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My Master Bedroom Floor Project

Started by firefighter ontheside, October 12, 2021, 03:39:16 PM

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firefighter ontheside

The wife said she wanted the carpet gone and hardwood put it.  I wasn't about to buy hardwood flooring, so I am making it.  There will be a little of every hardwood I can get my hands on.  So far I have made flooring boards with maple, spalted maple, walnut, quarter sawn white oak, red oak, jatoba(I didn't mill it, but I had it), sassafras, and cherry.  There will be elm in it before I'm done, but its still in the kiln.  I had this idea, but then found that member @tacks Y had done the same thing.  I've been picking his brain for a little bit of insight.  I will have 2", 3" and 4" wide boards.  With doing it that way, the amount of waste has been very minimal so far.  I'm loving turning some of the ugliest lumber I have yet produced into awesome flooring.  It's amazing what the jointer, planer and table saw can do for some warped boards.  I bought a small shaper and some Amana t&g bits to make the flooring, plus a power feeder to help save my hands and shoulders.  I feel like I'm producing the flooring quicker than I expected, so maybe be done making enough in a few weeks.  I have some really nice quarter sawn walnut that is about 7' long and about 7" wide in the kiln.  It is about half heart and half sap.  I'm thinking about using that to make a 6" wide border around the room and then fill in with the t&g.  It looks good in my head.

 

 

 

 

Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Wudman

What did you go with on the power feeder?  I want one but don't want to take out a second mortgage for it.

Wud
"You may tear down statues and burn buildings but you can't kill the spirit of patriots and when they've had enough this madness will end."
Charlie Daniels
July 4, 2020 (2 days before his death)

VB-Milling

This is gonna be awesome if its even close to the results @tacks Y got.  Looking forward to progress photos
HM126

firefighter ontheside

 @Wudman I bought the Grizzly baby feeder.  I think it was $400

 @VB-Milling that's exactly what I'm hoping for too.  I have to find a good waterbased finish for the floor.  
Not gonna deal with smelly oil based finish in the house.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Dan_Shade

I used a 2-part "street shoe" finish when I did my floors.  

Streetshoe NXT

One thing that makes installing and sanding easier is to pay close attention to the thickness and the tongue and groove setup.   If you can the set up very flush, you'll sand a lot less.  
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

firefighter ontheside

Thanks, I'll look into the street shoe.  The link says that there is a supply chain issue, surprise, surprise.
I saved one of the first pieces that I made and am using it as a jig to set up the bits each time I change to help keep the alignment good.  So far the alignment seems to be staying very close.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Dan_Shade

I had someone run my flooring through a 4 sided planer, the edges were off about 1/32, that was a lot of sanding to get it worked out.

Since then, I did a setup with a shaper and feeder, consistent board width and straight edges help too. 

The floor I did received compliments from the professional installer, apparently a lot of homemade flooring runs suffer from quality control. 
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

firefighter ontheside

No doubt the flatness of the stock affects quality of the flooring.  Most of what I'm making I'm face jointing and edge jointing one side before I rip it to width.  Only the quarter sawn WO that I have is flat enough not to need it.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

VB-Milling

I've installed miles of hardwood flooring (real, not engineered) back when I was in the trades.

The sanding process and the finish application really makes or breaks the project.

Don't shoot the messenger, but it may be worth considering hiring that part out  :o

HM126

Dan_Shade

I did all of mine, rented a drum sander, then an orbital sander.  Wife wanted the floor stained, so I did it, and could see the track where I walked the running orbital sander from one room to another to touch up a spot....

So I got to start over with the drum....

Second time around, I finished with a sheet of sand paper attached to a broom stick, and "hand sanded the whole floor".  The water based finish dries fast and doesn't level like an oil based finish.  I ended up with a few streaks at the end where I had to meet in the middle of the room. 

