Beginner's Question: Using Floorboards?

[Stephen Sebeny]

Howdy,

I have essentially no woodworking experience. I've only done one project so far - the three tier inbox from the March issue of Woodsmith magazine - and made numerous mistakes, but learned a lot. However after spending $70 for nice hard maple and cherry wood for an inbox that I could have gotten made out of plastic from WalMart for $3 I decided to try and seek out some more affordable lumber for my next project.

That is when I noticed someone selling some left over red oak floorboards on Craigslist. This was just one old left over bundle of 19.5 sq ft for $20. So I got them. [Pictured below.] The face of the floorboard is 2.25" wide, but I'm planning to rip the tounge and groove parts off on the table saw and then run the boards through the jointer to square up the sides. After than I assume I'll only get about 1-7/8" usable width out of each board. Also they are 3/4" thick, but they have "stress relief" grooves on the bottom [pictured below], so I figure if I run them through the planner to make the board smooth on both sides I'll only end up with a 1/2" thick usable result. So, I am crazy to go through all this work to save some $ on lumber? And do you think I'll be able to get a usable result out of these floorboards, or am I on a fool's errand?

Assuming I can get descent square S4S red oak boards out of this process I am thinking I would like to try making a nightstand for this next project. After looking through some photo galleries on woodworking sites I found one that I like the looks of at http://finewoodworking.taunton.com/i...ht-stand-table [pictured below.] Now a few questions come to mind. Table tops usually seem to be thicker than 1/2", but that is all I will be getting out of the floorboards. If I edge glue the floorboards to make the top for the nightstand should that work OK? Or would I need to get some thicker wood to make like a frame around the top, breadboard they call it I think? And for the legs since I'll only have the 1/2" stock I will need to glue 3 or 4 pieces face to face. This is why I liked this particular design with the inlay strip because I thought I could put the inlay strip over each of the 2 or 3 seams where the boards are glued together for the legs. Is this a good idea, or would routing the groove at the glue joint be hard or cause a problem with the pieces glued together? And just from an looks standpoint do you think having 2 or 3 inlays like that running down the leg only 1/2" a part would look too "busy," or would it be OK?

As for the drawer, I'm not sure if I'll go buy walnut or just stick with oak, but I guess if I do the leg inlays then I should go with the same material as the inlays for the drawer front since it would look silly otherwise. However, I'm sure I won't be attempting dovetails yet, especially since I don't have any way to cut them. (I'm just using a community center woodshop for $3 a day, don't own any tools myself, and they don't have any fancy router bits for dovetails.) Anyway, so I think I'll probably try a box joint by cutting out on the table saw, or would anyone have a different recommendation? Also, does anyone know where to look on-line for how to build a drawer? Not the drawer itself, but how to support it inside the nightstand, and how to make it silde in and out properly? I don't want to buy drawer slides, just do normal wood-on-wood.

I'm looking forward to reading all replies, especially any tips or suggestions on how to use the floorboards or design considerations on using them to make the nightstand. Thanks!

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Stephen, for your next project I would suggest the following;

1) Making legs for furniture is normally done with a single solid piece unless a piece that large is not available, or there are other technical considerations such as wanting face grain on all four sides.

2) Tops are similar, in that wider boards are normally preferred, and edge glued to yield the desired dimension.

3) There are many drawer construction methods including a simple rebate joint, or lock rebate joint which could be made on a table saw.

You can cut dovetails with a saw and chisel, no router or jigs required.

4) Hiding glue joints with inlay wouldn't weaken the legs. You could also hide the glue joints with homemade veneer.

I have no idea of your financial situation, however I wouldn't skimp on materials on a piece of furniture. Materials are the lowest cost, most obvious feature.

You will put a lot of work into the piece.........Regards, Rod.

[Greg Deakins]

I have used oak flooring for small pieces. I wouldn't suggest laminating them for legs though. IN regards to the top, I might try leaving the toungue and groove, it would really make the top strong if you used the right methods underneath. -Greg

[Stephen Sebeny]

Greg,

What is the problem with laminating multiple pieces for legs? Is it a fear of each of the boards swelling/contracting at different rates/amounts so that the legs wouldn't be level any longer? Or is there another reason I'm just not familiar with? (I'm really new to this stuff.)

As for the top, the reason I was going to rip the tongue/groove off before jointing the sides was because the boards don't seem to match up well enough to glue together with the tongue & groove in place. It just seems like there would be little cracks showing all over the place. And what do you mean by, "if you use the right methods underneath?"

[Joe Jensen]

Growing up, my dad was pretty frugal (cheap). In around 1978 when the HS replaced the gym floor he bought the used floor boards for $500. This gym was 3x the size of a regulation basketball court. When we went to start hauling it, we found essentially a 100 yard long 20 foot tall random pile of maple gym floor boards, think heavy pickup sticks

Dad wanted the stuff to side a pole barn we built. We only kept pieces longer than 4 feet, and we still had enough to side a 30W by 40L by 15H pole barn, with maybe 500 bd feet left over.

We drilled and hand nailed each board every 2 ft, much of this from a ladder or from the bucket of a tractor loader. Back then we only had corded drills and no mailers, although I suspect air nailing would have split nearly every board. It's amazing what a dad can accomplish with 3 teenage sons worth of free labor.

I used some of that flooring to build a coffee table. It was a huge pain in the azz because each piece had 20 years worth of dirt and varnish accumulated along the entire length of each side. The gunk was like cutting concrete so I had to scrape each board with a putty knife to remove the gunk before cutting or planing.

Whenever I see flooring I have bad memories

[Matthew Dunne]

If you don't end up using the flooring for furniture, I bet it will still come ine handy for jigs and shop projects. I've used a bunch of unused oak flooring boards I found on the street for feather boards, push sticks, jigs, etc.

[Stephen Musial]

Get one of these http://www.woodcraft.com/product.asp...&FamilyID=3596 and you can make the legs without glued up laminations.

p.s. they were cutting dovetails a long time before anyone came out with a jig and router...

[George Bregar]

Get one of these http://www.woodcraft.com/product.asp...&FamilyID=3596 and you can make the legs without glued up laminations.

p.s. they were cutting dovetails a long time before anyone came out with a jig and router...

While I agree in principal, I used a lock miter joint for my Morris Chair legs, I'm not sure this is the best solution for a new woodworker. The stock must be dead flat and square, snd the joint cut very exactly to get good results. Also very difficult to do with narrow stock like he is planning to use.

[Greg Deakins]

I was mainly referring to the appearance of it. With proper glue up, laminated legs should work as good, possibly better than solid as far as stability is concerned. What I mean is, you would see the glue lines down each leg.

If you look at a properly layed floor, you don't see cracks, and the T&G would work to keep the top from warping. Being that it is only going to be 1/2 in. or less in thickness, you would be want to do as you mentioned in your first post and use the framework (breadboard) underneath. Better yet, Edge it with the same stock ripped to the desired width. THis is just my opinion, I think it would look good. Then again, I am far from a master, and I am sure others here would have better methods.

-Greg

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Flooring works just fine.
I bought two bundles last Winter from Lumber Liquidators.

One thing though, invest in a Freud Glue Line Rip blade to cut off the T&G.
I used a lesser blade and had to go back and remove yet more stock on the router table to true up the edges and get rid of the saw marks.

I went out and bought the Freud blade for the last dozen or so and it worked like a champ.

Oh yeah, save the groove cut offs. You can fabricate some extremely strong I-beams with them using 1/2" plywood.
The I-beams - ~ 2 1/2" tall topped with pegboard make good strong lightweight outfeed tables.