Making Deck Boards

[Fla._Deadheader]

We are about to embark into the world of Teak Decking. The boards will 5/4 I believe. The plan is to start out small scale, with a Planer. The boards need to be radiused on all four corners.

  I envision using a Planer with a fence clamped to the bed. The knives will be ground so you plane one face and partially down 2 edges. Turn the board over and surface the second face and the 2 edges, so the board is finished, with all four corners radiused.

  The pattern of the knives would be the width across and 60% down both edges, in one pass. Flip and finish the remaining face and edges.

  Does this sound feasible??  I realize the boards need to be sized nearly the same, to get good results.  The width will be 5½" X 5/4 finished. 

  Am I on the right track ???  Opinions, guidance, ?????????

[ellmoe]

Harold,

    You can probably make it work as you describe. If you have much variation in thickness you may want to hit and miss with a straight blade, sometime earlier in the process. The biggest problem, I think ,would be with bowed boards. You will not be able to "joint" them. You could do that on a separate machine. If you do much volume I think that in the long run you will want a 4-sided planer.

     Good luck.
 
Mark

[Larry]

I don't know why you would have to plane the second side if the teak is for outdoor decks.  I would call this outfit http://www.wmooreprofiles.com/ and ask them how your idea will work.  They have a lot of experience making custom knives.  If they tell ya it will work I would have em grind 3 knives for your Belsaw. 

I can dig out a moulding bed I made for my Belsaw and take a picture if your still interested in going this route.

[footer]

How could any one afford a teak deak? 

[Fla._Deadheader]

   ;D ;D ;D Place yer order and see 

  We think we can give PT lumber a real run for the market, and it will definitely look better.

  I'm bettin my existance on it.  Already have orders to fill and haven't finished the first board, yet.  8) 8) ;)

[footer]

Are you importing the logs?  What kind of money are you paying for them?  I bought a little bit of teak for a small project for a boat about 8 years ago, and I about crapped when I got the bill.
I am starting to make fencing and deck wood from eastern red cedar.  We have a lot of it around here.
I would think a 4 sided molder would be the ticket for finishing them.

[Hugh Darty]

Sounds like your going about it the hard way. Are you doing this for business or hobby? I'm sure you could contract out the planing for much less than you can do it yourself, depending upon the quantities you want to run.
I have friends who are importing lumber from central america for decking and flooring. They are having it processed on site where labor is very cheap.
I recently bought a container of Jatoba flooring from them (also known as Brazilian Cherry), and it was very well processed. Moisture content was around 7% and the milling and packaging was perfect.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Exactly what we are trying to do, process everything on site, then ship to USA.

  Starting out slowly, then do the molding-planing machine in one pass.  Gotta crawl before ya walk. Asking for any and all input.  The Teak we will work with, is not "Yacht" quality, yet. Not mature enough.

[Tom]

Harold,
Our dear Sponsor, TimberKing, has a sister company, Wood Master,  that makes a "planer, moulder, saw" that does just axactly what you are talking about doing. It even will help with the same size material problem because it has straight-line saws that  create straight pieces for moulding. 

They aren't too expensive..........   I have one.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Been to the site. It's what we have, the Belsaw, only theirs can be wider, not that we need it :.  Mostly fishing for ideas that I haven't thought of, and what would be the machine to get easy parts into CR.

[Larry]

If your going after the high end market ya might want to think about machining your boards so you can use the Ipe clip.

http://www.ipeclip.com/

BTW any Ipe in CR?

[trim4u2nv]

I saw a belsaw planer at an auction with 2 bosch routers on the outfeed to joint (match) the edges with decking cutters in them.  The company made playground equipment.  I also saw an amish setup with hydraulic motors and aftermarket shaper spindles on an ancient planer (I think he said they were from menominee saw.)  With all the furniture companies going under or overseas you could pick up a used moulder or double sided planer cheap.  Really though what type of power would you use in CR?  Gas engine, electric utility, water wheel, steam, hydraulic.

[crtreedude]

We would probably use 220 electric on the finca - or oxen.  :D

Ipe is only barely available here - the bulk of Ipe comes from rip apart the rainforest to harvest a couple of logs per acre. Not very sound idea in my opinion.

Fred

[jerry-m]

Hey FD & crtreedude,

I think what trim4unv said might be the way to go...

Take a regular thickness planer and add a router (3 hp seems about right) to the out feed side with a spring guide mounted  opposite the router... The spring guide will allow for a slight varance in board width... Route the proper edge that you want on one edge of the board, flip the board over and plane and route the other side... One deck board ready for export to the good old USA ;D

Once the project takes off you can buy 1 or 2 or more 4 sided planers :D :D :D

But what the DanG do I know ;D       At any rate good luck,  Jerry

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Thanks for all the ideas, guys.