Table saw for salving wooden planks

[jammyhl]

I'm ready now to get my table saw to start prepping my salvaged mahogany planks. I need to trim the current t&g and get the planks to a uniform thickness, and cut a new groove in each side of them.

So - how good a table saw do I need to ensure my planks (1-4m in length) are going to be consistently even in size? Can I get away with a used Axminster AW10BSB2 or should I be looking at the variety of iron based Wadkin/Multico/Startrite machines on eBay - though I'm limited to 240v and not wanting to pay much over £500!

Thoughts welcome (abuse less so...)

 

[marcros]

i am not sure that you need a table saw at all. sounds more like a job for a planer and thicknesser (or combined unit), and a router table.

 

[LancsRick]

What I'd probably do is...

- Check for nails
- Run them through a PT to true up a face and thickness as desired
- Put each piece in a straight edge jig and run it through the table saw to give you a perfect edge.
- Flip board over and repeat. You've got two parallel faces now.
- Crosscut the ends. You've now got a square board in all axes
- Router table, rebate cutter, groove achieved. (you could also do this on a table saw with a high fence if you wanted, but router table will be simpler)

 

[jammyhl]

I wondered about the PT instead but I've just gone and bought a Wadkins 10AGS ....

 

[Ttrees]

Wadkin AGS, cool 8)
Get yourself a nice no.5, 51/2, 6 or 7 plane so, and get your two straightest planks and reference these off each other.
Keep these as your master reference and check the other planks against these.
You may need to take the bend out of some of these so you have a flat reference against your fence of your saw.

You should explain if you plan to have all these planks the same width.

Don't know if your machine is single phase or if you have other ways to power this.
If your on single phase, and the machine has three phase motor with a fixed star wound windings,
Bob Minchin aka 9fingers can configure these for use with an inverter .
Good luck
Tom

 

[jammyhl]

I want all the planks the same width (about 1000 linear metres of them...). Luckily machine had motor rewound and converted to single phase...

 

[Ttrees]

Defiantly get one edge of these flat ...
You don't want to cut these and figure out the rest of the planks are more bent than others, and you need to make all narrower than you planned.
Have you got much to spare if some are bananas ?
Also if you get them all worked flat make sure you store them correctly,
and you might want to select them all for colour variants ...ie create a pattern .
So that might mean bundles of various colours and figure out pattern based on percentages .
Are you planning to joint these by hand ?
How long have you had these planks for and are they stored in the place to be used .
If acquired recently I would be very hesitant to work these .
Make sure you watch about 3 or 4 hours on tablesaw safety ...you will probably want to do more than rip long stock with it once you get used to it.
Kelly Mehler, Gwinnet woodworkers, and a few more on youtube
Tom

 

[jammyhl]

Cheers - wood is about to be denailed and stored in the building where it will be laid eventually. Has been under cover outside the building for a couple months. I've got at least twice what I need for my main floor. I've got other rooms we might put it into later on too. Was planning to joint by hand. I have to lay the wood onto a 25mm ply base.

 

[Fitzroy]

if many if your boards are shorter lengths then I'd cut the 4m boards in half, you won't notice in the floor pattern but handling a 4m board is a real pain.

F.

 

[Ttrees]

I'd defiantly get a metal detecting wand so.
What kind of way are you planning to hold these for jointing ?
Might take some ingenuity depending on the thickness of your stock as it might deflect with planing.
It will be hard work but enjoyable all the same ...
You could rig something up for the final jointing pass to ensure a 90 degrees edge..
Either with a shooting board style or clamping a perfectly square bock to your plane

Look this video up for an example for kickback :shock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5F9TiHF2tc
Bob van Dyke has some interesting videos too on TS use

Is this place heated where the planks are stored now ?
You must post some piccys when you get started, sounds like it will be a nice floor
Good luck
Tom

 

[AJB Temple]

Depending on how thick your boards are, 4m lengths of mahogany are heavy and unwieldy, as I know from experience. if you don't want to shorten them as suggested above, then a couple of support rollers will help and I would get a helper to assist with infeed and outfeed whether using the PT or table saw.

 

[jammyhl]

Current storage is outside, under cover (nearly) and not heated. Planks are about 18mm thick. It's an old gym floor (see my previous posts) so no planing of the surface planned - we want to retain the markings and will accept the worn look. Shortening the long ones is starting to sound very attractive... I've got 65 planks that are at least 4m long....

 

[Ttrees]

Theirs a saying in the woodwork world ... goes something like this...
Keep as long as possible for as long as possible .
You dont want them to crack from exposed endgrain .
Bring them inside,
Your probably looking at about 3 or 4 months at least .????
This is out of my league though I am a scavenger .

If your boards are half wet and the other half is covered that's a recipe for disaster.
You will not be able to accurately assess when they are dry.

Say they were all under cover in the same conditions....
You might find a banana or damaged one in the bunch and saw it .
You could then check it with a moisture meter and weigh it aswell.
You might be able to tell when its dry after it looses some of the weight.
How much weight ? I dont know .

Interested in this thread to see what the experienced folk do
I hope your not in a rush
Tom

 

[jammyhl]

Will get as much of it inside as soon as possible - no huge rush though be nice to be laying the floor through the summer...