I'm in the planning stages of a new home. We're building an 1800's
reproduction farmhouse and want as much as is reasonable to keep an old
look to it. So we're thinking about buying dried rough sawn hardwood -
probably hickory because we like the color variation, then planing one
side of each board (to get a uniform thickness) and cutting each to a
uniform (wide) width.

Then the idea is to run a belt sander over the top surface very lightly
to leave the saw marks but eliminate splinters and then face nail it to
the sub floor with an antique square head nail or possibly use screws
and plugs for a pegged look(a gosh aweful lot of work I know - but at
least you could sand it later if desired). Then either a poly or tung
oil finish.

We even like the look of the gaps between boards and so are thinking we
might not even rabit or t & g the edges.

Are we nuts? Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Russell Terrell