I have reclaimed a great quantity of birdseye and curly maple from a local school that tore down an old gymnasium. It is very heavy with eyes and is nicer than any birdseye I’ve seen. I would like to use it to build a home office for myself. What method should I use to remove the old finish and to turn the wood from hard wood flooring into useable stock. Of couse I will have to rip both the tougue and grooves off but I’m looking for the best method to acheive the best finish and to prepare all four sides for use.
Thanks,
Anthony ([email protected])
NY
Replies
I would:
1) rip the T&G sides off; joint edges if necessary to get a gluing edge.
2) glue up the boards into wider stock
3) remove the old finish and flatten the wider stock in a thickness sander. Planing birds eye maple is likely to give you a lot of tear out.
No matter what route you take, you'll end up with stock that looks like a lot of thin stock joined together.
What about using the stock for face frames and the door rails and stiles. I could do a shaker style door with plywood center.
Anthony
Indeed you could, if it is wide enough. 2.25" is standard rail/stile width.
I still say thickness sand because of the figure.Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
If the flooring wasn't too damaged when it was pulled up, and the tongues and grooves are still on, then why not re-lay it as flooring again? If its as nice as you say (and I don't doubt you a bit) then it's going to impress.
However if you are bent on turning it into furniture and cabinets. Look into getting it professionally stripped. Just make sure they don't use water in the process. Wet maple is going to move a lot.
The other option is to re-cut the tongue and grooves to clean them up, and glue them together to the widths that you want. There will only be a slight loss of width instead of the loss of the complete groove from each strip and it will make it easier to keep aligned when clamping. I have my doubts ( but no actual experience ) about farming out the thickness sanding. The old varnish and wax would gum up the paper in my drum sander so I have to wonder if a cabinet shop will do the same to their expensive belts. Run them through your planer to take off the finish, then get the blades sharpened to do the rest of the work. Don't do it this way if the edges will show or if you are going to make raised panels.
A design thought to reduce the strip floor look to the furniture your contemplating. If you cut a shallow cove into each strip down the length of the face before gluing them together. Perhaps with a narrow strip of contrasting wood like walnut between. The end result will look like it was intended to be part of the design all along. The same could be done as a wide bead too. The undulating surface will reflect the light and show off the figured maple to advantage. I have seen pictures of furniture done this way and the effect is stunning.
Hi arich,
You may want to inspect the flooring for the presence of what is called a micro bevel. It is a very small bevel cut along each edge so that when the flooring is laid you don't end up with a strip standing proud of its neighbor (tripping hazard), due to imperfections with the underlayment underneath. Many flooring companies also install #15 felt over the underlayment to help alleviate this, as well as for other reasons.
I'm not sure when hardwood flooring manufacturers began using this micro bevel process, and if the flooring that you have is very old, these micro bevels may not be there. By holding 2 pieces together (tongue fully into the groove), you should be able to see the micro bevel if it's there. If his isn't removed it could cause undesirable results when you glue them back together.
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
Use whatever tool needed to Git 'r Done!
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