Hi guys. I’ve got my hands on some metres of hardwood flooring that were headed for the skip, and want to get them ready for use. I think they’re oak though the colour looks more like walnut. I will post a pic later if somebody could help me identify!
The boards were glued to the surface beneath so there doesn’t appear to be any nails. First, I want to take a couple mm off the top and bang off the glue below, then ultimately run them through the jointer and square them up (inductions permitting).
With the lacquer and decades of grime pounded into the surface, attacking the top with a belt sander seems preferable to using a plane, but I’m worried about kicking up a tonne of dust. What are the usual considerations for this?
General tactic for reclaimed wood (ie. it might contain nails) is go at it with the electric hand planer as it has very cheap blades. Belt sanding finishes is nasty work so preferable to use the hand planer. Try to keep it away from the big tools with expensive blades (jointer/thicknesser + table saw) while you aren’t sure it is nail free.
