woodworking question from old man with little knowledge

[Polly]

 8) 8) i need a tool that makes tounge and groove flooring and honestly i dont wnow what you call it or what brand to buy any help appreciated :-[ :-[

[beenthere]

You could use a router with the right bits, or a shaper with the right cutter head knives, or a moulder with the right knives. Several choices, depending on what you have to work with. Could even rig up a jig to use a moulder head in place of the saw blade on a table saw. 

Whatcha got?   

[Ianab]

What you need really depends on how much flooring you need to make. If it's just a few boards, say to do one room or repair an existing floor, then a planer and a router will get the job done.

If it's a whole house lot, then you will want a shaper with a power feeder to get it done quicker.

If you are going to do it commercialy then the the sky is the limit. You just buy a big 6 head planer/moulder and keep poking rough boards in one end and grabbing the floorboards out of the other  ;)

Cheers

Ian

[Polly]

     i guess i should have said old man with little money ,i guess i could use mytable saw and lap joint the boards  :( :( 8)   

[LeeB]

You can do the T&G on the table saw too. A dado blade will make it faster, but you could do it with a standard blade.

[DanG]

You can also sandwich 2 regular carbide tipped blades together with a shim washer between to make your own dado set. ;)

I watched Norm Abram running some T&G on the table saw this weekend.  He made it look easy. : :D

[Stephen1]

I am interested also in doing some flooring for the cabin.

[Polly]

 8) 8)    thanks that is good idea with a little practice i think i can do it two saw blades with shim between good idea cheep plain and simple i like it  : : : 8)

[logwalker]

Pick up a nice 8" dado set and you can do both the tongue and groove with it. Use feather boards to press the board to the fence. remember to put the bow into the fence if there is one. How many board feet are you considering? Joe

[Stephen1]

I have a question, why do we put the bow into the fence? I am going to be making some flooring also.

[logwalker]

When I say bow into the fence I mean the convex side towards the fence. That is so the the fingerboards can keep the board tight to the fence. Finger boards only have a limited amount of force to keep the board tight to the fence. If you beef them up then they cause a lot of friction which makes more work for the operator.