Old floor boards

HAMMERCURRENT

Trying to identify the wood in these floor boards dims are 120mm X 20mm. pic 27 shows one of the nails, the house is approx 180 years old, not sure how old the floor boards are.

recipio

Standard spruce or 'white deal' as its sometimes referred to. A bit too new looking to be 180 years old ? The nails are standard flooring nails - designed not to split the wood near the end cut.

The Glass Key

Always used to call those nails "cut nails" because the are cut (stamped) out of a sheet of steel. I also doubt the floor is 180 yo, if the floor was laid over the old joists then there should be another set of nail holes from the previous floor boards.

HAMMERCURRENT

Thanks guys, as I said I know how old the house is, and the floor boards were in place for the rural electrification in the 1950's, one of the pic is an underside view which is not planed, when I visit the salvage yard I'll know what to ask for now.

HAMMERCURRENT

Is it possible the boards are pitch pine?

The Glass Key

HMMERCURRENT wrote: »

Is it possible the boards are pitch pine?

You wish

NO

You could easily find someone who will tell you they are pitch pine and then sell you white deal boards for the price of pitch pine.

Looked again at you pics and still think they are just plain deal boards (with no t&g joint) and just better quality (closer grain) than we are used to now.

Compare yours with this http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/softwoods/pitch-pine/

with http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/softwoods/sitka-spruce/ which is what we'd call white deal.

HAMMERCURRENT

Thanks The glass key for your help, I've attached some more photos, if you don't mind could youbtell what you think, the grain pattern doesn't look like the spruce link that you put up, in my very humble and usually misinformed opinion!

The Glass Key

Nice floorboards, I could tell you loads about them without being 100% sure of what they are. They are old simply because of the quality of the timber (slow grown) and if they all are very close grained at either edge then they from a type of saw mill process that no one bothers with for softwood today.

Best way I can think of to make a better guess as to what they are is to clean up the back of one with a plane or sandpaper and see what it smells like. If the smell is good enough when freshly planed to make potpourri then I'll change my mind and say they are pitch pine which has a very piney (pine resin) smell compared to white deal. You can get planks that are cut the same way today but out of a stack of 10 you'd only find say 2 that were cut from near the center of the tree.

If someone else wants to say they know for sure they are pitch pine I won't argue but its one of those terms that is often used just to put the price up more than anything else.

Cleaning up a piece of end grain with a plane and comparing the pics from the web might also prove a bit more conclusive.

tabby aspreme

Were the boards in the first post covered by carpet such as in a hallway or bedroom and the boards in the second post from a dining room or parlour / sittingroom, I have seen similar in old houses where better quality boards such as pitch pine would be used in the "good" rooms.
They will both look well when sanded up and varnished.

The Glass Key

OP other than curiosity are you asking because you are looking for similar boards?

1chippy

Its just white deal, definately not pitch pine imo. Any deal planks bought from most standard hardwares can be stained and weathered to match the existing boards without going to a reclaimers.

HAMMERCURRENT

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Were the boards in the first post covered by carpet such as in a hallway or bedroom and the boards in the second post from a dining room or parlour / sittingroom, I have seen similar in old houses where better quality boards such as pitch pine would be used in the "good" rooms.
They will both look well when sanded up and varnished.

No, all pictures of boards are from the same bed room.

The Glass Key wrote: »

OP other than curiosity are you asking because you are looking for similar boards?[/QUOTE

Yes, I'm trying to replace about 8 floor boards that have wood worm, and out of curiosity as well.

1chippy wrote: »

Its just white deal, definately not pitch pine imo. Any deal planks bought from most standard hardwares can be stained and weathered to match the existing boards without going to a reclaimers.

I've tried only one hardware store and they said they don't do that dimension of board, although I will try a few more.

Thanks again for all the replies.

@the glass key, I will try your suggestion

The Glass Key

The thickness of the board will be a problem. 120mm wide should't be too much of an issue as provided the board is wider you can easily rip them down.

I routinely use P4S white deal that is about 140mm x 17mm but obviously too thin or will need packing out. The problem is that the machining that is done on most timber you can buy is reducing the size below what you want. That 17mm would have started out somwhere around 22-23mm (or more) and each machining will have reduced the size, your boards may have been cut to the same original dimensions but because they are only finished on one side are thicker.

I'd be looking at something like lengths of window sill board which are normally much thicker but will need the nose cutting off to square them up, only problem is they are often of red deal The point is check out everything including soffit boards and skirting boards as you might find one that is the correct thickness and has enough meat left in it after you remove the molding to get the required width.

That all assumes you have a table saw or access to one.

HAMMERCURRENT

The Glass Key wrote: »

The thickness of the board will be a problem. 120mm wide should't be too much of an issue as provided the board is wider you can easily rip them down.

I routinely use P4S white deal that is about 140mm x 17mm but obviously too thin or will need packing out. The problem is that the machining that is done on most timber you can buy is reducing the size below what you want. That 17mm would have started out somwhere around 22-23mm (or more) and each machining will have reduced the size, your boards may have been cut to the same original dimensions but because they are only finished on one side are thicker.

I'd be looking at something like lengths of window sill board which are normally much thicker but will need the nose cutting off to square them up, only problem is they are often of red deal The point is check out everything including soffit boards and skirting boards as you might find one that is the correct thickness and has enough meat left in it after you remove the molding to get the required width.

That all assumes you have a table saw or access to one.

Fair play, you have been very helpful with your posts, work hasn't started on the room yet, so when wiring, plumbing and plastering are finished, floor board repair can begin.

Thanks again.

tabby aspreme

There are two types of t+g floorboard available, the heavier type is 20 mm + finished in thickness , its not as readily available as the regular 18 mm but if you look for it you will get some