My Pallet Floor Project
I love wood flooring having previously install real hardwood maple and pine floors in my house. I have since done two floating floors, both replacing linoleum in my kitchen and laundry room. To put it bluntly, engineered hardwood floating floors are an eyesore. I hope to use some pallet wood to make some hardwood floors. Depending on the amount I can make, I will either replace the floating floors or the last two rooms where I have carpeting. This will be a (at least) half year project. I will post my progress here.
Wood SourceAfter a lot of tested various free pallets around town, I found a patch of plumbing strapping. The strapping was mixed in with a lot of oak pallets. I was free to take whatever I wanted. When I asked about the reddish coloured strapping they said "You don't want that". They didn't realize what they had. It had a beautiful grain, very straight and with clean edges and faces. They had it in abundance so I was happy.
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mystery woodAfter planing a couple of test pieces I believe that it is Douglas fir. At first I thought it was a red wood. Douglas fir is common and popular in the pacific north west, not so much here. I have read that it can make a nice floor, not a hardwood but not really a softwood. A lengths are good either 4ft or 18 inch pieces and fairly flat on two faces.
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Taking them apartThe beauty about the strapping is that that taking them apart is easy. Just whack them with a mallet, The nails remain in the larger pieces. Using a crowbar the nails then can come out easy with little or no damage to the wood.
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acclimatize
First stop garage. I purchased a digital moisture meter ($30) from Lee Valley. It seems to work well. The wood varies from 8-16% moisture at pickup. Most pieces seem to already vary 6-12% in the garage. I may move inside after resawing.
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ResawingThe pieces are 1 1/2 inches thickness. I am hoping I can resaw them to 5/8" and double my amount of flooring. It'll depending on how much I lose in the resawing and planing test I will run once I get my table saw into the garage.
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Planingtba
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