[Tonto1]

Ok guys, one of my friends had 3 Red Oak Trees come down in the last storm. I'm heading out there today and her 2 sons are checking out some of the lumber that I already have cut and stacked. The guys are in to it big time, helping me cut and move logs onto the mill (chainsaws, chains, cables, blocks/pulleys). We're having a great day!

One of the brothers asks me if I will sell him 80 boards. He wants them 3/8" x 5" x 16 ft (concerned about weight). Tongue & Groove with the V notch as well. This will be my first sale so I hoping for some advice. Seems a bit thin for T&G and a V notch! But I'm not sure. I can cut them with the mill and plane them pretty easy. I'm concerned about the routing thought. Has anybody dressed that much lumber. How many bits will I go through. Should I mill them while still wet in stead on letting them season and get harder? Would 1/2" or 5/8" or 3/4" be a better suited thickness? He is going to put them on his ceiling and doesn't want any joints, thus the 16 ft length. And what do you guys think would be a fair price?

I may even be able to get a local cabinet shop to the T&G work, don't know. All I have right now is the little HF router table (bad decision, I know now). As always, you input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Semipro]

3/8” x 16’ wet i would think it would shrink and twist badly!

 

[DaninVan]

Anybody have a drying kiln where you are, Quenten? Might well be worth the expense to have it professionally dried(?).

 

[Stick486]

3/8” x 16’ wet i would think it would shrink and twist badly!

agreed....

 

[Stick486]

Anybody have a drying kiln where you are, Quenten? Might well be worth the expense to have it professionally dried(?).

I'd think there'd be a high fallout rate unless it was all QS...

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

I agree with John. I think you're better off to let them dry a while and then resaw them. The big problem with what you want to do is the setup and having the right machinery. I've bought that type material numerous times but I would only do small runs for myself and that is only if I couldn't buy what I want as in using that oak as the back of a hutch for example. I just put up some red cedar that thick and T&G in a down stairs bathroom and I wouldn't have considered making my own for the price I was able to buy this stuff for. It's like planing your own lumber. In a commercial setting they would be using a 4 sided planer that does the entire board in one pass. I can't compete with that with my 2 hp single head planer. I'm not sure the blades exist to do that T&G in one pass, and that's one pass per edge, to get the groove and the beveled edges. The companies that sell this type paneling most likely get their knives specially ground for it.

I'm not saying it can't be done but the amount of labor required will make it uneconomical. My personal opinion is that you would be better off to sell the boards and buy something already milled. I was going to make my own birch parquet flooring at one time and it only took me an hour or two to realize that it was a mistake. I wound up buying some bamboo T & G I got a good deal on at an auction.

 

[Stick486]

Ok guys, one of my friends had 3 Red Oak Trees come down in the last storm. I'm heading out there today and her 2 sons are checking out some of the lumber that I already have cut and stacked. The guys are in to it big time, helping me cut and move logs onto the mill (chainsaws, chains, cables, blocks/pulleys). We're having a great day!

One of the brothers asks me if I will sell him 80 boards. He wants them 3/8" x 5" x 16 ft (concerned about weight). Tongue & Groove with the V notch as well. This will be my first sale so I hoping for some advice. Seems a bit thin for T&G and a V notch! But I'm not sure. I can cut them with the mill and plane them pretty easy. I'm concerned about the routing thought. Has anybody dressed that much lumber. How many bits will I go through. Should I mill them while still wet in stead on letting them season and get harder? Would 1/2" or 5/8" or 3/4" be a better suited thickness? He is going to put them on his ceiling and doesn't want any joints, thus the 16 ft length. And what do you guys think would be a fair price?

I may even be able to get a local cabinet shop to the T&G work, don't know. All I have right now is the little HF router table (bad decision, I know now). As always, you input is greatly appreciated.

the T&G part should be no issue...
at 3/8 ''resaw'' off of mill can be a nightmare.. board flatness/straightness/breakage/uniformity/green wood/dressing to final and all that not to mention the misery the knots will cause..
there's a reason why most planking like this is short narrow pieces... which is all salvage and drops and not deliberate...
major waste and BF computations enter a lot of gray areas... your buyer will have to pay for the waste... not you...
delivering 1/2~9/16'' thick rough sawn is most likely...
is the buyer looking to wainscot or panel something??
why is weight an issue... why 16'?? something isn't right ...
price what is available and add 100~200% (at least) up charge because of length and width... I believe you still won't make very much money when all is said and done...

 

[Tonto1]

Thanks guys, the T&G work will be very labor intensive, so I'll tell him it's beyond my ability currently. I'll ask the guy with the big, commercial shop how much he'll charge and let the guy know. So far I haven't had any problem with warping. I use extra stripping with a lot of weight and restack them after several months. Got some really nice boards coming along. We'll see!

 

[Tonto1]

Thanks Stick, don't know why the weight is a big deal either. These boards are not heavy. His ceiling is 16 ft long so he just thinks it will look cool without any breaks. Just long boards.

 

[DaninVan]

Lots of cussing trying to put them up.

 

[hawkeye10]

I agree with John. I think you're better off to let them dry a while and then resaw them. The big problem with what you want to do is the setup and having the right machinery. I've bought that type material numerous times but I would only do small runs for myself and that is only if I couldn't buy what I want as in using that oak as the back of a hutch for example. I just put up some red cedar that thick and T&G in a down stairs bathroom and I wouldn't have considered making my own for the price I was able to buy this stuff for. It's like planing your own lumber. In a commercial setting they would be using a 4 sided planer that does the entire board in one pass. I can't compete with that with my 2 hp single head planer. I'm not sure the blades exist to do that T&G in one pass, and that's one pass per edge, to get the groove and the beveled edges. The companies that sell this type paneling most likely get their knives specially ground for it.

I'm not saying it can't be done but the amount of labor required will make it uneconomical. My personal opinion is that you would be better off to sell the boards and buy something already milled. I was going to make my own birch parquet flooring at one time and it only took me an hour or two to realize that it was a mistake. I wound up buying some bamboo T & G I got a good deal on at an auction.

I worked in a flooring mill for a while and the machine that cut all four sides was called a side matcher. You wouldn't believe how fast the lumber would go through. Man was it loud. They had a sound proof room built around it in side the plant.

 

[Tonto1]

Yeah, I've put up overhead T&G, I have nail guns now...thank goodness!