I have a friend who is building a new warehouse for his company and,
afterwards, will be tearing down the old one. The old building is
really old, something approaching 100-years-old and it has full 2" x
4" oak tongue-and-groove flooring in it. The building used to be a
storage shed for dynamite, so I guess it needed to be made out of wood
so no sparks were generated as trucks pulled in and out of the place
and the dynamite was shoved across the floor, hence the hefty size of
the stuff. He pulled up a piece and it finishes off beautifully, so he
wants to salvage as much as he can so he can use it in his main
building, mostly in his front office.
His problem is the nails that go thru the tongue are extremely soft and
he cannot simply pound them out backwards because the slightest force
tends to bend them. Also, the nails don't have much to grab onto
with claw hammer and he can't pull them out with a pair of pliers
because they just break.
The nails go into the tongue about 3/8th of an inch below the top of
each board and his thought was to run them through a planer but that
seems dangerous to me. My initial thought was to may push them through
a big drum sander but he thinks a nail may grab the paper and tear it.
The only other thing I could think of was maybe cut the nail close to
the surface and use a nail set or something to drive the nail out to a
point where we can pull the nail all the way out.
The only other thing we can do would e to rip each board but that would
leave us with roughly 2 1/2" wide boards, which we would rather not
do if we don't have to.
Any thoughts?
[email protected] wrote:
> I have a friend who is building a new warehouse for his company and,
> afterwards, will be tearing down the old one. The old building is
> really old, something approaching 100-years-old and it has full 2" x
> 4" oak tongue-and-groove flooring in it. The building used to be a
> storage shed for dynamite, so I guess it needed to be made out of wood
> so no sparks were generated as trucks pulled in and out of the place
> and the dynamite was shoved across the floor, hence the hefty size of
> the stuff. He pulled up a piece and it finishes off beautifully, so he
> wants to salvage as much as he can so he can use it in his main
> building, mostly in his front office.
>
> His problem is the nails that go thru the tongue are extremely soft and
> he cannot simply pound them out backwards because the slightest force
> tends to bend them. Also, the nails don't have much to grab onto
> with claw hammer and he can't pull them out with a pair of pliers
> because they just break.
>
> The nails go into the tongue about 3/8th of an inch below the top of
> each board and his thought was to run them through a planer but that
> seems dangerous to me. My initial thought was to may push them through
> a big drum sander but he thinks a nail may grab the paper and tear it.
>
> The only other thing I could think of was maybe cut the nail close to
> the surface and use a nail set or something to drive the nail out to a
> point where we can pull the nail all the way out.
>
> The only other thing we can do would e to rip each board but that would
> leave us with roughly 2 1/2" wide boards, which we would rather not
> do if we don't have to.
>
> Any thoughts?
Why do you have to completely remove the nails? If they're 3/8" below
the top of the board you won't be running into them when planing or
sanding.
I'd just take an angle grinder with a diamond blade and cut off the
nails protruding from the bottom so they're flush, or slightly below
the wood surface. Done. Reinstall and sand instead of planing.
R
So you are suggesting to reinstall the floor and then rent a floor
sander and be done with it? That sounds good to me. That should work.
I think he wanted to plane the boards because they are pretty well worn
where the trucks used to back into the shed, but wouldn't you use a
jointer insteasd of a planer in that situation? Maybe run each board
thru a jointer a couple times, install the floor, then hit it with a
floor sander.
[email protected] wrote:
> So you are suggesting to reinstall the floor and then rent a floor
> sander and be done with it? That sounds good to me. That should work.
>
> I think he wanted to plane the boards because they are pretty well worn
> where the trucks used to back into the shed, but wouldn't you use a
> jointer insteasd of a planer in that situation? Maybe run each board
> thru a jointer a couple times, install the floor, then hit it with a
> floor sander.
In your original post you mentioned that your friend wants to reuse the
wood in his front office. It's unlikely that his office is as big as
the existing warehouse - unless his ego is HUGE! ;) So just cull the
boards - use the best for the office, lay 'em down and sand. Sanding
will have to be done in any event, so there's no real benefit to
planing. Planing or jointing will flatten a board, sanding will
flatten the floor.
R
[email protected] wrote:
> That last sentence seals the deal. That makes a lot of sense.
>
> Thanks!!
Glad I could help.
R