Wood floor inlay...

[Furby]

How do you do it?
If I have T&G flooring running West to East, and want to inlay a couple of strips North to South, how do you attach the N/S strips?

[etat]

Not a problem.  Jack up the house.  Spin the house 90 degrees.  Might have to do more than a bit of foundation work.  Might have to spin the house more than once.  Use a compass for reference. Set house back down on foundation.
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................ .Heck Furby, I have no idea.  Looking forward to hearing the answer from someone that does though.

[Furby]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
I needed that!

I hope someone does have the answer, because I have a harder question to ask.

[Frank_Pender]

Fraom what I have briefly experienced, the ends of the boards will have to be t & ged as well. ???

[Furby]

That's the only thing I could come up with that made any real sense, but what about movement?

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Use strong nails.  : :

[Furby]

I guess that will bring me to my next question then........
Any way to inlay a live edge flitch without T&G ???
Harold your last post more or less answers this I guess, but is that my only option?

[Ironwood]

Sounds like a bad idea!!!! my maple floor move quite a bit seasonally. Reid

[Tom]

What I've seen done on a table top might work in a floor.

A groove is cut in the boards to accept another board that is running a different angle.  You could use a router and not go through the first layer of boards.  That way the movement would be inconsequential.  There are router bits that create angled sides and flat bottoms, this will keep the board edges "sharp" and hide gaps.

[Furby]

You mean to just do a true inlay where you simply remove a portion of a piece of wood and replace with another? That would be a ton of work for the size I'm thinking of, but I guess more then worth it if it works.
I'm wondering how much trouble I'm going to have with movement. I can live with a few gaps, but I don't want it to buckle.

One more thing, what about sanding? I'm guesing I'll be doing a ton of detail sanding where things meet?

[Don P]

Check out the logo on this website;

http://www.stuartflooring.com/hints.html

The inlay of JEB Stuart, the last cavalier, is in the lobby of the plant and is several feet across. I'm pretty sure the pieces are all 3/4 thick flooring. 

There's some inlay tips further down that page.

[Furby]

Thanks Don!
I know it can be done, I've seen it. Just wasn't sure how.
I'm thinking I would need to trim the live edge with a band saw to have a tight fit, and not have a gap from the curve of the log?

[Don P]

I think I'd want to get back to mostly a full board.
If you could lay it all out and saw thru both the flooring and the flitch at one pass that would be tight, hard to do I think.

If you bandsaw the flitch and then temporarily fasten it overlaying the floor but set back 3/4" from its final location. Using a bushing or bearing over router bit with the bearing riding on your flitch as a template, the bit cuts out the flooring below?

You could even bandsaw a pattern to use for both pieces. Get it smooth...fair curves and all, then use it to pattern rout both parts. If you wanted you could work some biscuits in the joints I think.

That company also makes borders and accent strips. If the strips are end matched you can usually turn 90 and still lock.

[Furby]

That's a good idea!
I was starting to lean towards squaring up the flitch edge, lay the flitch, and then cut each floor piece to fit. But I think what you just posted sounds a lot better, and I could make some of my other boards work as well. I don't have enough of the curved flitches to go the whole distance.


One other thing I've wanted to do for a looooong time, and have thought about laying these in between a pair of flitches, kind of like a walkway. Was to lay cookies, and fill in between them with the epoxy/sawdust mixes I've heard about. Anyone know anything about those mixes?

[Brad_S.]

I've used SYSTEM THREE EPOXY for straightening a warped door by kerfing the back, clamping it flat and filling the kerf with the resin with wood flour mixed in. It's like the West System and is intended for marine applications, but wood workers use it alot. Thats also the stuff they use on bar tops to seal in memorabilia or whatever, so it is tough stuff. Haven't used it enough to give you an educated opinion on your project other than to tell you it would be on the pricey side.