Gerbilsquasher
8th August 2010, 05:44 PM
I play around with metal more than wood but since working in engineering I seem to be expecting some very high accuracy from my woodwork as well!
In the past I have laid a floor using recycled Tas Oak floorboards. I have also used these floorboards for a very attractive wall lining for my shed office, running a router down the tongue side to leave a 10mm groove when joined together (now they look less like floorboards!).
The wall lining I sanded back with a belt sander and/or a sanding disc on an angle grinder (speed slowed down with speed controller). Thickness wasn't important. The boards for the floor job were cleaned up using my Wolfenden buzzer, after removing all nails and staples etc. (or so I thought, but that's another story....)
To my dismay the boards, when laid, were all different thicknesses and the entire floor had to be sanded again mostly with hired floor sanding gear. It may sound stupid but obviously I was caught out by the boards coming from different sources. Regardless of the extra work, however, it has come up looking awesome, and it is something I want to try again in our new house.
I have been considering the purchase of a wide belt sander rather than a thicknesser for the next time. The Wolfenden buzzer is a great machine and did a great job but there was some waste to the floorboards, especially those with twisty grains where the buzzer pulled out chunks rendering the board useless. Of course the twisty grain would have made the floor more interesting. Or was I doing something wrong? At most I was only trying to take off perhaps a mm, more often a lot less.
My conclusion was that if I could sand and equalise the thickness of the second hand floorboards in the same operation it would not only save time but there would be less variation in thickness when I nailed them down, meaning less sanding once laid.
I am a bit shy of a thicknesser because it might remove chunks like the buzzer did. Will the wide belt sander do the trick? Do they have feed rollers? Spending a few grand and availability of 3 phase is not an issue, so I would be looking at a used industrial machine rather than something from Hafco. I also have plans to use floorboards for other things so it will be used more than once.
Like I said, I've worked a lot more metal than wood. With wood you can't weld a bit back on if you cut it too short! :wink:
In the past I have laid a floor using recycled Tas Oak floorboards. I have also used these floorboards for a very attractive wall lining for my shed office, running a router down the tongue side to leave a 10mm groove when joined together (now they look less like floorboards!).
The wall lining I sanded back with a belt sander and/or a sanding disc on an angle grinder (speed slowed down with speed controller). Thickness wasn't important. The boards for the floor job were cleaned up using my Wolfenden buzzer, after removing all nails and staples etc. (or so I thought, but that's another story....)
To my dismay the boards, when laid, were all different thicknesses and the entire floor had to be sanded again mostly with hired floor sanding gear. It may sound stupid but obviously I was caught out by the boards coming from different sources. Regardless of the extra work, however, it has come up looking awesome, and it is something I want to try again in our new house.
I have been considering the purchase of a wide belt sander rather than a thicknesser for the next time. The Wolfenden buzzer is a great machine and did a great job but there was some waste to the floorboards, especially those with twisty grains where the buzzer pulled out chunks rendering the board useless. Of course the twisty grain would have made the floor more interesting. Or was I doing something wrong? At most I was only trying to take off perhaps a mm, more often a lot less.
My conclusion was that if I could sand and equalise the thickness of the second hand floorboards in the same operation it would not only save time but there would be less variation in thickness when I nailed them down, meaning less sanding once laid.
I am a bit shy of a thicknesser because it might remove chunks like the buzzer did. Will the wide belt sander do the trick? Do they have feed rollers? Spending a few grand and availability of 3 phase is not an issue, so I would be looking at a used industrial machine rather than something from Hafco. I also have plans to use floorboards for other things so it will be used more than once.
Like I said, I've worked a lot more metal than wood. With wood you can't weld a bit back on if you cut it too short! :wink: