Making my own flooring

[solodan]

Well said Tom,  ThankYou 8)

[WDH]

And while we're at it, can y'all think of any other uses for the oak I will harvest?

You could make some wainscotting, maybe for a hall.  Here is some I made from oak off my property.  V-grooved it and put it up with a chair-rail.

[Handy Andy]

  I have a cousin who made flooring out of locust, about 4 or5" wide, ran it on edge on his woodmaster.  I saw it and it makes oak look boring.

[solidwoods]

Mill it.
Take it straight to a kiln.
Then either to a shop with a moulder or T/G it yourself.
We charge $1.25 per sq' for logs to flooring.
Oak is not easy to air dry, and its pointless since the wood will need to be dried to 7% average mc any way.  Taking it to a kiln immediately will also reduce drying defects that could be created from air drying improperly.
You could also make extra and sell it to cover costs.

Is making your own flooring worth it?  You bet it is.  Go price qtr sawn 3"-5" wide, long rips.
jim

[tomboysawyer]

Thank you all for this thread.

I have a similar situation. Except that instead of oaks I have to take to clear my property, it is black cherry. I have a number of really sweet veneer logs in my stash and I still have about another acre to clear.

But I'm gonna cut it all into dimensional boards and make 3000 sq ft of flooring out of it. I'll probably have a lot left over.

I've been trying to decide about whether to cut it 6/4 and get it T & G and put a single layer down or cut 4/4 and laying two runs overlapping seams. Certainly, for me, with the equipment I have, keeping the planks with a plain edge would be faster and cheaper for me.

I have some 12" clear, 16' long maple planks I'm putting in my office. I know I just can't buy that anywhere. I could never afford black cherry.

My partner and I love unique things. I could actually make money if I sold the cherry then bought cheaper flooring either from a local mill or from a big box. But it wouldn't be "our" flooring. It wouldn't have come from "our" land.

And I don't know about the timing/expense thing earlier. I bought ash off a doctor who had bought it with some maple from a mill that closed. I paid $1 per board foot and at least 1/3 of it was only good for firewood - not just checking and knots but rot. And I still had to install and sand it. But it is beautiful floor. Hubby and a friend sanded it and did an awesome job.

Tom, as always, has the mindset that attracted me here. If we were all about the most economical way of doing things, we wouldn't build anything.

And those who make their own food, you only have to look at the news of the past year to see the incredible value of actually knowing what you are eating!

And there is value in not importing slave labor for our products.

Please post pictures of your flooring when you have it installed!

[WDH]

I really like the idea of a cherry floor.  For me, that is only a dream because we do not have all that much cherry that makes high grade sawlogs down this way.  I am looking for it all the time.

[Max sawdust]

I've been trying to decide about whether to cut it 6/4 and get it T & G and put a single layer down or cut 4/4 and laying two runs overlapping seams.

8) 8)
Nice ;)
I have asked myself the same question.
If you go thick will you be able to see it from both sides?  If that is the case and you have enough that could be super unique and just awesome.
If you will not be able to see the underside, I would use something else for the underlayment and then lay the thinner cherry over the top.

We have very little cherry in my parts.  Just milled a few logs with burls, sure is nice stuff.  It is one of my favorites ;D
max

[tomboysawyer]

I've been trying to decide about whether to cut it 6/4 and get it T & G and put a single layer down or cut 4/4 and laying two runs overlapping seams.

8) 8)
Nice ;)
I have asked myself the same question.
If you go thick will you be able to see it from both sides?  If that is the case and you have enough that could be super unique and just awesome.
If you will not be able to see the underside, I would use something else for the underlayment and then lay the thinner cherry over the top.

We have very little cherry in my parts.  Just milled a few logs with burls, sure is nice stuff.  It is one of my favorites ;D
max

Yeppers. You could see it from both sides. I have an insane amount of black cherry logs from clearing.

These came from a small section of my driveway:


These came from my leechfield clearing:


And these came from about a 1/4 acre of future lawn and driveway:
(I was taking pictures for my niece's Flat Stanley project)



I haven't even taken down the largest black cherries in my house site and back yard. There's cherry on this lot over 24"dbh. Such a beautiful wood.

One thing I'm particularly excited about is a pair of very curved cherry logs I've set aside for cross bracing my main beam in the crown post studio I'm building. I'm going to saw two sides and debark the curved sides.

A lot of the cherry is very twisted. I've put a lot in the firewood pile. But I set aside larger chunks to turn bowls out of.

[WDH]

I am so envious of that Vermont cherry, Tomboysawyer .  Things must be very "serotinous" up that far North :. 

[tomboysawyer]

I am so envious of that Vermont cherry, Tomboysawyer .  Things must be very "serotinous" up that far North :. 

I've read (I believe in Sawmill & Woodlot magazine) that black cherry will only grow in clear fields. My property at the turn of the last century was farmland with a (maple) sugar bush. Some of the fields were left to fallow about 75 years ago and others about 50 years ago. Someone owned the farm without farming it for 25 years and it was then subdivided 27 years ago into building parcels.

I know from the black cherry that borders my current house and hangs over my boat from my neighbor's yard that it isn't so much the serotinous nature of things but the fact that the birds love black cherries (and leaving the lovely stains on all my vehicles most especially my white boat).

I'm sure others can speak to this better than I, but very little timber harvesting in past years was clearcut. Without clearcut, there is no black cherry.

[WDH]

You are exactly right about cherry needing disturbance to thrive as a major component in a stand.  Just open up the area to full light, and the birds will do the job :D.  For those folks that are against all types of clearcuts, it just goes to show that one size does not fit all in nature. 

[timcosby]

That  *stuff* from a dedicated flooring mill will very likely be better than anything a homeowner, one time flooring maker will produce.

wait till ya see the floor i am going to do!!!!!!!

[timcosby]

most cupping is caused by not sealing the underside of the board....

[WDH]

Tim,

Will it be oak?  Cherry?

[Dodgy Loner]

I'll have to post the pics of the new cherry flooring I installed once I get it sanded and finished.  That way all of y'all can see how much worse it is than the stuff from a dedicated flooring mill. ;)  You probably remember it WDH - it's from the first batch of logs you ever sawed up for us.  I've been getting a lot of mileage out of that stuff over the last 5 years! 

[WDH]

Glad I could be of assistance to a dedicated floor-ist ;D.

[Dodgy Loner]

After spending about four hours sanding the stuff the last two nights, I've decided that being a floor-ist is not the most fun job in the world.  It's gonna be worth it when I put that first coat of varnish on it, though.

[TexasTimbers]

Pain fades with time.

(Anyone who repeats this however, is a ninny).

[WDH]

Yes, pain fades with time :.