Machining Reclaimed timber/Scaffold boards

[Jackbright90]

I have recently started working with a welder making wood/metal furniture. I have just bought a lot of reclaimed timber and scaffold boards. Most of the boards are cupped/twisted as you would expect with scaffold boards as its not of the best quality. Im wondering how to go about machining the boards flat before glue ups but still keeping the patina. Would you rip down the boards to get rid of the cupping? I know its not going to eliminate it completely but may make them easier to work with. or flatten the bottom and sides but leave the top? (i'm not sure how i would keep them all the same thickness) I cant flatten them normally with the planer and thicknesser as it would just end up as new wood. Id appreciate your input. Thanks Jack

 

[MikeG.]

Sheesh! I hope someone else is paying for the blades and knives. Scaffold board will have ingrained sand, mud, slate, ceramic, steel, grinding disc abrasive, and on and on. It'll chew through your edges, and when you miss something it could be catastrophic. If I were you I'd forget machining it, which would destroy the look anyway, and clean it up with wire brushes, or scrubbing brushes and soap and water.

Flattening boards is not trivial, and all I can suggest is that you make very short furniture, or you pick your boards carefully.

 

[Jackbright90]

Yeah that was the problem, Its not too bad with the reclaimed timber joists etc for the frames of the furniture but the scaffold boards only have a very light layer of wear anyhow so machining would take away any "character". I did think of making relief cuts in the bottom of the boards to flatten them but this in its self looks pretty horrible. I bought a few sets of disposable knives for the planer but it doesn't look like i will be using them anyway.

 

[Ttrees]

I use reclaimed timbers only.
and would not call anything that comes from a building site a "patina"
cement and all that ...yuck!
I would consider your proposition if it were hardwoods worth salvaging

Good luck with your welding

 

[powertools]

There is a guy just up the road from me who does exactly what you are suggesting.
He cleans his reclaimed scaffold boards with a belt sander and leaves the finish as it is.

 

[Jackbright90]

I use reclaimed timbers only.
and would not call anything that comes from a building site a "patina"
cement and all that ...yuck!
I would consider your proposition if it were hardwoods worth salvaging

Good luck with your welding

The Cement and all that yuck will be cleaned off. Its easier/cheaper to get used scaffold boards than resawn reclaimed timber for the furniture tops. Im not set up to resaw old joists etc.

 

[Jackbright90]

There is a guy just up the road from me who does exactly what you are suggesting.
He cleans his reclaimed scaffold boards with a belt sander and leaves the finish as it is.

It looks like this is what i'm going to have to do. It just seems so wrong to do so.

 

[powertools]

I can only say he seems to make a good living out of roughly welding together reclaimed angle iron combined with rough sanded reclaimed scaffold scaffold boards. The logic of that is beyond me but he seems to find a ready market for his creations

 

[Kev]

I think if you are going for the 'rustic' look then scaffolds are possible. Have seen a number of people do this to make clothes racks etc and look great (if you like that sort of thing). Have used them myself for someone who wanted a floor made out of them. I just put them through the wide belt sander and came out okay (although a good metal detector first is essential in my view). Think you just have to accept that you are not going to get uniformity throughout in terms of thickness and finish but if you incorporate that into the look then great. I admit to being sceptical at the time but the floor did look good when finished.

 

[Jackbright90]

I have a metal detector which i will be using also a selection of wire brushes/ belt sander. Thanks For the input!

 

[will1983]

Check out HFF on YouTube, he uses reclaimed boards all the time and has devised several methods for getting them straight and flat.

Here it is....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUqjC7E8u44

Will

He did a video going into detail about how he does it.