Shopsmith Forums

All I know about wood flooring is that I like the way it looks, and the product I see on the retail shelves is a 3 ply product. Would I have success if I made solid wood floor on the shop smith?

I am new to the hobby, and I figure that I could rip the boards to the proper width, then resaw to the proper thickness, plane, tong/groove, then sand.

The room I am proposing to do is 120 sq. ft.

Yes, it's possible to produce flooring using the Shopsmith, a planer and a router/shaper for the tongue and groove. As a novice though, it might be a bit challenging. But if you're up to the challenge, go for it.

On the other hand, there are plenty of places that sell solid wood flooring and I personally would buy rather than make even though I have all the necessary equipment to do so. There can be a lot of waste in making flooring, and you'll need flat, dry lumber to start with. Lumber Liquidators sells solid hardwood flooring, as does Home Depot (check with the special order department). You can visit Lumber Liquidators on the web at -- http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalo ... Id=1&nsa=1 -- and see what all they have. If you don't like what they sell, that's probably good enough reason to make your own.

I did the floor thing a long time ago. I actually used clear pine off the shelf at home depot. Then, I left it to it's full width of 6 inches or more and rounded the edges with a router. Later after I cleaned up the edges, it was painted gloss black and allowed to dry.
I layer it using ring shank nails into the joists. With a biscuit every so often. It was hands down the best looking floor I had seen...I'm a bit partial though. The black almost made it vanish under foot and all the furniture on top of it took more prominence. I believe old floors in some older homes had it, that was the inspiration.
I considered the t and g approach but I just didn't have the time.

holsgo, tell me if I understand you...you did not T&G the lumber, but rounded the edges, painted it, then drove the nails straight down into the joist leaving the nail heads exposed unlike hiding the nails with the T&G process. Yes ,I think I have seen that used in old homes.

Yup. Very small head ring shank nails. A biscuit so often. Had a makeshift clamping mechanism to I could apple pressure to each board to bring them together, cut, nail and move on. The ring shank nails were black so you never saw them.

When Menards puts the real 3/4" thick hardwood flooring on sale, you can probably buy it from them as cheap as you can make your own. They have Oak, Hickory, and likely other woods that I haven't seen yet.
If you buy your wood at retail, I doubt you can beat their prices. If you have access to lots of cheap rough lumber and are willing to do all the work, you should be able to save money doing it yourself.
Full price on their top of the line hickory is $73 for 20 sq ft ($426 for your room)
Oak is $66 for 22.75 sq ft, so about $390


My house is a 1950's house with oak flooring throughout the house. Some of it has been messed up by covering it with carpet, but I'm finding that if I work long and hard, I can get the carpet and all the 50 year old carpet glue off it and refinish it like new.

garys wrote:When Menards puts the real 3/4" thick hardwood flooring on sale, you can probably buy it from them as cheap as you can make your own. They have Oak, Hickory, and likely other woods that I haven't seen yet.
If you buy your wood at retail, I doubt you can beat their prices. If you have access to lots of cheap rough lumber and are willing to do all the work, you should be able to save money doing it yourself.
Full price on their top of the line hickory is $73 for 20 sq ft ($426 for your room)
Oak is $66 for 22.75 sq ft, so about $390


My house is a 1950's house with oak flooring throughout the house. Some of it has been messed up by covering it with carpet, but I'm finding that if I work long and hard, I can get the carpet and all the 50 year old carpet glue off it and refinish it like new.

What DA GLUED carpet to hardwood floors!:rolleyes:

Let me clear though, I set out to do wide plank flooring. The planks were as wide as 10 inches. You could probably get 3 1/2 inch planks, unfinished cheaper. But, if you are as crazy as me, the job was enticing, cheap and I had the time. I was just looking for a pic and couldn't find one.
Here is a pic someone else did. Someday I'll do our upstairs master bedroom in it in this new house we are in.
[ATTACH]15821[/ATTACH]

holsgo wrote:Let me clear though, I set out to do wide plank flooring. The planks were as wide as 10 inches. You could probably get 3 1/2 inch planks, unfinished cheaper. But, if you are as crazy as me, the job was enticing, cheap and I had the time. I was just looking for a pic and couldn't find one.
Here is a pic someone else did. Someday I'll do our upstairs master bedroom in it in this new house we are in.
[ATTACH]15821[/ATTACH]

Those yer inlaws in the pix on the wall?:D

JPG40504 wrote:Those yer inlaws in the pix on the wall?:D

JPG, I needed a good chuckle!