Milling Red Oak For Flooring

[dermestid]

Okay guys I need some help here, I have a nice pile of red oak logs that have been down for about 2 years now I would like to mill with my Alaskan to use for flooring but I have a LOT of questions. First has anyone here done this? Right now I mainly need to know what thickness to make it. I am thinking if I cut the boards to 1 3/16" that should leave me enough after drying and planing for at least a 3/4" finished product? Or should I shoot for 1" finished? I plan on air drying the wood for however long it takes but what moisture content am I looking for? It will be a wide plank floor with random widths, what is the widest I should go to prevent cupping? I know this wont be an easy project especially using a csm but I'm not afraid to work and appreciate any advice you guys can give me!

 

[excess650]

Quarter sawing will produce the most stable, wide, flat boards. Boards not quarter sawn will be more apt to curl. You can cut whatever thickness that works for you, but leave some for planing. If you cut 5/4, you should be able to end up with 1".

 

[jessejames]

Random width flooring hey? sounds like a bad idea. Just mill it sticker it well, rip widths later once its outside air dry then move it inside to a heated location. wont dry enough outside for flooring unless you like that gappy look in flooring. mill into flooring. then aclimatise in the actual space for a few weeks. around 6%M.C.
You can also send it out to be kiln dried and milled once its outside air dry. still should aclimatise to the actual space.
Chainsaw is slow and wastefull you could mill it to 9/4 get it re-sawn, kiln dried and milled and have that floor down in a couple of months.
second the quarter sawn!

 

[MarcusB]

No real need to be an inch thick but if you want go for it. By random widths I assume you mean random lengths. Go with what ever width that looks good to you. Ive installed 12 inch stuff before down to 1 inch. 6 or 8 looks the best imo. Anything over 4.5 wide you should glue aswell to prevent crowning or cupping. Beads of construction adhesive every 6 to 8 inches.

Oh yeah make the lengths as long as you can, itll look way better.

 

[excess650]

I actually prefer the look of random width flooring, and it was fairly common it older houses.

CSM is definitely more wasteful because of the kerf width, but the OP must not have access to a bandmill.

 

[dermestid]

Actually I did mean random width as we have one room in the house now with random width pine and it looks good but is just to soft. Would quatersawing be as important if they where to be kiln dried? I would love to be able to do it with a bandsaw but right now all I have is a chainsawmill and it will have to do. All the wood is free and would have otherwise been firewood so if I lose a bit with the wide kerf its no big deal.

 

[MarcusB]

I hated installing different widths in the one floor. Did 2500s/feet one time 3,4,5,6.

 

[rarefish383]

I was at the Timber and Log home Show in Baltimore a few years ago. There was a family of Amish folks there selling wide cut flooring. On the bottom side of the flooring they had several grooves cut full length in the board, to help relieve stress in the board. It looked like they just set the fence on the table saw, set the blade depth about half way through the board, and ran it through the table saw. On an 8 inch board I think the had three grooves cut, Joe.

 

[excess650]

Quartersawn is the most stable because of the direction of the growth rings. The further you deviate from quartersawn, the more apt the boards are apt to warp (cup). It shouldn't matter if air dried or kiln dried so much as that it needs to be dry.

Your plan is to install the flooring, sand, and then apply finish? (the old way) I think it preferable to "prefinished" and more apt to appear flat.

 

[dermestid]

I hated installing different widths in the one floor. Did 2500s/feet one time 3,4,5,6.

Well nothing is set in stone and I'm open to suggestions thats why I came here :msp_thumbsup:

Quartersawn is the most stable because of the direction of the growth rings. The further you deviate from quartersawn, the more apt the boards are apt to warp (cup). It shouldn't matter if air dried or kiln dried so much as that it needs to be dry.

Okay glad I havent cut the logs completely yet than. So quartersawn is just quartering the log up then alternating which flat side of the quarter you slice off?

plan is to install the flooring, sand, and then apply finish? (the old way) I think it preferable to "prefinished" and more apt to appear flat.

Again nothing set in stone but I would prefer to finish it then install.