jatoba treads

[Brian Dobyns]

This forum really caught my eye.

I decided to remove the carpet from the stairs this week and saw a bunch of abused white oak stair treads. Eventually, we will refloor the enitre house, most likely in jatoba because of its color and hardness. With this said, I found a flooring company nearby that had the 5/4 tread already bullnosed, thus I bought what should be sufficient for the job. After having read through some of the suggestions, I will be applying an adequate amount of adhisve but have a question about securing the material to the staircase while the glue dries. I attempted to drive 16 guage nails through some scrap pieces only to find that some of the pieces mushroomed on the top. I am thinking that I might be able to just drill some pilot holes and then finish nail in place, or maybe I could bore some holes and pilot holes, drive a deck screw in place and then make some plugs from the scrap material that I have onhand. If I use the pilot hole and finish nail, I have heard that I could mix some sawdust from my material with some wood glue to create my own filler--is that true? Thanks for your help.

[Paul Girouard]

With Jatoba the color changes as it ages so I'd HIGHLY recommend the screw and plug method . The treads won't loosen AS easily with the screw as well . Just a all round better job IMO.


Note the island top, which was done months before the rest of the countertops , color.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/Nov520077.jpg

Newly installed counter tops ,

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/Nov520079.jpg

Much lighter color.

Island top when first installed ,

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17007-4.jpg

Maybe the glue mixed "puddy" would change along with the wood , BUT it may not .

Along with the other issues with nailing I'd say screw and bung / plug. YMMV.

[Jack Porter]

You're best to hand nail and countersink, you can use sawdust to fill mixed with epoxy, but the color will never be exact. It depends how picky you are.
could also use screws with trim heads for a smaller hole.

[Bob Aquino]

This forum really caught my eye.

I decided to remove the carpet from the stairs this week and saw a bunch of abused white oak stair treads. Eventually, we will refloor the enitre house, most likely in jatoba because of its color and hardness. With this said, I found a flooring company nearby that had the 5/4 tread already bullnosed, thus I bought what should be sufficient for the job. After having read through some of the suggestions, I will be applying an adequate amount of adhisve but have a question about securing the material to the staircase while the glue dries. I attempted to drive 16 guage nails through some scrap pieces only to find that some of the pieces mushroomed on the top. I am thinking that I might be able to just drill some pilot holes and then finish nail in place, or maybe I could bore some holes and pilot holes, drive a deck screw in place and then make some plugs from the scrap material that I have onhand. If I use the pilot hole and finish nail, I have heard that I could mix some sawdust from my material with some wood glue to create my own filler--is that true? Thanks for your help.

Welcome. Jatoba is my favorite wood, very pretty, hard, dense and very reasonable. Stairs should be very pretty when done. I would go ahead and screw them down and plug the holes. That will make for the strongest joint. Yes, it will darken quite a bit, but it is very pretty, even when it darkens up. You could make your own putty with the dust and glue if you just want to finish nail it, but that would be my second choice.

[Brian Dobyns]

I figured since I have a bunch of scrap I can easily make some plugs. I don't think that they will be too obvious. Thanks so much for all of your input.

[Brian Dobyns]

Paul, your kitchen looks very nice and yes I can see the color changes.

[Paul Girouard]

I figured since I have a bunch of scrap I can easily make some plugs. I don't think that they will be too obvious. Thanks so much for all of your input.




Not knowing about other elements in your house . near the stair a contrasting species of wood for the plug , say Maple ,R. Oak , or Fir IF some other wood is near by might be something to think about .

[John-Paul Murphy]

I have never worked with jatoba
that said on normal oak glued to stair stringers the glue has so much more holding power than the nails the nails are there only to hold the step in place until the glue sets…others here should know how well jatoba glues.
if you use an air or gas powered finish nailer what few nail holes are left will be barely visible.
If you have a small angle finish nailer (by hand is more difficult). You can hide most of the nails, all if you have access to the back side of the stair treads as they are installed (all can be finished in one day).
Start at the bottom installing the first tread then the riser below it. If you do not have access to the back of the stair tread then two finish nails holes one in the center of each side will be all that is visible. For the treads on the toe end of the board toenail from the bottom through the stringer up through the tread and on the heel end of the tread finish nail in the back portion that will be covered by the riser. If you can toenail the riser from the back as you go. Using this method there will be no exposed nails if you do the stairs prior to any of the floors since you can always place a nail so that a future board will cover it. New construction is much easier because the riser can be toenailed from the back side of the steps and the job can be finished in one day.
If not install all the treads as described above allow the glue to dry then install the risers and clamp them into place(no nails).
I always use the subfloor adhesive and it works extremely well for the materials I commonly install. use plenty of adhesive.
I hope you can follow the sequence. Which ever method you use I am sure it will look great.

[FRITZ STOOP]

Years ago I had a similar problem with teak. 3 planks out of 12 or so.
I decided to screw and plug them, aligning the grain of the plugs with the planks. It worked because I also spaced the holes evenly and did it to all the planks creating a subtle pattern (and hiding the fix).
The plugs were made from the same wood of the plank they went in, but they, for some reason, darkened slightly when finished.
25 years later they are rock solid and look great.
Good luck!

[Todd Jensen]

I use PL polyurethane construction adhesive, and just installed a bunch of jatoba treads with it. Once dry it is super solid - I just use a few micropins to tack them in while the adhesive drys.

[Brian Dobyns]

As we speak, or type, I am getting the drill press setup to cut plugs and then to evenly space them on each tread.

[Paul Girouard]

As we speak, or type, I am getting the drill press setup to cut plugs and then to evenly space them on each tread.


Wise choice:cool:

[John-Paul Murphy]

please post a photo when completed:)

[Brad Shipton]

Those milling Jatoba :
What are you using for a cutter head? I just finished milling about 300bdft, and had quite a lot of difficulty with tearout on about 5% of the boards. Brand new knives (tersa style), feed rate =18fpm (planer), very thin cuts, tried both feed directions. Have a lot more to do, so I am contemplating a small wide belt or a shellix head. Curious to hear if others have any difficulty.

Brad

[Danny Thompson]

I used blue painters tape to hold mine in place and a stack of books to provide vertical pressure. No nails, just make sure not to walk on them until the adhesive is good and dry.

[Josh LaFrance]

Those milling Jatoba :
What are you using for a cutter head? I just finished milling about 300bdft, and had quite a lot of difficulty with tearout on about 5% of the boards. Brand new knives (tersa style), feed rate =18fpm (planer), very thin cuts, tried both feed directions. Have a lot more to do, so I am contemplating a small wide belt or a shellix head. Curious to hear if others have any difficulty.

Brad

I'm using the stock blades in my Dewalt DW735 and a Byrd in my jointer. I haven't had any problems w/ tear out. I did finish killing the blades in my DW735 though. I had several hundred BF of poplar, oak and cherry through them with only a few nicks but milling the jatoba for my workbench (~90bf) killed them. I was starting to get lots of little ridges in the boards. I just flipped the blades and figure that re-planing some of the boards and then the re plane ,post glue up will do a number on the blades. Great wood but hard on tools. I can't wait to but a stationary planer w/ a byrd head.