Resawing Fir beams for flooring??

[salecker]

Hi All
I have a stack of Beams that were used for bridges when they built the Alaska Highway.They are aprox 8"x24"
I want to resaw them for flooring for our house.A friend or mine is going to lend me his Lucas Mill to cut them.He has cut similar beams and said it cut them great.
I'm looking for advice for cutting the wood.
Do'es it make a difference which direction the grain is running for flooring?I'n heard the term Quartersawn,but have no idea what that means.
We will probably cut the most at 1x4 or there abouts,mabey some bigger plank style for the master bedroom if we have enough material in the beams.
i'm going to go over them with a metal detector to find all the nails,.and was thinking of taking a thin cut off with a chainsaw mill so the lucas mill would be cutting into fresh wood.
Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks Thomas

 

[DanCorcoran]

Check Wikipedia for quartersawn. It has a clear explanation.

 

[Thistle]

Last November my neighbor replaced the roof on his 1902 Craftsman-Style 1 1/2 story bungalow.It still had the original Douglas Fir outside braces,beams & struts that originally supported 3 ft wide soffit overhang & heavy clay tile shingle roof until about 20 yrs ago.I talked to the contractor,all of them was going to the landfill,told him I'd take them all as they stripped them off.

Pieces vary from a full 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 to 6 x 6,anywhere from 2 to just under 5 feet long.All are 100%clear,no defects & are some of the tightest grain old-growth timbers I've ever seen. 20 to 30 rings per inch,very dense wood with a beautiful orangish-red underneath that layers of paint.All-heart vertical grain.Judging by the arc on some the rings,guessing these trees had to have been massive,from 6-7 feet plus in diamter when felled 110 yrs ago.I trimmed the soft & bad ends with worm-drive skilsaw & sawzall,used all that for kindling.Very few nails,pulled them also.

They'll be resawed on bandsaw eventually for smaller decorative boxes,cabinet pieces & similar stuff.

 

[smokinj]

1/4 sawing is done by 1/4 the log and then milling. What you are doing is a resaw and could be any part of the log, so you will have differnt grain patterns but should make an awesome floor..... ;-)

 

[gregoolman]

Is it treated wood?

 

[salecker]

Hi
No it's not treated wood.
Was wondering if the flooring would be better with the wood grain standing on end or laying down?
Thanks Thomas

 

[gregoolman]

standing on end, less movement through the seasons.

 

[jebatty]

What a great opportunity to use those beams. We have flooring resawn from old fir beams in a hallway and in our open floor plan kitchen and dining area, about 24' x 14'. Still has the water stained spike holes and other old beam character. Each board is about 8-3/4" wide.

A Lucas mill would do a good job. You also might consider looking for someone with a WoodMizer bandsaw mill, as there would be less kerf waste. Certainly avoid any metal in the beams, could be rather disastrous for a mill blade.

Quarter sawed - basically vertical grain to the wood surface, and face sawed - basically vertical grain to the edge of the board. Our is mixed, in other words the beam was simply sawed from top to bottom regardless of grain. The end result is some quarter sawed and some face sawed. We really liked the outcome.

With quarter sawed, the floor will be most durable and show the least wear, as the growth rings will be taking the wear. With face sawed, much of the wear will be on the area between the growth rings, this is softer and over time develops a very interesting character.

Attached are two pictures, one of a very high wear area on our floor, an area where our dogs tear around the corner from the hallway and into the dining area. The second is a moderate wear area from our front door and into the dining area. We like the wear patterns, and as the floor ages it gains the appearance of a floor in old cabins/homes that either never had a finish or the finish has worn off.

This floor has been down 12 years, only varnished two coats when I installed it, and no other maintenance other than simple cleaning. Also, we screwed the floor to the subfloor and then plugged the screw holes. All boards were very well seasoned and stored in the house for more than a month during the winter before the floor was laid down. Also, I simply butted the boards against each other, using a wedge to get a very tight fit. Barely any crack opens between the boards as the various seasons progress.

Good luck on your project.