Shaving 1/64" Off Hardwood Flooring

[George Van]

I have ¾" hardwood flooring that is varying by 1/64", 1/32", 3/64" width. (No chance to return to the manufacturer) I am trying to figure a way to smoothly shave off 1/64" along one edge of the flooring boards when necessary to match the previous board. 1/32 - 1/16" is a large gap in the flooring field. If the boards were always perfectly straight I could rip the dimension on the table saw. The problem is most are not perfectly straight and ripping on a bow would make matters worse. I need to be able to follow a concave or at times a convex bow and reduce the dimension. I was thinking of my router table but presently the fence forces a concave bow away from the fence as the board is advance forward on the curve. I also gave thought to feeding multiples through my planer but I do not think the rollers would straighten the bow on several 6" yellow birch planks.
Any help would be appreciated.

[Jamie Buxton]

On the router table, reduce the length of the fence when you're trimming your concave bows. That will reduce the error you're seeing.

Or grade all your boards by width. Use identical-width boards to make a run. If all the boards in a run are the same, no board to board gaps appear. Of course, this approach requires that a given board has a constant width the full length of the board.

[steven c newman]

Maybe a Stanley No.8 Jointer plane,,,along the grooved edge...one or two passes should do the trick....

[Jim Koepke]

Hi Gerorge, how long are the boards?

This isn't a terribly difficult task using a hand plane. It does require being able to remove very minute amounts of material. A well tuned plane with a very sharp blade is needed.

The post of my making straight edges is here > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?290331 < you won't be able to see the images without becoming a contributor but you may be able to derive the gist of the method from the text.

It is based on an article about making metal straight edges for machinists:

Making Accurate Straight-Edges from Scratch
© John A. Swensen 1996,2007. All rights reserved

The original was hosted on a site that no longer exists. (at the time it was available as a .pdf my disbelief in anything lasting forever led me to grab a copy)

Part of the original article is archived at > https://www.scribd.com/document/50097193/Making-Accurate-Straight-Edges-from-Scratch

The second page requires a subscription. It is notes on the averaging process. The most helpful part is when comparing two faces and seeing high spots moving the piece lengthwise over each other the high spots will move with the piece having the high spot(s). There is a bit of math, talk of coating the stock and how useful a straight edge can be, blah, blah, blah.

Most of the important stuff is covered on the first page.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

One more (obvious?) thought on this, once you do get a good reference straight edge mark it so it can be used to test each following piece.

jtk

[Kevin Jenness]

I would use a short outboard fence on the shaper (or router table) with a power feed or featherboards to make a consistent width. You will probably have to run the groove deeper as well- if you can set up t&g cutters to do both width reduction and tongue or groove in one operation it will save time.

[Tom M King]

You may be able to select boards the same width for one complete run, and save some time otherwise used to get them all the same width. I'd put as much of it down as possible before starting to remill pieces.

[George Van]

Thanks for the replies/advice.

Jamie & Kevin, I will make a short fence and give it a try. If snip is a problem I can shorten to the defect and re-mill the ends when I do the grooves.

Steven and Jim, I wish I was good enough with a hand plane to shave the edges without making appearances worse than the what I would have now.

Jim, I have to try to make a good straightedge, your document inspires me to try.. Boards vary from 1'-8' in length. Most 5'-8'

Tom, we are presently installing boards +/- 1/64" end to end. We are about 1/4 of the way across the room. There are many out of that spec boards that can be narrowed to fit one of the groups.

476928

[Michael Schuch]

Are the boards a consistent width end to end or do they taper?

If they are a consistent width then have you considered measuring each board and marking it with the width so you can organize them into groups of the same width for use in the same row?

[George Van]

Mike, that is what we are presently doing. The problem is the ones that are too out of spec to group. we allow a /- 1/64" tolerance.

[steven c newman]

Save THOSE into a box....then see where you are at when you reach the other side of the room.....might be able to use them on the last run?

[Sam Force]

A lot of good ideas given, my advice would be to install more outlets. I can only see 7 :D

[Frederick Skelly]

My solution would be a hand plane, as others have mentioned. But that's because I have several and have them prepped and sharpened. If your team doesnt know how to set up and use one, that may be too painful.

For a router table, I agree with Jamie. Id use a short fence. I think you could also make a custom baseplate for a hand held router out of masonite, and add a short fence (maybe 1" to each side of the bit?). That would take some fiddling but after you get it set up, that might end up easier than dealing with that bow on a router table. Youd have to clamp each board down to route it of course.

Good luck!
Fred