iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

best way to mill flooring on band sawmill

Started by Aeneas61, January 23, 2016, 10:29:08 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Aeneas61

Building a cabbing this year and wanted to start by milling the flooring and letting it air dry while we do the timber framing.
I would like to ask those with more experience the best way to mill flooring that will be later T&G for sub and finish floors in the cabin.
We have access to hickory, white oak, tulip poplar, hemlock, pine (red?), maple, beech, and tupelo.
Which woods would be best for flooring, sub and finish, and what would be the best way to mill them, (flat sawn, quarter sawn, whatever)
I have heard its better to use more narrow boards but had trouble cutting say a 12" board in half to make two 6" boards, they would warp apart badly, is there a better way to mill say 1x6 boards from a 12x12 can't or should i try making wide plank flooring?
What thickness is best for sub or finish flooring? What species?
We plan to start cutting soon, and hope to be able to air dry over the summer and instal in the fall. Would this be advisable or maybe too green still? Ive heard of folks putting down some flooring green as a gourd.
Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Josh

Dan_Shade

I have made flooring, my best results were with boards sawn and dried a bit more than three times wider than finished product.

Step 1 was to plane to finished thickness

Step 2 was using a shaper and a feeder  with LONG  fences and a jointer cutter head to make a straight edge

Step three was to rip on a table saw  to width using a feeder

Step 4 was cutting the groove with the shaper and feeder

Step 5 was to cut the tongue

Keeping a good coat of wax on the tables helps
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

paul case

I cut a lot of lumber and sell to an outfit that dries it and makes flooring. They want it plain sawn with no pith in it.  They will buy various width boards so I have no idea about the right width for you to cut, but it may be more depending on your desired result. I believe what the flooring outfit does is dries it and then cuts out what size they can around the defects that will make their product. They buy red and white oak and walnut to make flooring from.

Even though it is pretty I would shy away from hickory as the hickory I have dealt with is real real really hard when green and it don't get better as it dries.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

starmac

I'm new at this, so my thinking may be flawed, but if I was wanting 1x6's out of a 12x12 cant, I would split the cant and then cut 1x6's instead of 1x12's then splitting them on a bandsaw.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

Chuck White

~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

fishfighter

What I been doing for my camp is cutting 1x12's for the sub flooring out of SYP. Putting them down green with ring shank nails. I have some 1" OSB that was laid down to start with. In between each, I had installed 30lb roofing felt. So far all is good. I do have some small gaps, but I will be over laying with 1/8" luan plywood. My finished flooring will be some 100+ year old pine flooring.

Oh, I been passing all sub flooring thru a planner to make sure all of them are the same thickness and I also had cut the edges at a 45 degree angle to help lock them in.

warren46

When I saw 6" lumber from a 12"X12" cant I first saw 2 or 3 1"X12" boards from one side.  Then turn the cant 180 degrees and saw 1"X12" boards from the other side until I have a 6" by 12" cant.  The side boards are sawn so that the pith is as nearly centered in the cant as possible.  These 12" boards are set aside to be sawn into 1"X6" boards after the 12"X6" cant is sawn into 1"X6" boards.

Note that the 12"X12" cant should be sawn oversize to allow for kerf or the 6" boards will be undersize.
Warren E. Johnson
Timber Harvester 36HTE25, John Deere 300b backhoe/loader.

customsawyer

If I was making flooring from a 12" cant I would probably make 1x4 out of the cant. You will have less movement this way. Warren's will work also.
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

Magicman

Quote from: starmac on January 24, 2016, 04:29:23 AM
I'm new at this, so my thinking may be flawed, but if I was wanting 1x6's out of a 12x12 cant, I would split the cant and then cut 1x6's instead of 1x12's
Sorry, but flawed.  Never split the pith area.  Instead, always keep the pith area centered in the board regardless of the width. 

For 6" flooring lumber take the cant down by removing side boards from each side of the cant.  If you have to split these side boards oversize them because they will tend to crook.  For maximum yield, I would prefer to use large logs for wide lumber and smaller logs for more narrow lumber and never split anything.

warren46 and customsawyer are spot on.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

scsmith42

Ditto Jake and Warrens advice. Warrens method will more high grade wide boards; jakes will yield faster production of high quality narrow boards.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Verticaltrx

In my opinion the nicest flooring from what you mentioned would be the white oak, quarter sawn. The narrower the boards the narrower the gaps will be. My house was built in the '20s and the flooring is 2" wide x 5/4 tongue and groove, laid directly on the floor joists (no subfloor). Every room has a different species, white oak, red oak, pine, maple, etc. The white oak is my favorite. I personally would never go over 6" wide for T&G flooring, probably 4-5" max would be better.
Wood-Mizer LT15G19

Aeneas61

magicman,
yes the only time I tried sawing 1x6s from a 12x12 can't i split the can't, rotated 90% and sawed 4/4 through the can't, every board cast so badly I just sawed and laid 1x12s for the remainder of my roof. I thought there must be something I was doing wrong, I guess that was splitting the pith.

verticaltrx,
what size white oak would be needed to get 1x2s quartered? Is there a better way to quarter saw than flipping each quarter for each cut?

Anyone have experience with laying green flooring? Or laying green sub flooring?

Magicman

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Aeneas61

magicman,

so how did the green sub flooring work out? any tips on its installation?

any advice on best/easiest way to QS on a manual band sawmill?

Thanks
Josh

Magicman

I turn the smile (pith side) up which will cause the edges to tend to turn downward as it dries.


 
I used 60 grit and did a "scrub" sanding


 
and added "house wrap" before I laid the flooring.

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

starmac

Thanks MM, I see the error in my thinking.
I, myself can get trees much easier to make 6X's than 12X' so would rarely need or want to use 12x12 cants for 1X6's or 4's
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

Rougespear

Is it advisable to cut flooring 5/4 or 4/4 green?  In other words, what thickness should flooring typically be when installed?
Custom built Cook's-style hydraulic bandmill.

Magicman

It depends upon your sawing accuracy and how true your lumber is. 

The first flooring that I sawed, the Kiln/Planer/T&G guy requested 1 1/8".  After having milled many tens of thousands of bf of my lumber, he is now OK with a full 1".
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Thank You Sponsors!