I've only done this once, your mileage may vary. 
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

kantuckid

My entire house is wide board oak flooring done by yours truly. Old part of house is what's called "reject export oak" which is KD and rejected after the kiln for export-usually knots, or slightly thin. Newer timberframe room is my own oak off this land where we live-it's mixed white and red oak.  I also made a house full for a guy who ran an ad saying he was selling chestnut barn boards. Turned out none of it was chestnut but I stupidly agreed to make him flooring form his oak. My pricing was too low.
For my off-grid cabin I plan to do similar to firefighters floor and tap into my wood stash.  I have a huge bunch of pre blight chestnut that is old and beautiful but lacks worm holes so I've passed it by for furniture so far. That chestnut and some walnut, cherry and maple will become my cabins floors. 
   
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

firefighter ontheside

I'm just flooring a room that is about 14x16.  I'm looking at a few products for it.  One says it is specially made to make it easy for quick application, preventing lines.  I'm going to buy a 6" orbital sander to sand the floor.  It shouldn't take much, but I can't rule out a few bad/uneven spots.  This is a log home, so some imperfections in the floor will not bother us at all.  I will never use a floor drum sander again.  It left all kinds of snipe in the main floor for the house.  I finished that whole floor with a 4" brush.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Ed_K

 A few yrs ago I made a floor same as what your talking about FFOTS. I cut the trees sawed the logs to boards had them kiln dried and paid to have it run thru a 4 s planer.



 

 Width is 2 3/4" to 6" at random.
Ed K

firefighter ontheside

That looks great Ed.  I like the colors of that floor.  Nice and warm.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Ed_K

Ed K

samandothers

Great project!  As long as the wife is happy at the end you can then claim success!   The power feed looks like a great addition for the shaper.  

Do you plan to get a cyclone for your dust collector or is the filter doing ok and not filling up too quickly?  What HP is the motor on your grizzly blower?

firefighter ontheside

The power feeder has been a hand saver for sure.  I will not hook up a cyclone for the DC.  I believe this is a 1 1/2 horse grizzly that I had and got out of storage for this project.  The filter does a good job and has a little handle that you turn and it knocks dust off the inside of the filter.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Stephen1

I am just going to follow along. I have just finnished having my flooring sent to a nearby mill. I  did about 2000 sq ft of cherry walnut popple/cotton wood and pine.  the sawing and KD. I am still deciding if I will install and finnish.
IDRY Vacum Kiln, LT40HDWide, BMS250 sharpener/setter 742b Bobcat, TCM forklift, Sthil 026,038, 461. 1952 TEA Fergusan Tractor

firefighter ontheside

 @Stephen1 I'll continue to update as I go thru the process.  Today I didn't do much, but I did process some boards that I found while putting my new compressor in place.  I found some white oak boards and some pieces of sweetgum.  The sweetgum will be some pretty pieces.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Tom King

Our Lowes here used to rent a Varathane floor sanding machine that I've used a couple of times.  I'm not sure if they still do, since I haven't been down that aisle in recent memory.

That machine has three 6" random orbit heads, and is Very heavy.

If they have one near you, I highly recommend it over a handheld sander.

If they do have one available, I can give some more tips on it.  I did a 16x20 room in the last addition on our house with it.

I owned a big drum sander, and used if for a few decades on the new houses I used to build, but sold it as quick as I could when I saw the first fancy belt floor sander.  After that, I paid a couple of young guys to come sand my floors 75 cents a foot, and I finished them.

edited to add:   Here's what the Varathane sander is like:   https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-203939-Varathane-Finish-Sander/dp/B0078IUXO0/ref=asc_df_B0078IUXO0/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309813767497&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5591489085687745109&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009786&hvtargid=pla-569553492669&psc=1

samandothers

Quote from: firefighter ontheside on October 20, 2021, 08:11:28 PM
I will not hook up a cyclone for the DC.  I believe this is a 1 1/2 horse grizzly that I had and got out of storage for this project.  The filter does a good job and has a little handle that you turn and it knocks dust off the inside of the filter.
I understand.  If it is portable and pulled out on occasion it would not be worth trying to attach a cyclone.  
Looking forward to your product.

firefighter ontheside

I had some walnut rough sawn 1x6 up on a shelf that I bought in an auction years ago.  I decided to pill it down 
And make some flooring out of it.  Turned out it was all quilted.

 
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

metalspinner

I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

doc henderson

quilts are nice in the bedroom!   :snowball:   :D :D :D
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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