Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television restoring
floorboards by taking them up and running them through a machine that
trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform (though somewhat
smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards to make up for the
trimming. What is such a machine called? Can they be rented?

-- Richard
--
In the selection of the two characters immediately succeeding the numeral 9,
consideration shall be given to their replacement by the graphics 10 and 11 to
facilitate the adoption of the code in the sterling monetary area. (X3.4-1963)

Richard Tobin wrote:
Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television restoring
floorboards by taking them up and running them through a machine that
trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform (though somewhat
smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards to make up for the
trimming. What is such a machine called? Can they be rented?

-- Richard

A circular saw bench probably. You lose the tongues and grooves of course.

HI All

stuart noble wrote:
Richard Tobin wrote:
Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television restoring
floorboards by taking them up and running them through a machine that
trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform (though somewhat
smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards to make up for the
trimming. What is such a machine called? Can they be rented?

-- Richard

A circular saw bench probably. You lose the tongues and grooves of course.

And you'd need to watch out for the odd nail / screw / etc in old
floorboards..... even if they don't damage the saw blade then they can
be ejected at high speed !

Adrian

stuart noble wrote:
Richard Tobin wrote:
Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television restoring
floorboards by taking them up and running them through a machine that
trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform (though somewhat
smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards to make up for the
trimming. What is such a machine called? Can they be rented?

-- Richard

A circular saw bench probably. You lose the tongues and grooves of
course.

Sounds more like a spindle moulder to me.

Don' know if spindle moulders can be rented, probably thought of as too
dangerous to hire out.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On 2008-06-21 13:51:36 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

stuart noble wrote:
Richard Tobin wrote:
Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television restoring
floorboards by taking them up and running them through a machine that
trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform (though somewhat
smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards to make up for the
trimming. What is such a machine called? Can they be rented?

-- Richard

A circular saw bench probably. You lose the tongues and grooves of
course.

Sounds more like a spindle moulder to me.

Don' know if spindle moulders can be rented, probably thought of as too
dangerous to hire out.

There is that - for the uninitiated they can be very dangerous.
Limiters on recent tooling and guarding may reduce the risks, but there
are plenty of ways to do yourself a mischief.

Additionally, they have cast tops normally and in general are heavy -
they need to be - so not the kind of thing that can be manipulated by
one person into the back of a Mondeo.

This project would be more reasonably be done by taking the boards to a
joinery firm and having them run through a spindle moulder with T&G
tooling.

The Medway Handyman wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
Richard Tobin wrote:
Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television
restoring floorboards by taking them up and running them through a
machine that trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform
(though somewhat smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards
to make up for the trimming. What is such a machine called? Can
they be rented? -- Richard

A circular saw bench probably. You lose the tongues and grooves of
course.

Sounds more like a spindle moulder to me.

Nah, it's a thicknesser

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/ca...r-thicknessers

On 2008-06-21 14:45:31 +0100, "Steve Walker" said:

The Medway Handyman wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
Richard Tobin wrote:
Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television
restoring floorboards by taking them up and running them through a
machine that trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform
(though somewhat smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards
to make up for the trimming. What is such a machine called? Can
they be rented? -- Richard

A circular saw bench probably. You lose the tongues and grooves of
course.

Sounds more like a spindle moulder to me.

Nah, it's a thicknesser

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/ca...r-thicknessers

You wouldn't use a thicknesser to process the edges and create new
tongues and grooves.

You might use one to plane the varnish and a thin layer of wood from
the surface, since the boards are being removed anyway, but it is
likely to spoil the knives quite quickly because of grit etc.

I doubt it's economic to lift boards and carry out any sort or
restorative work unless they're hardwood.

A spindle moulder is very much a tool for the professionals - non-
portable, and have a reputation for snatching off fingers (although as
an earlier poster pointed out, the legal requirements for modern
tooling have made them much safer).

Possibly though the thing you saw on tv was a thicknesser - which will
skim the top face to give clean wood. These you can hire - but only
the portable ones which do an ok job - but not the equal of a static
machine. They'll probably also charge you for nicked/damaged blades -
which is supremely easy to do with old wood when the blades encounter
embedded grit or metal.

Simplest solution - board over. Or rip up and buy new board.

On Jun 21, 12:07*pm, (Richard Tobin) wrote:

Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. *They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television restoring
floorboards by taking them up and running them through a machine that
trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform (though somewhat
smaller) boards. *They needed a few extra boards to make up for the
trimming. *What is such a machine called? *Can they be rented?

Strikes me as a lot of unnecessary work. Just lift and relay. People
often dont realise that quite a lot of damage that looks real bad
close up isnt even noticeable once you stand up. The standards
required for floors and furniture are utterly different.

Matching wood might be found at a used wood place, if not some could
be taken from another room. If more adventurous something contrasting
could be added as a pretty pattern in the centre. Just make sure the
level of wear roughly matches.


