Can I use left over Hardwood Flooring?

[WyldKnyght]

Hello,

I'm still new to all this and was wondering if someone could help me.

I have a couple boxes of leftover 3/4" Pacific Cherry Hardwood Finished Flooring.

Can I remove the finish and use the wood and create my own blanks.

I was thinking of sanding or ripping the finished side and gluing 2 pieces together, then cut in 3/4" blanks.

Any comments or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Craig

 

[lorbay]

If it's 3/4" already then all you need to do is rip it 3/4" wide and trim to the length you need and turn it. Buy turning it you will remove the finish anyway.
Lin.

 

[WyldKnyght]

If it's 3/4" already the all you need to do is rip it 3/4" wide and trim to the length you need and turn it. Buy turning it you will remove the finish anyway.
Lin.

Thanks Lin,

I'll give this a try, I have lots of it, so I'll trim the tongue and grooves and then rip it to 3/4"

Craig

 

[Richard Gibson]

Made one from cherry flooring that my brother in law gave me. He passed away before I got it done. I gave it to his wife and it means so much to her now. Turned out beautiful.

 

[edstreet]

This is one of the big pitfall epic traps as there is no 'right' answer.

Many flooring materials are laminates, many still are very thin and not the material they look like. However thickness is also an issue but need not be an issue as there is this technique called segmenting that works just fine with to thin items.

However you also have to look at and consider is the grade of the material. Flooring materials tends to run on the lower grade sides. Meaning less figure, less uniformity and so forth. Higher grade you get the less lumpy (as for figure) you get.

Long story short:

Flooring needs volume to fill the needed space and lower grades work better.

Pen blanks are small volume and the lower the figure the less appeal you have so they need high figure but not that much volume.

 

[nava1uni]

I have used flooring and made some very nice pens from it. Since you already have it you can use it to practice as well. You could also glue it together with other wood and turn larger objects. If you do this you will have to remove the finish so it will glue and make a strong bond.

 

[OLDMAN5050]

I have turned a couple hundred troop pens from exotic hardwood flooring makes some beautiful pens.............

 

[Cmiles1985]

I've been eyeballing hardwood flooring for my scrollsaw activities. I wouldn't see why you couldn't use it for turning, so long as it's not laminate or engineered wood. My cheap (free) wood source has been my dad. He has a buddy that makes cabinets, so I will be receiving a trailer load of red oak scraps in the next day or two. So far I've used a little from the last load to make one pen, a miniature bat, a mail holder and a spice rack...and still have enough to build who knows what! If you can find a good way to repurpose the wood, dive in! You never know until you give it a try.

 

[monophoto]

I make pendants that serve either as jewelry or as zipper pulls for sweaters or jackets.

The fleece vest I'm wearing right now has a sweater pull that was made from a sample piece of solid maple flooring. Nice grain pattern.

 

[paintspill]

always remember my motto.

"if you can cut it, you can turn it"

 

[montmill]

We bought salvaged maple flooring from a university building that was being torn down over 35 years ago. We had a few pieces left and it's beautiful. Of course it's solid maple, not a laminate.

I did just as you described, after cutting off the parts that go together I rip it into 3/4 inch strips and have tons of blanks. I'd say go for it.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Seeing how you have quite a few try cutting some at a diagonal for a more pronounced figure when its turned. You may not be able to angle the cut much but any bias in the grain direction from the cut will make a better looking piece.

 

[dartman]

I made pens from flooring that came out of a 150 year old house.Was in our family from new but had a fire that destroyed 3/4 of it.I made pens and gave them to family elders.They came out absolutely beautifully.