distressed flooring and beams

[jayzee]

Hi guys . I am new here so don't be too rough on me. Has anyone used the Makita wire brush that Bailey's sells ? I saw lots of large beams and some folks want them with " character " . I have used a grinding wheel wire brush , not fun , and slow. I have also sand blasted and pressure washed. Both messy and lots of handling. I also saw wide plank larch flooring . How do those big-time flooring guys distress their flooring. I have seen it advertised as " hand scraped ".  Thanks , Jayzee. p.s. check out my website in progress ( by my computer literate spouse. ) jayzeelumber.com

[leweee]

You mean this place ;D

http://www.jayzeelumber.com/

Nice website jayzee & Welcome to the Forestry Forum 8)

Haven't used the new Makita ,so I can't answer your question ,but I think someone here has :P

LINK

[beenthere]

Welcome to the forum.
What "character" do you want to feature?
A pic or two of the feature you want would be helpful.

[solodan]

jayzee, I have wondered the same thing about this "hand scraped" flooring, which is not really hand scraped. I have examined some of it pretty close and noticed that no matter where the scrape marks appear on each board, they all end in the same place at the end of each board, so that it will match up with the next. (hope that makes sense) : Upon further examination I noticed that there were only 3 different boards, and remember, they are all the same width. My only guess is that the boards are distressed on the moulder and some how the blade on the face cut wanders back and forth with a cam or something, and then ends up producing a perfect end match. ???  But really, who cares, I looked at your web site and you are way more custom then those guys anyway. Find a unique way that you like to distress your wood and charge a premium for it 8). I have heard that the Makita brush sander leaves a real cool finish, but I haven't used it. I sometimes leave the circle saw marks on my beams , paint them black and then sand it off. This leaves a cool effect . I like your web site, I really need to get on making my web site, but I have just been so busy. My business is similar to yours, I make lots of mantels, beams, flooring, slabs, custom pieces, ect. I have made a few slab vanity tops too. Right now I am making some large log signs for a ski resort, somewhat similar to the arches you have pictured on your site. I will hand peel all the logs this week, but I have not decided how I will join the logs. I might use a through draw tenon. How did you join your arches? I thought about lag bolts, but I have never been fully comfortable with a lag into the end grain. Any thoughts?

[submarinesailor]

Jayzee,

I used one at a Timber Framers Guild event last april.  It had the plastic brush and I thought it did a great job.  We mainly used it for cleaning the mud off timbers and beams.

Bruce

[Don P]

Whew, they're proud of that. How much are replacement wheels?
There was a log home co that "hand adzed" their timbers. We got to looking at their demo at a log home show and I made the comment that those guys had machine precision. "Oh yes sir, they're good"  :D :D
I figure there's got to be something like a player piano roll that could lift and lower cutterheads as the board goes under. Servos and a PC  ???.
I "hand adzed" the siding on my barn by taking the front shoe off a makita little power planer, radiusing the knife corners, extending them as far out as I could, and with an arcing arm motion "adzing" the boards. Worked ok, obviously not hand done but definitely 3d. Cost... 1 power planer   :.

[amberwood]

if you have to process alot of material in this "brush "manner there was a version of the 400mm drum sander that is fitted with a drum brush rather than the sandpaper. It is designed for sanding irregular profiles but would perform just as well for your purpose.

Sort of like this.
http://www.carbatec.com.au/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=250_430_2940_2950
DTR

[jayzee]

Solodan, We just pre drill the top crossmember and into the upright log with a slightly smaller bit then the size of lag bolt so it will still screw in okay. I just did an archway that has 4 ft. diameter logs 50 ft. wide ! I am not good enough to scribe the logs for a saddle notch . This whole archway thing is just a little side business that started from customers seeing the one at my yard.  I have sold several now and best of all is that the logs were ones that were either too big to saw or too twisted or otherwise cull. I usually make them from standing dead western larch .If you get the fit tight enough on top you don't need to fasten it down with anything. Thanks everyone for the advise.