NT

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-21 13:51:36 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

stuart noble wrote:
Richard Tobin wrote:
Our kitchen has varnished floorboards. They have gaps between them,
the tongues are damaged, and they are in generally poor shape.

I have a vague recollection of seeing someone on television restoring
floorboards by taking them up and running them through a machine that
trimmed the edges off and produced nice uniform (though somewhat
smaller) boards. They needed a few extra boards to make up for the
trimming. What is such a machine called? Can they be rented?

-- Richard

A circular saw bench probably. You lose the tongues and grooves of
course.

Sounds more like a spindle moulder to me.

Don' know if spindle moulders can be rented, probably thought of as too
dangerous to hire out.

There is that - for the uninitiated they can be very dangerous.
Limiters on recent tooling and guarding may reduce the risks, but there
are plenty of ways to do yourself a mischief.

Additionally, they have cast tops normally and in general are heavy -
they need to be - so not the kind of thing that can be manipulated by
one person into the back of a Mondeo.

This project would be more reasonably be done by taking the boards to a
joinery firm and having them run through a spindle moulder with T&G
tooling.

Could use a ruuter and a table.

However,best is to replace the lot,or get this dne professionally,if te
wood is rare expesnive and lovely (oak/elm etc)

would not bother to repair if pine or softwood. Replace with Chipboard.
Better quality ;-)

This project would be more reasonably be done by taking the boards to a
joinery firm and having them run through a spindle moulder with T&G
tooling.


Yeah, turn up at a joinery shop with a pile of old floorboards! I can
imagine the reception you'd get

On 2008-06-22 08:17:55 +0100, stuart noble said:


This project would be more reasonably be done by taking the boards to a
joinery firm and having them run through a spindle moulder with T&G
tooling.


Yeah, turn up at a joinery shop with a pile of old floorboards! I can
imagine the reception you'd get

The question was about how to get the edges of the boards re-machined.

Whether that is economically viable vs. slinging them away and
replacing with hardwood is a different question.

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-22 08:17:55 +0100, stuart noble
said:


This project would be more reasonably be done by taking the boards to
a joinery firm and having them run through a spindle moulder with T&G
tooling.


Yeah, turn up at a joinery shop with a pile of old floorboards! I can
imagine the reception you'd get

The question was about how to get the edges of the boards re-machined.

Whether that is economically viable vs. slinging them away and replacing
with hardwood is a different question.


Most joinery shops don't touch recycled timber

On 2008-06-22 14:02:14 +0100, stuart noble said:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-22 08:17:55 +0100, stuart noble said:


This project would be more reasonably be done by taking the boards to a
joinery firm and having them run through a spindle moulder with T&G
tooling.


Yeah, turn up at a joinery shop with a pile of old floorboards! I can
imagine the reception you'd get

The question was about how to get the edges of the boards re-machined.

Whether that is economically viable vs. slinging them away and
replacing with hardwood is a different question.


Most joinery shops don't touch recycled timber

That would depend on the willingness of the customer to pay for
replacement cutters and planer blades and setting up thereof. I got
that answer a few years ago when asking a similar question and before
having my own machinery that will do such work. I agree that it did
add to the cost quite a bit.

In message 485e54a5@qaanaaq, Andy Hall writes
Most joinery shops don't touch recycled timber

That would depend on the willingness of the customer to pay for
replacement cutters and planer blades and setting up thereof. I got
that answer a few years ago when asking a similar question and before
having my own machinery that will do such work. I agree that it did
add to the cost quite a bit.

On setting up planer blades.....

This may be old news to the adepts but I thought it was rather neat.
Mark up a splint of wood with two lines 15mm apart. Rest the splint on
the shoe (first line on the edge) and across the planer drum such that
the blade will pick up and carry it forward.

Rotate the drum by hand and note how far forward the splint is moved by
contact with the blade. Repeat at different positions across the shoe
and adjust the cutter accordingly.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

On 2008-06-22 22:28:01 +0100, Tim Lamb said:

In message 485e54a5@qaanaaq, Andy Hall writes
Most joinery shops don't touch recycled timber

That would depend on the willingness of the customer to pay for
replacement cutters and planer blades and setting up thereof. I got
that answer a few years ago when asking a similar question and before
having my own machinery that will do such work. I agree that it did
add to the cost quite a bit.

On setting up planer blades.....

This may be old news to the adepts but I thought it was rather neat.
Mark up a splint of wood with two lines 15mm apart. Rest the splint on
the shoe (first line on the edge) and across the planer drum such that
the blade will pick up and carry it forward.

Rotate the drum by hand and note how far forward the splint is moved by
contact with the blade. Repeat at different positions across the shoe
and adjust the cutter accordingly.

regards

Or just undo a few hex screws and reverse the blades in the self
setting carriers.