I have some white oak I think I want to make some kind of flooring what should the rough cut dimension be
And ho long do I need to let it dry??? Thanks Coffee Man
8)
I'm cutting hickory right now for flooring.
I'm cutting everything into 1X8's for my project. In actuality, the cuts are 5/4 by 8 inches. I hope that by the time it is dry and processed into flooring that I end up with 3/4 inch by 3 1/2 inch planks.
The boards will dry as 5/4, allowing for shrinkage during the drying process down to 1". Then after this they will be planed from 1" down to 3/4. Once this is accomplished, they will be cut into 3 1/2 inch planks and then tongue and grooved.
The idea is to keep the boards as large as possible during the drying process to help eliminate warpage and checking, then milled into flooring after they are dry.
Hope this helps!
Ken
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10186/DSC00731f.JPG)
LBJ seems to prefer her white oak flat sawn and stacked in the sun. Me I like it qsawn for the ray flake.
What size flooring are you going to make? It will need to be kiln dried to 6% to make good flooring in a house.
I saw for a flooring plant and they are sit up to take 4/4 hardwood (1 1/8 thick when sawn) to produce a 3/4 thick finish stock. The widest they make is 3 1/2 wide. I have sawn it 1 inch thick by 6 inches wide and the people had it kiln dried and skipped plane on one side and finished on the other and T&Ged for flooring. Flat sawn a 6 inch wide board will lose between 1/4 to 3/8 width in drying.
Qsawn lumber makes a pretty and stable floor.
thanks guy,s do i need to kiln dry it or can i just let it air dry ???
Most would say YES, Kiln dry it but I guess it depends on where you live. Dryer climates like the southwest have less humidity and air drying to 6-7% is not uncommon.
I would recommend Kiln drying to ensure no bugs but I do have a floor in the house I sold that was air dried................................for 125 years ;D It was red oak from my Grandparents barn we took down. No probems with that floor and it looks great but we took special care in letting the wood aclomate to the inside temp and humidity before putting it down.
I have had good luck and stable floors from air dried , but I plane to 7/8" and sticker inside the house for at least a month, then finish as flooring and again sticker inside for at least a month.
thanks 4 the reply 8) do i need to worry about cuting vertical grain or can i just slice it up ???
Vertical Grain (quarter sawn) is the most stable flooring. We had the major % of our floor q-sawn but there was some flat sawn.
I think if you do it all flat sawn you may have problems because of the movement between seasons.
Quote from: COFFEEMAN on February 23, 2006, 09:26:52 AM
thanks guy,s do i need to kiln dry it or can i just let it air dry ???
Depends on how big of cracks ya want in your floor.
Plug some numbers into the
SHRINKULATOR (http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/shrinkulator.htm) and it will tell ya how big of crack you are gonna get. Note narrow flooring will have smaller cracks and WO quarter sawn only shrinks bout half as much as flat sawn.
Can we get our own shrinkulator for the toolbox?
That's a pretty slick link, Larry.
When ya movin to Arkansas ??
The boss say's she is going as soon as the mushrooms are up and the crappie are biting. ;D Hopefully, both of us will be there by June.
I use the Shrinkulator a lot...especially when making cabinet doors with raised panels.
I know ya been planning on the move for some time. Good Luck with the move.