Cut out the floor-now what?

[Karl_N.]

Hey Fellas,

Just finished sawing out the rest of my maple flooring. Went 5/4x2  3/4 thinking I'd plane it down to 4/4 and rip to 2 1/2. I have a feeling that was the easy part. We've got a table saw and a good sized planer molder, and a routing table. I'm thinking about getting a jointer but will hold off if I don't need it. You can get a rip saw attatchment with the molder but what about the boards with a bow in them. Can you put the boards on edge into the planer and simply plane them down to the right width. I should be able to tounge and groove 8) with the same machine right? All I've done so far is planed a few boards with the planer and am a complete novice. Figured I'd check in with the experts.
Karl

[CHARLIE]

Running a bowed board through the planer will not take out the bow. The planer just presses the board flat as it runs under the blades, then the board springs back to being bowed.  If the boards aren't bowed too badly, that may be OK, since nailing then down will take out the bow. If they are bowed badly, you can cut the board in two to lessen the bow. Sometimes, trying to work with warped lumber is a PITA, so I'd use the straight stuff first and only use the bowed boards when I had to.

To take out the bow in a board, you have to use a jointer. But then, most likely you'll end up with a board less that 4/4.

I don't know anything about using your molder and planer for cutting tongue and grooves.