Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message

Then the idea is to run a belt sander over the top surface very lightly
to leave the saw marks

Are we nuts?

Yes.
Even with a few coats of poly, you will have floors that are a bitch to
clean. Where is all the gunk and dust that falls between the boards going
to end up? Worse case, though, is you sand them down later.


I disagree. Don't sand lightly! Sand aggressively. If 80 or 100 grit
sanding marks will show up on a nicely finished furniture piece, after
clear coating, then sawmill marks will certainly still show up,
decoratively, even after aggressive sanding. I mill most of my lumber
and have left mill marks on many of my pieces. If you lightly sand
them, then yes, collected dust and debris will be more noticeable and
may be troublesome for cleaning. Sanding agressively to a degree, such
that the boards are good and smooth, yet retain the mill marks, will
accomodate what you want to achieve, as for as asthetics, and not pose
a problem for cleaning. I've even jointed board faces, instead of
sanding, to make them smooth, yet left the mill marks on them, for such
effect. Even a very slight mill mark will give the asthetic effect you
desire, and no one will know any difference as to what is/was/may have
been the appropriate depth for sanding (or jointing). The very
slightest mill mark will likely be highlighted by the different uptake
of finish coating, as compared to an adjacent smooth area, and this
affect is, usually, more pronounced when staining before clear-coating.
Test a few boards.

Another thing you can do (time consuming) is to allow your boards to
weather (discolor) a bit, then sand/plane/joint to nearly smooth, and
any stain or finish will highlight the weathered areas against adjacent
sanded/planed/jointed areas.