Giving wide floor planks the impression of 2 narrower boards

[Kustom Kreation]

I tried to post this in the renovating forum, but i don't seem to be able to post there.

So.... Im putting in some new (old) wooden flooring in a bar, to replace the carpet that is there and tie in with the rest of the old wooden flooring in the bar.

The place i've found to get the flooring only has planks that come in widths of about 150 - 250mm wide. The current wooden flooring in the bar is 65mm wide.

So i had the idea of using the table saw to make a groove down the middle of the wide planks,about 6-8mm deep, to give them the appearance of narrower planks. Anyone done this with relative sucess?? Or does anyone have any other techniques for this?

Cheers
Kris

[mic-d]

I don't know about using a saw to do it but you could use a router fitted with a v-groove bit to run some faux joins.

Cheers
Michael

[Glennet]

Bear in mind that the scored planks will still share the same grain pattern so it won't be totally convincing, depending on how much figure and color variations there is on the planks.

[Bob38S]

If you really want to keep the boards wide go the "V" bit in the router - even though it is on a floor - do a sample piece first to see how it fits in with your existing pattern. If you use a saw cut you will have a "U" groove which will catch all manner of debris and be difficult to clean.

If you have a saw - is there a reason as to why you don't rip them to the same size as the boards you are trying to match and then fit them as per what is there?

Regards,
Bob

[joe greiner]

Just in case it isn't obvious, ripping the boards to the existing width would enable placing the new boards apart from their siblings, and avoid grain matching. This would, of course, increase waste in the kerfs and possibly produce some pieces too narrow to use. Or make the odd pieces wider than needed and place them at the edges of the array, where the odd size would be less noticeable. In any case, you'd need to increase your estimated quantity.

Cheers,
Joe

[China]

Don't use a v groove as the other joins will not have a v groove, using the table saw should work although you may find that a standard type blade will run a groove that is too wide

[Bob38S]

Agreed China - I didn't make myself clear in the post re the "V" bit - the bit would only barely touch the wood to basically give a marked line rather than the actual "V" if it was used at any or full depth.

Not the best solution as I would lean towards ripping to size - agreed there would be some waste but as you only want to do the job once - I guess that is the cost of doing the job.

Regards,
Bob