Using Floorboards for Woodworking.

[Osvaldd]

I have a pile of planed tongue and groove solid floorboards, mostly oak which are gathering dust. I'd like to make a wardrobe from them. Three problems I have with these boards,
1. they are varying lengths, mostly 2 to 4 feet. Will have to laminate to make longer boards.
2. tongue and groove, I assume these would have to be planed off to get a strong joint?
3. one side of the boards is smooth and flat, the other one has grooves in it. A hassle.
My question for now is about the strength of T&G, is it ok to just glue these boards to make panels. Will it be strong enough?
cheers

 

[sunnybob]

T&G has far more surface area than edge to edge. It will be immensely strong.
And incredibly heavy :roll:
Wardrobes are usually frames with quite thin panels to keep weight down.

 

[Osvaldd]

back panel is going to be thin, <5mm ply. I think I've seen some 3mm at homebase the other day. Doors, sides, top and the drawers will be solid wood.

 

[sunnybob]

as young teenagers we used to play Sardines in wardrobes like that :shock: :lol: :roll:
You might want to brace the back wall. 8) 8) 8)

 

[MikeG.]

I'm struggling to see how you are going to make anything strong enough with such short pieces. There is no doubt you can use those boards for panels, drawer boxes, stiles, etc, but you can't scarf them together to make corner pieces (the principal frame), or stiles for full length doors. I suggest you supplement these freebies with some longer bits of new oak.

 

[That would work]

I wouldn't glue them. Rather I would plane a 45 on each face to form a vee (or a bead if you prefer)between each board and then frame them with a tongue and groove butt on the ends... a bead and butt. Can you incorporate a rail/muntins in a frame construction to overcome the short lengths?

 

[thetyreman]

I can't help agreeing with mike, whilst the wood is free, it's not really suitable, if you did plan on removing the shaped grooved side you'd end up with stock that's too thin.

 

[AndyT]

I wouldn't glue them. Rather I would plane a 45 on each face to form a vee (or a bead if you prefer)between each board and then frame them with a tongue and groove butt on the ends... a bead and butt. Can you incorporate a rail/muntins in a frame construction to overcome the short lengths?

Combining this suggestion with the tyreman's suggestion of reducing the thickness could lead to something like this... It's an old wardrobe, probably late C19, made from ash.

In this case, the panels in the doors aren't actually separate pieces, just one thin piece with a T&G effect planed across.

However, when I made this wardrobe, designed to resemble the other one, I bought ash T&G, about 9mm thick, fitted into a groove in the surrounding framework.

So the idea of using the floorboards could work, if they are long enough and if you can reduce the thickness to avoid it all being too heavy.

 

[Osvaldd]

Fantastic looking wardrobe, AndyT. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I would be able to get long pieces of oak to make a frame like that for doors. I would probably just laminate to make a panel. Something simple like in the picture below.

 

[Osvaldd]

Now my second question,
these boards were stored in a large unheated shed but with plenty ventilation. My workshop is a shed too, with no heat either. Can I work on these boards straight away? or do I need to bring them into the house for a few weeks or something like that? do I need a moisture meter? this cheapie any good?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-in-1-Digit ... SwlG5cd1nl

 

[Trevanion]

To be honest Osvaldd, whilst laminating pieces in the length is fine on a workbench top since there is plenty of glue area on the long grain faces since they’re usually over 2” in thickness so the end grain to end grain joint is held pretty securely. I wouldn’t even consider doing it with material about 1” thick as it simply won’t hold and the joint will fail on the end grain. You can really only do it if the end grain is comb jointed on a machine like in the furniture factories.

Sorry, it’s just won’t work.

 

[MikeG.]

No, Osvaldd, that won't work. Full stop. Forget it. You need some full length pieces. Clean this oak up and use it for something else (store it indoors as long as you can to acclimatise), but just forget this idea. It's a non-starter.

 

[will1983]

If you really want to use these boards I suggest you actually make the carcasses out of Oak veneered MDF and then use your reclaimed boards for the lippings, trims and mouldings.

Alternatively forget the wardrobe and just make something smaller with it, a blanket box springs to mind as a suitable project for this.

 

[Osvaldd]

thanks fellas, I guess its a no go.
I still dont get it why if the ends are staggered, and edges are properly jointed, why would it fail? is it too big? would such lamination be alright for something smaller?

 

[woodbloke66]

If those boards are relatively new, you'll also find that they will almost certainly have had the life sucked out of them by kiln drying. I tried to make something a few years ago with oddments of new floor boards and I gave up as the oak was virtually unworkable - Rob

 

[MusicMan]

thanks fellas, I guess its a no go.
I still dont get it why if the ends are staggered, and edges are properly jointed, why would it fail? is it too big? would such lamination be alright for something smaller?

Because it is isn't really a lamination. Lamination is a bunch of thin strips glued together on their long flat faces. You are doing more of a large-piece jigsaw. You are talking about joining single pieces about 1 inch thick, end to end and side to side. The side to side joints are fine, but the end-to-end ones are butt joints, end-grain to end-grain. These have almost zero strength, and will fall apart. The wood will shrink across the grain, this will not be consistent from board to board and cracks will appear. They will also look nasty because they will show up as a dark line.

Keith

 

[will1983]

How about planing them down to about 4-5mm thick and then gluing them to a backer board? There may be some issues with differential wood movement however.

If you did this you could route a chamfer around every piece to make a feature of the end to end and side to side joints, that would hide any dark lines that may appear in the future.

 

[Osvaldd]

I want it to have frameless doors fellas, I’m running out of ideas. There aren't many longer boards.
Would this work? I could strengthen the door from the back with a longer piece.

 

[That would work]

That's making sense... so long as you build in some movement allowance like sloted screw holes in the battens on the back.

 

[MikeG.]

This seems to me like a classic case of trying to make the finished piece fit the timber, rather than getting suitable timber in the first place. Do it, Osvaldd, and then come back to us in a years time and tell us we were right. It might help prevent anyone else making the same mistake.