# Is wood from hardwood flooring ok to use for other projects?



## exterminate

Good afternoon jocks,

Can solid wood flooring be used as stock for small projects? Reason I ask is because, as an amatuer woodworker with little extra income, i find it hard to justify $9.50 a bf for african mahogany at the local woodcraft, or ordering in 50bf quantities at my local lumber supplier (whose prices are pretty similar to woodcrafts). But, I saw an add for solid 3/4" x 4.5" african mahogany wood flooring for $3.69 a sqft at my local floor and decor, and can get it by the box (18.91 sq ft), which seems like a pretty solid deal, as long as the 4.5" width fits the project at hand. Isn't a sq ft basically the same as a board foot when speaking of 4/4 lumber?

Is my thinking solid, or with fault? Is "african mahogany" flooring actually african mahogany, or could it be stained birch?

Let me know what you all think, before I do anything dumb!

http://www.flooranddecoroutlets.com/african-mahogany-solid-hardwood-3-4in-x-4-3-4in.html#

Thanks!
David


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## chrisstef

The issue with hardwood flooring is the finish that is on it. I think they use an aluminum oxide finish which will really give your tools a good beating. If you can find it unfinished, or you like the finish on it, i dont see why it would be an issue.


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## SCOTSMAN

Off course using reclaimed ready used timber is very common go for it everytime .It is a real money saver plus you get the oportubity to see some old wooden floors in your case become beautiful new objects have fun and god bless my dear lumberjopck friend.LOL just one thing let us see what you do all the way through.Alistair


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## treaterryan

I would not buy it, it says it has a low gloss finish on it.


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## teejk

If it's sold as african-mahogany, then it is.

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/african-mahogany/

I use hardwood flooring all the time. Your math is mostly correct. Board foot of finished lumber will be 3/4 thick by 11 1/2 (or 11 3/4) wide by 12 long. On flooring it will finish to a full 12" instead of 11 1/2 but the difference is in the groove on one edge. Cut that off with the tongue if you have to and you'll be back to close to the 11 1/2 width. The other thing is that the bottom will usually be grooved on the bottom so if you are looking for flat material you'll have to remove about 1/4" or so. If prefinished material, don't even attempt to touch the finished side though. You'll go broke on sanding/planer knives (it's pretty tough stuff). So be willing to live with that color on one side.

I like the stuff since generally only the straight stuff makes it to the box. Downside is that you will get random lengths (most likely a lot of short/medium pieces). But for a lot of smaller projects (like boxes) it is perfect and cheap.


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## Elizabeth

Maybe you could resaw the finished layer off?


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## teejk

Resaw is possible Elizabeth but would need a better techique than I can get with my Delta (I always plan on 1/8" waste at the planer). And then flooring has the bottom grooves. Might end up with 3/8" stock or 1/2 on a good day)???


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## kdc68

*exterminate*- I built a wall clock from brazilian cherry hardwood flooring. I aquired some pieces from a commision job I did a few years ago. He installed the flooring himself and I made tresholds for him from the flooring planks. I seen the value of this beautiful wood flooring for my future woodworking projects…he wrote a check as I was loading some of the extra pieces he had into my truck…I got paid twice IMO…
*Crisstef *is absolutely correct. I used old planer blades to remove the finish.
*teejik* is absolutely correct. I had to mill the lumber to 5/8" to remove the grooved backside


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## DIYaholic

I use reclaimed flooring for my shop projects. There is no real reason that it would not work for "real" projects. There are a few issues though: (some already mentioned)
1) Pre-finished flooring will kill cutting edges (I resawed off the finish)
2) The tongue & groove must be ripped off, so you loose width (you lose 1/2"-3/4" in width)
3) Grooves on underside must be plained off/smooth (3/4" becomes about 5/8" thick)
4) Errant (& broken) nails can reek havoc on blades (Get & use a metal detector)
5) You must work with smaller dimensions (Blanks must be glued-up)

I used pre-finished flooring, with the finish left inplace, for french cleats:









Some images:
Finish Resawed:









Tongue Ripped Off:









Groove Ripped Off:









I have also used new, "uninstalled", unfinished flooring.

From this:









To shop fixtures:


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## kdc68

*DIYaholic*...nice shop fixtures !!


