Power Plaining wide boards

[SwissWoody]

Hi there,

I have an old farm house that im slowly renovating. at the back of the old barn is a wood paneled section that goes up the the roof, its not big the the boards while very old are solid except over the years the wood has become deep grained from the harsh weather over here. I could just go out and replace all the wood but wanting to keep as much of the house original as possible I would like to plain out the weathering these boards have suffered over the many years.

So..

I dont have very much of this type of work to do on boards so dont want to buy a thicknesser/plainer to do the job and also dont want to do it all by hand plain, my question: is there a technique to power plaining wide boards with a hand power plainer?

The weathered wood grain probably goes about 2.5 to 3.0mm deep into the wood that is about 15mm thick the boards range between 200 to 400mm wide and the longest is maybe 3m long. my plan is to remove the boards, mark them for order they come off (not all the same length due to the building shape) remove all old nails then using a metal detector to ensure I have all nails and any tacks out before I start.

Is it just a case of maybe making up a wide runner gauge then running the plainer one strip at a time?

Many thanks for any advice.

BTW Im an English chap originally from Cheltenham now living close to Zürich Switzerland

 

[Jacob]

I wouldn't touch them with a planer, they are thin enough already and the planed surface would probably be a mess. Least of all a hand held planer - a very rough instrument!
Why do anything anyway? Old weathered surfaces are what you expect in old buildings. It's east to overdo renovations and destroy the very things that give the building character in the first place.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

I agree with Jacob, the erosion of the soft fibres between the harder grain gives a lovely patina to old timber, however having worked just outside Zürich restoring furniture I know that patina is not appreciated in Switzerland. If you want to smooth the boards I would go down the power sanding route, I suggest you start with hiring a floor edge sander and start with a 40g paper, once you have the boards flat you can switch to a lighter hand held sander and gradually go down to a 150g. How you finish them is another subject but I would think regular treatment with a thinned down linseed oil would serve you well.
I hope this is of some help.

Regards,
mrpercysnodgrass.

 

[SwissWoody]

Thanks for both tips, your right about keeping things neat and tidy over here and this is what we are trying to do to an extent, I dont want to replace the boarding as that will look too new but rather keep the old ones but give them a face lift.

The floor sander sounds like the best idea, if nobody else comes up with any ideas this one is so far at the top of my list.

Thanks

 

[CHJ]

Any chance you can reverse them (inside to outside) without touching the surface to maintain thickness.

 

[SwissWoody]

Nice idea but these boards go from half way up a wall to the roof so that the top ends are cut at an angle to meet with the roof. This is a washing room at the back of the the house, as you drive down our driveway its one of the first buildings you see. Also i have to cut some vents into thes pannels as ive mounted a new central heating heat pump above the wash room to keep the machinery out of sight. This means i will have to cut and make a door in the side of them to give service access to the pump

 

[promhandicam]

You might be able to hire a giraffe sander to do the job without removing the boards

A lot of dry lining contractors on the continent use them and you can get quite aggresive abrasives for rapid material removal.

 

[SwissWoody]

Over half of the boards are already removed for when we installed the heat pump

 

[SwissWoody]

Ive gone with the floor sander and the boards look fantastic! Its a shame that i have to stain them at least i managed to get the Geminder to let me stain them dark oak ond not the usual red!

Thanks for the ideas, im sure i will be back for more the house is about 300 years old and loads to do.

When i put the boards back im have to replace one beam that supports part of the roof, rather than screws and metal joist holder things i will be making hard wood pins to hold them in place, wanting to keep things as original as possible.

Cheers