Has anyone made softmaple flooring

[brucehuggins]

     I'm thinking of making flooring strips of Red Maple and allowing some heartwood into the mix.  Does anyone have some pics of  finished red maple flooring with prominent heartwood?

     I'd abandon the project if I could find someone near central NY who could run my 1" X 4" @ 8-10% boards into T&G.  Anyone out there interested?

    I want to leave out the T&G on the ends too.  Has anyone had serious problems from leaving this out.

    My tool kit for this is a 5HP Bellsaw Planer.  Molding fences for it, T&G cutters,  I need to acquire relief cuters for the bottoms. 

    Any Pics, referrals or shared experiences appreciated. 

[bitternut]

At one time I was thinking of getting some of my own lumber milled into t & G paneling boards and there was a guy around Wayland that would do it. I don't remember what the cost was or have his phone number but I do have the number of the sawmill that gave me his number. Try calling Eddy lumber and he may be able to help you out. His number is 607-587-9130.

[Brad_S.]

Define "Central New York". I know of a flooring mill in Junius Ponds (Waterloo) that would do it for a reasonable price. Let me know if you want their number

[Warren]

Bruce,

Not certain how close you are to Vestal, NY.  There was a mill in Montrose, PA, just south of Vestal, NY, (can't remember name) that would dry and mill lumber for individuals along with their commercial work.   A friend and I had them dry and mill about  1,000 bf of PA cherry a few years ago.  She had hers T&G for flooring.  Can't remember the exact prices, but they seemed reasonable for what I knew at the time. 

Warren

[Larry]

      I need to acquire relief cuters for the bottoms. 

   

Just cut a standard planer knife to the desired length.  Use three so you won't have to use any counterweights.  I've made them in bunch of different lengths for both flooring and casing.  Cheap and they work excellent.

[bberry]

Soft maple is called red maple here and is used same as sugar maple. Even though it is called soft it is very hard and should make good flooring.

[jon12345]

I might know a place to turn your boards into t&g, not sure how much they'd charge though :. Where in NY are ya?