Old-school floor scraping

[Greenastrees]

Hey!

Any wise history people know what tools they used to use for wood floor scraping?

Only details I can find are the old painting ‘the floor scraper’ from 1875 and it looks like some sort of scraper plane plus a card scraper

Anyone know the best way to recreate this technique now? (No sanding machines pretty please)

Thanks a million!

 

[Ttrees]

Here's one thread which should be of interest.
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/accu-burr-burnisher.140231/page-2#post-1627567
or another one titled unexpected hand tool use.

P.S. welcome to the forum

Tom

 

[Jacob]

Interesting.
Chap on the right seems to be using a plane (or a plane shaped scraper) and pushing it away from him. He's got a hammer - for plane adjusting?
Middle is scraping with a card scraper and pulling towards (following on from the plane)?
Left is maybe marking high spots or something?
Bottle of red wine looks a good idea!
Salaman has several versions, some specialised. Scraping ship decking was big, with purpose made and also old saw blades recycled.

PS answering @Greenastrees question - nothing has changed much! Stanley 80 or card scraper from old saw blade?

 

[thetyreman]

a stanley no80 is perfect for the job, but you might struggle to get right into corners, it looks like one guy is using a handplane and then the second guy follows it up with scraping, he has what looks like a plane blade + cap iron to manually use as a scraper at the right angle, if you are going to attempt this prepare for a bad back for the rest of your life.

 

[Ollie78]

Looks like a good way to get sore thumbs and backache to me...

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

It has to be nearly 50 years ago that I helped dear old now-deceased dad refinish a hardwood floor. He was a carpenter for most of his working career.

His method was a Stanley scraper (can’t remember which one) and an old mill file he ground square on the side (had a bench grinder on site). The old file worked great pulling towards you.

 

[Orraloon]

Stanley 74 floor plane.
Stanley 74 floor plane
Finding one would be the hard part however. A stanley 80 scraper could be used as said by thetyreman. I give my benchtop the occasional clean up with one but the thought of doing a whole floor with it has my back and knees in spasm already.
Regards
John

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

When I saw a room being done in Longleat, theses were the steps.

Clean room, apply dust sheets, open windows. Rig a access platform from outside in.
Seal door from outside.

Wash floor with stong soap. wash with fresh water and dry.

Clean floor with a meths wash.

Then a 12"cabinet scraper on a long handle work with the grain to remove as much as posible of old finish.
Then repeat with another scraper, but set at a lower angle. With a slight curve.

Then work accross the grain to level with planes, if required.

Then plane scraper and hand scrapers to get best finish.

The finish as required.

 

[clogs]

u can see why machines have taken over.....
ideal job for a robot.....

2 years ago I stripped out the grout from between the tiles on my 14x5m swimming pool......
using a demolition saw with a carbide blade......
re-did it with 2pack grout....
anyway
my back is still bad.....any jobs like that in the future I'll pay to get it done....
and dont ask about my knee's.....hahaha........

 

[niall Y]

Did not @DW ( late of this parish i.e. no longer a member ) have some thread, where he talks about scraping his wooden floors , prior to re-varnishing? I've not been able to find it , as there is a lot to plough through.

 

[Ollie78]

u can see why machines have taken over.....
ideal job for a robot.....

2 years ago I stripped out the grout from between the tiles on my 14x5m swimming pool......
using a demolition saw with a carbide blade......
re-did it with 2pack grout....
anyway
my back is still bad.....any jobs like that in the future I'll pay to get it done....
and dont ask about my knee's.....hahaha........

This has made me wonder if I could strap some sanding disks to a robot hoover and just let it go for as few hours. Someone must have invented this type of robo sander by now.

Ollie

 

[Greenastrees]

Thanks for all the replies!! I'll try test out a few of the methods and see how it goes

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

Thanks for all the replies!! I'll try test out a few of the methods and see how it goes

looked for pics of scraper used with dear old dead dad, it was “like” a Stanley “81. Tremendous downward pressure obtained on the knob, but if you have any large area of floor to do, you might want to consider a floor sander made specifically for this type of job. Here in the States ,they’re readily available to rent for a few days.

 

[thetyreman]

Bottle of red wine looks a good idea!


View attachment 159924

PS answering @Greenastrees question - nothing has changed much! Stanley 80 or card scraper from old saw blade?

yeah bottle of red to numb the back pain, must have been good working in them days but bloody hard work.

 

[HappyHacker]

I relaid a quarter sawn oak floor made from a form of tongue and groove strips an inch thick and about 4 inches wide. About 240 sq ft from memory. Due to damage to some of them they were not put back in the same pace as they came from so there were irregularities between the height of the adjacent planks. I used an electric plane to get rid of the worst discrepancies and a No 4 plane and a scraper I cannot remember the number of the scraper but a vertical blade with a thumb screw. Finally an orbital floor sander to finish it off as I had not planed/scraped every inch of the floor. It took a few days on my knees and is not perfect but it is a floor and not a piece of fine furniture. Finished with Osmo oil and it looks good.

It is hard on the knees and back but I used pads in my trouser knee pockets and they worked well.

 

[Fitzroy]

Interesting.
Chap on the right seems to be using a plane (or a plane shaped scraper) and pushing it away from him. He's got a hammer - for plane adjusting?
Middle is scraping with a card scraper and pulling towards (following on from the plane)?
Left is maybe marking high spots or something?
Bottle of red wine looks a good idea!
Salaman has several versions, some specialised. Scraping ship decking was big, with purpose made and also old saw blades recycled.

View attachment 159924

PS answering @Greenastrees question - nothing has changed much! Stanley 80 or card scraper from old saw blade?

did you just happen to know this painting 'Les raboteurs de parquet' or did you also find it on google?

As an edit and follow-up, the wiki page on this picture is fascinating, oh such sensibilites "in 1875. The depiction of working-class people in their trade, not fully clothed, shocked the jurors and was deemed a "vulgar subject matter".

 

[Jacob]

did you just happen to know this painting 'Les raboteurs de parquet' or did you also find it on google?

Yes seen it before and easy enough to google "floor scraper painting"

As an edit and follow-up, the wiki page on this picture is fascinating, oh such sensibilites "in 1875. The depiction of working-class people in their trade, not fully clothed, shocked the jurors and was deemed a "vulgar subject matter".

they still had their trousers on!

 

[niall Y]

Monsieur Caillebotte did seem to have a penchant ,for that sort of thing It is presumed to be the floor of his Paris apartment and looks to be the same model in all three poses.

 

[Jacob]

Monsieur Caillebotte did seem to have a penchant ,for that sort of thing It is presumed to be the floor of his Paris apartment and looks to be the same model in all three poses.

Another one here. Looks like scraping with a "steel" on the floor for refreshing the edge, and a youth sharpening.