I have heard about doing some custom milling in Perry County.  

jgoodhart

Nope that isn't me, I have a home made rig that stays put. I have been collecting parts to build another one that will be bigger and better and maybe portable. I have been looking at saws for sale and it would be easier just purchase one and start cuttin. I built a bed frame out of rock oak and now I'm building the rest of the suite out of white oak to go with it. All the white oak I have is 4/4 and I needed 8/4 for the bed frame, like I said if it's stained it looks pretty close. I got to do some sawing this weekend for a guy to make up some lumber for in his barn if this dang rain ever quits, everything here is a muddy mess.

bighoss550

when u use cherry, how do u finish it for best looks??? and does anyone have a pic of a cherry finished floor?
i have a picture in mind how i want my floors to look, but am not sure how to go about it:)thanks guys:)

is it possible to use square sided boards  that are toenailed and do the finish sanding after they are down? or is that askin for trouble?

jgoodhart

Never made anything out of Cherry, yet. I don't see toe nailing the floor boards working, it would be too hard to nail the side that is against the already laid floor. You could just screw it down and plug the holes and sand smooth.

etat

Bighoss,

Unless ya machine the wood and tongue and groove it and nail it with a floor nailer you probably gonna wind up with cracks between the boards sooner or later.

Just a 'thinking' if I was a gonna use square sided wood for flooring I'd get me some glue and some biscuits and one a them biscuit cutters to keep the sides and ends hooked together.  That runs into lots a work.

If ya did do this though,  I think you'd run into too many problems toenailing.  I believe I'd stick to face nailing with a finish type nail, an counter sink the nail heads so you won't ruin yer sander.

At least that's what I did to my 'oak plywood board floor' in my living room.  You can't see them finish nails unless you're sorta just sitting there looking for em.

Ya need to know that  sometimes it's said that i do too much of that there 'thinking'.

Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

bighoss550

u guys make me feel kinda dumb sometimes:D i actually NEVER thought of nailing them right down:D:D

thats what i will do then!!   can u just nail down the rough sawn boards and finish em with a big auto-body belt sander and then some 220 and elbow grease???

does cherry look good the way it is, or should a stain be used? and what do u guys use for a floor finish? polyurethane? as u can tell, im not a seasoned installer:) this is my first house, and my first attempt. i have no trouble gettin cherry logs, and a good friend who ows me a lot of favors has a bandmill, so this is gonna be a very low cost deal:) this way i can spend my time thinkin about how to do the job right, rather than how to cut corners to keep a budget:)
also i am thinkin that a pattern would be nice???
anyone seen any kinds of patterns? i will be matchin it to the soon to be installed pine cieling too.

Norm

One of the best places you can go to learn about installing hardwood flooring is www.nofma.org. I spent plenty of time there before trying my hand at it. As far as making your own I might suggest you find a local place to run it on a moulder after you get it dried down. Well worth the extra money if you want perfect flooring, if you don't mind a few minor imperfections than nothing wrong with doing it yourself.

Here's a picture of my cherry flooring, I used poly for a finish and did not stain it.



While digging out my old picture from the photo archives I found this one right next to it. Nothing to do with flooring but umm umm.
 :D



shopteacher

Here are a couple pics of my bedroom floor. No stain finished with MinWax gloss poly.  
 Norm that floor looks great, but I like the second picture more. Looks like cherry cheesecake?


Proud owner of a LT40HDSE25, Corley Circle mill, JD 450C, JD 8875, MF 1240E
Tilt Bed Truck  and well equipted wood shop.

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