# planing large slabs



## ktm250rider (Jan 2, 2010)

My parents have some 1" x 15" wide pine boards that have been in their basement since they built the house 36 years ago. These slabs came from the pine my dad cut off of the property. Id love to use them as flooring in an office room in my house. 
Where would I look to get these planed somewhat smooth to use for flooring? Any ideas in or around NH? There is a place that does hard wood flooring (Carlisle i think) that i was thinking of calling.


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## Brmorgan (Jan 2, 2010)

If they're already fairly flat and you're just looking mostly to smooth them out, a drum sander might be a better option and might be easier to find to begin with when you're talking about boards that wide. Either way start asking around local cabinet/furniture shops and/or small sawmills; if work is a bit slow they might run the boards through a sander or planer for cheap. I know my grandpa used to get wide slabs done at a furniture shop back East when I was a kid years ago.


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## mtngun (Jan 2, 2010)

As Bmorgan suggest, most any cabinet/door shop will have a 17" planer.

Are you sure you want to use pine for flooring ? I know they did it in the old days, but they didn't mind scratches and dings back then.


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## Brmorgan (Jan 2, 2010)

If it's in an office it should be OK - it would be (I would presume) a lower-traffic area compared to most other parts of the house; and if you have good chairmats etc. that would help a lot. Throw some good hard finish like Varathane Diamond Hard on it and it should stand up pretty well. Just don't drop anything hard & pointy on it!


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## Backwoods (Jan 2, 2010)

15" planer is fairly common for commercial wood workers, so are 36" belt sanders. The other option is to rent a floor sander and start with a coarse grit and sand the whole floor in one shot. Pine for an office should be fine just use a hard finish where the traffic is and around the desk area.


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## ktm250rider (Jan 2, 2010)

mtngun said:


> Are you sure you want to use pine for flooring ? I know they did it in the old days, but they didn't mind scratches and dings back then.



THats one other reason i want to use it. 



> The other option is to rent a floor sander and start with a coarse grit and sand the whole floor in one shot.


Thats not a bad idea!


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## mountainlake (Jan 5, 2010)

15" wide boards will shrink in the winter leaving cracks and expand in the summer and could buckle if installed in the winter. Keep that in mind when using them . Steve


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## Curlycherry1 (Jan 5, 2010)

As a woodworker I would strongly discourage using boards that wide. The widest boards I have seen used are in my friend's house and they are 5" and 6" black cherry. Every winter he gets cracks about every 18" (2-3 boards) where the boards are almost 3/8" apart. The boards that do not gap that much gap about 1/16" to 1/8". If you figure a board can move width wise about 3-5% per year then a 15" wide board is going to gap 0.45-3/4" wide. That is a massive gap to step over in the winter. 

Our old barn had ~12" pine plank boards and in the winter there were gaps big enough to drop snow onto unsuspecting people below.  In the summer the gaps were closed up tight.

Talk to a flooring /installer/expert about what to expect.


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## deeker (Jan 5, 2010)

Sand them, or have a wood working shop do it for a fee.

We use spruce (for table tops) from 24" to 36"+ wide for table tops.

One of our local rustic furniture makers....uses wood at leasts 12", squares one side....live edges the other....and book matches the other side the same.

Thick cut mantles are another story...and we use all types of wood for that.

Keep us posted...and pics are always good.

Kevin


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## 1harlowr (Jan 6, 2010)

I installed 3" white oak and 3" hickory floors in my house. A good finish will help keep the scratches down on any wood, but does little to protect it if something is dropped. Pine would ding up very easy if anything is dropped. That's just the nature of any wood floor though. If scratches/dents are going to bother someone, wood floors are not for them. 
On a side note if anyone is considering a wood floor, take a look at white oak, it looks great in flooring.


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## BlueRider (Jan 6, 2010)

Wide plank floors are not that uncommon in older homes. The reason they are less common now is that high grade wide planks are less common. and engeneered flooring now reigns king.

wood movement is a factor but a wide plank floor can still be designed and installed succesfully. the first thing is that you will have to PLAN for the inevitable movement. the first step is to calculate how much movement to expect. the calculator on Wood Web is great for this as it lists most commonly used wood species and allows yo0u to enter the dimensions of the board in question as well as if it is flatsawn or quartersawn.http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl?calculator=shrinkageIn my area of california the wood ranges form 6-7% in the late summer to 11-12% in the late spring for wood in my shop and a bit less for wood in my house. that works out to about 5/32" movement for a 15" wide longleaf yellow pine plank.

The next step is to know the moisture legvel of the wood as you are installing it and which direction it will move and by how mich so you can install it correctly. You obiously wouldnt want to lay the boards tight in the dry season and have them expand and buckle in the wet season. but at the same time there is no reason to allow for expansion if the boards are at their wetest and will only shring in the future. 

If you cut the bords down in width the overall movment will be the same but gap at each seam will be reduced. At some point the movement will be so small that it can be ignored and you can lay down a smooth tight floor. For instance I have 2.5" quarter sawn doug fir flooring in my house and I refinised it a few years ago and the seams are still tight and smooth, I should add that the boards in my house are old growth and the house is 90 years old. 

I would also add that the age of the boards is also in your favor. The tables of wood movement are all based on initial moisture change. I have found by carfully monitoring wood for many years that a board will settle down and move less each season for the first 6-8 years. Luthiers know this and good ones won't touch wood that has not been air dried for 10 years.


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## petersenj20 (Jan 11, 2010)

Here's a video I have of someone actually planing a LARGE slab. 
It is a bit difficult to set up flat, but is a cheap solution to do the actual work of planing large slabs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t51SSP12Gk8


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## Brmorgan (Jan 11, 2010)

Yep I've done that too, though not on anything nearly that big or with such an elaborate setup. Gonna have to build me something like that; I like the "handle" stick to control the router! Much easier than being humped over a bench holding both hands on the router's handles on the far side of the piece.


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## Ted J (Jan 11, 2010)

Backwoods said:


> 15" planer is fairly common for commercial wood workers, so are 36" belt sanders. The other option is to rent a floor sander and start with a coarse grit and sand the whole floor in one shot. Pine for an office should be fine just use a hard finish where the traffic is and around the desk area.



I will vouch that using a floor buffer with sanding screens work. I used a floor buffer when I installed hardwood flooring in my ex inlaws house, and you need a good palm sander to get into the corners too. It takes a little longer than a drum sander made for hardwood floors, but if your starting out with flat dry wood it'll work.

Ted


PS: here is a good site that has many interesting tips and suggestions.


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