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Ash for flooring

Started by Lenny_M, July 25, 2004, 02:54:40 PM

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Lenny_M

 What would be the best way to saw Ash for Flooring.Should it be quarter sawn or flat sawn??
 The logs are 24"-30"x16`
                                Thanks Lenny

Tom

I'm not much on Ash or some of the other woods you fellows up there saw but I can give you something to think about.

Most flooring is cut "vertical grain", if possible,  for a reason

Vertical grain moves side to side and can be pulled up tight to the next board.
Flat sawn boards lift, and while they can be nailed down, are always trying to pull away from the joist or subfloor.

Vertical grain boards expose more "late wood" (harder) to the wear surface than flat sawn boards (early wood).  Since the late wood is denser and harder, it wears better.

Flat sawn boards suffer from a problem called "shelling".  That is when the late wood and early wood separate from one another and the layers project up from the floor.


Even if the layers of a vertical grain (quarter sawed) board were to separate, the layers would be contained and wouldn't be exposed to foot traffic.

That may not be the specific info you were looking for but it is some general stuff that I have learned. :)

Fla._Deadheader

  This may not help.  ::) ::)  If you would like to compare each method and how it will look, go to Heartpine.com. They have the different looks, showing vertical and flat sawn flooring.

  What Ash I have sawn, in Arkansas, I doubt if the shelling that Tom illustrated would happen. I made stair treads from Ash and never put a finish on it. It stayed smooth, did not raise splinters.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Lenny_M

   Thankx Tom and deadheader
                                     Lenny

ARKANSAWYER

   Ash make a very nice light colored floor and holds up to wear.  It does better flat sawn for the grain looks and is fairly stable wood.  You can qsaw it but it does not have any rays to make it eye poping but it is more stable.   Tom is used to pine about 20 inches wide and it takes some holding down.
  But in boards less then 8 inches cupping should not be a problem is dried right and if the log did not have shake then the boards should not shell or break apart.
ARKANSAWYER
ARKANSAWYER

stevareno

Do you guys end match your flooring?  We ran a flooring job out of Ash a few days ago but we just squared the ends of the boards..  I personally don't see anything inferior about flooring with square ends as opposed to t&g ends but it seems most of the large mills end match their flooring..  Any opinions?

Steve

iain

i LOVE ash flooring and t&g all round so it dont have to end an joist its also worht taking a punt on the upper sections for some stunning grain patterns you may need to cut a little over thickness to allow for any warping around the branch joints but ive not had many probs with my dh kiln and the end result is normaly well worth an extra pass on the thicknesser

stevareno

Aian,
What system do you use to t&g the ends?  I've looked at some end matchers but they cost around 80,000.00 for a high production model.. I've heard of people doing it on a shaper but that just seems very labor intensive..

iain

dont laugh but i use a matched pair of cutters in a pair of big routers takes about 14 seconds to do the ends from picking up the board to ready to pick up the next one :) but then all of my floors are top end hand made

Lenny_M

 The ash log owner decided to have it flat sawn. It will match better with the ash floors in the rest of the house.

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