Thread: Make our own wide veneers from old floor boards etc?

Yes a bandsaw can be used to make veneer.
https://timothycoleman.com/wp-conten...Own-Veneer.pdf


I have never done it personally but it will require well setup quality equipment, dont buy the first cheapest bandsaw you can find and expect that it is a simple job.

A decently set up bandsaw would be the way to go for resawing. However I think that if the boards were tongue and groove, you might need to slice the tongue and grooves off first to provide a level base to do the veneer runs. Also, floorboards tend to have a couple of grooves along the underside that you would need to plan around when deciding on yields etc. Also probably need to take applied finishes on the floorboards into account, wax/oil finishes could have significant penetration into the timber and could repel other finishes if face up, or cause defective gluing if placed face down. Varnished, Estapol, Poly finishes would also have reasonable penetration that could affect refinishing. Also, if you can get 3 or 4 slices out of a board there may be colour matching issues as the top slice would have some form of finish on it and the rest should be raw timber.

If you go this route, you need to be very aware of fasteners in the timber as well.

I use a lot of repurposed timber - largely because old growth timber is simply better than plantation stuff, and usually better than regrowth. But their are qualifications.

Floor boards usually have two nail holes every 450 or 600 mm - do you plug them, or ignore them, or what?

You may cut veneers with either a circular saw or a band saw. Both are expensive and their capital cost would be hard to justify unless you plan to do a lot of woodwork.

Band Saw

A small band saw will not cut accurately enough, so you will need to go reasonably large - say 400 mm upwards. Then you need a good fence, good blade and excellent set up. $$$'s.

Saw Bench

An old floor board was commonly 100 mm wide (4"). To slice this into veneer you need a saw with at least a 300 mm blade, preferably 350 mm. $$$'s.

Most bench saws cut a kerf ~3 mm wide. A ban saw kerf is about half that but not as straight, so probably little difference in reality.

Technique

I'll just run through the logistics of cutting veneer from an old floor board - dimensions 4" x ¾" - approx 100 x 19 mm.

• Saw off the tongue and groove - reduces width to a little over 90 mm.
• When cutting veneer you joint both sides before slicing.
• Top has remains of floor sealant - Jointing must be deep enough to remove it - 2 mm ?
• Bottom jointing may be shallower - 1 mm - unless it has that groove Malbs mentioned - then 3 mm.
• We are ready to slice veneer from flitch which is now 90 x 15 or so.
• We want 3 mm veneer so cut to 4 mm and thickness back to 3 mm.
• Turn flitch over with second jointed face against fence and cut second veneer.
• That's it. We cannot get a third veneer from that board.

Realistic Option

Perhaps the most cost effective option is to ask a local joinery shop to supply and cut the veneer that you require. Almost all commercial joineries will not allow second hand timber near their machines - risks are too high.

Thanks everyone. Sorry I disappeared I've been ill.

I'll have to revisit this later when I know exactly how much veneer I'd need. (Maybe it would make more sense just to buy it.) The back of most trucks I've been interested in seem to be 2.4m wide and about 4.2m long. But I might not need to cover the entire floor, like under kitchen cupboards and shower area.

Thanks again.