Hardwood Floors February/March 2017

Unique Techniques

Dealing with Out of Level Transitions (Continued)

You can also make very long tapers that a table saw cannot handle using a planer. I have made 16-foot taper transitions using my planer’s climb rate information. Let’s say you have a 16-foot opening that has a 1” tall stone floor at one end and at the other end it is 1 / 2 ” tall and you want to make a reversed reducer (not a saddle) to accommodate the transition. Get your lumber to 1” thickness overall to start. Then on the side facing your handle, mark equal increments of 1 / 16 ” from one end to the other. For a 16-foot board that has to go from 1” to 1 / 2 ”, each 1/16” mark is 24 inches apart. This identifies your finished thickness desired at that location on that board. Note that all planers have a set feed rate and this can be used to time the turning of the handle in sync with your thickness marks. In most cases, you have to change the handle rotation speed to match what the planer can accommodate for max cut depth. Start with the thickest end first. On the first pass, you can only cut 1 / 8 ” max depth so you time the turn handle at a rate of 1 turn for half the board, making 1 / 8 ” over the whole 16’. Return the handle back two turns to the original position and repeat, this time turning the handle at twice the previous rate (1 turn per 1 / 4 the board length) to get to a 1 / 4 ” reduction overall. Return the handle to the original position (back 4 turns) and repeat again for a 3 / 8 ” overall removal (1 turn per about 2.5 feet). Continue returning the handle and repeat this process once more with a handle turn rate of 1 turn per 2 feet (makes 8 - 1 / 16 ” changes per 2 feet for 1 / 2 ” drop overall). You now have a board that is 1” at one end and 1 / 2 ” thick at the other with a very smooth and gentle slope. Now break out your belt sander and begin to shape the board into a visually pleasant reducer shape, and fit it into the floor. Now you have the ability to resolve your transition issues. As these techniques are being mastered, you will find many variations along the way that will fit nearly any situation.

Now you have the tapered rabbet cut on 1 / 2 of the transition strip with the other half remaining at full 5 / 8 ” thickness. A little belt sanding and hand sanding to round the edges as needed for a pleasant looking transition and the work is done.

Now if you need to make a flat transition (not a lip over type) say, for an elevator’s deep doorway, you can use your planer to do the same thing in both front-to-back and end-to-end directions. All planers have a similar climb per turn characteristic as a table saw blade. Find out what your planer climb rate is (mine is 1 / 16 ” per turn) and mark it on your planer. Say you have to make a wide-angled reducer. First get the lumber to the desired thickness of the fattest part; generally, you are matching the ¾” flooring. For our example, we will be making a gentle-sloped face with a 1 / 8 ” front edge. Using blue tape and some fast-setting adhesive of your choice, add to the bottom of the edge to be 1 / 8 ”, a strip of wood that is the 1 / 8 ” plus another 1 / 8 ” so when passing through the planer, a flat zone of 1-2” remains at the thick edge when the front 1 / 8 ” thickness is reached. Leaving a 1-2” flat zone on the thick part of the reducer makes for a pleasant-looking transition piece. Back off the planer table a few turns and start passing the lumber through. You will see the reducer face develop as subsequent passes are made. If at any time you think the face will reach the 1-2” flat zone before the leading edge is 1 / 8 ”, you can always add a thicker (or thinner if the opposite is true) piece at the thin edge and continue with passes as needed.

Lenny Hall is owner of Endurance Floor Company Inc. in West Park, Florida, and an NWFA Regional Instructor. He can be reached at lenny@endurancefloor.com.

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