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## Elizabeth

This thread has convinced me that I need to keep an eye on CL for flooring now, too!


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## exelectrician

You need to watch for two things - Other than that I love using hard maple flooring.

1. Embedded tiny stones in the finish, they ruin the blades in the planer, personal experience!
2. By the time you get rid of the finish, and the grooves on the other side the board is +/- 0.670" , which is way under 0.75"


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## kdc68

*+1 exelectrian*....anybody should use old planer knives…or be prepared to change them afterwards…and when the grooves are removed you have about 5/8" of material to work with…


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## JoeinGa

Alsp keep in mind that if what ever you're gonna make is "One sided" you may not have to take off the grooves on the back. I made several of these "Americana" flag wall hangings using standard 3/4" oak flooring. I glued up enough to get the width I wanted and used my Makita 4X24" belt sander to cut off the poly finish and painted 'em. They came out great.









.


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## donwilwol

As you see, there are lot of ways to use it. If its free (or cheap) don't turn if down. I've used hardwood flooring scraps for everything from furniture to shop jigs.


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## teejk

Elizabeth…Lumber Liq works just as well (I bought prefinished oak at 2.79 sq foot to frame out window returns…PITA because I was essentially making boards! but on the plus side they were prefinished with a very hard finish).

Again, the problems are 1) random lengths (some as short as 14" or so) 2) prefinished stuff you better like the color or prepare to remove it without sanding/planing 3) tongue and groove

On the plus side, it is usually very straight stuff (pro flooring guys don't want to deal with problems in installation or call-backs…to tear out a board that they managed to nail down is not a pleasant task). And it is CHEAP on a relative basis if you don't mind a little work.

And btw, those little "ribs" on the bottom come off very easy on the planer… I did my mud-room counter tops from leftover material and also use it for shop shelving.


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## Sawdust4Blood

It doesn't calculate out to that great a deal to me. If you use their pre-finished side as your finish (retaining the full 3/4in thickness), this comes to $4.90bf. But if you very carefully remove their finish and only lose an 1/8 of an inch, it comes to $5.90bf.

You should be able to find African Mahogany locally from between $6 and $6.50bf without a lot of problem. The very first place I looked in my area had it at $6.40bf. If you buy it that way, you get to select your boards and widths at longer lengths. My guess is that once you remove the finish from those pieces of finished flooring you will find there is a reason those particular boards ended up as discount flooring. Add in the value of your time spent removing their finish, and I wouldn't bother.


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## woodbutcherbynight

Some creativity in design, old fashioned elbow grease, and TIME can turn out great projects from what some see as due for the burn pile.


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## BentheViking

I guess its time for your friendly LL store manager to weigh in

1) I HIGHLY doubt that is a real African mahogany. Price is too inexpensive and the product isn't the right color as AM is. I suppose they could have a stained it, but rarely do you find exotics that are stained (unless they are a really low grade).

2) Says lengths are 18-36". Thats pretty short.

3) It is a handscraped floor so your thickest point is going to be 3/4", but you will have plenty of spots that may be down to 5/8". If you end up planing or resawing the finish off it may end up being even thinner than you want.

That being said flooring can be a great option for other projects, just make sure you're getting what you think you're getting.


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## gfadvm

Previous posters have covered most of the bases but I'll add that a drum sander is the quickest,easiest, and cleanest way to remove that alum oxide finish used on most pre-finished flooring. 50 grit on the drum sander is really fast but 80 works well also.


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## exterminate

Wow! Thanks everyone for weighing in! I really appreciate all the advice, as I would have never thought about the finish that comes on it, and didn't know about the grooves on the back side. Sounds like if I can find a good deal on unfinished, or reclaimed flooring, it could be worth it, but if there is a finish, I'm better off using somthing else.I don't have a bandsaw yet, so resawing really isn't an option. I could use the table saw, but the material lost wouldn't make it worth it. Thanks again, and have a great day!

edit - BTW - The projects pictured in the comments are really amazing! You would never know they were made from flooring!


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## kellyjones112

I used mahogany to trim out 4 cedar exterior pergola posts. I want to know if the mahagony will turn gray over time as the posts have? The wood was not sealed. If not can they be stained to a gray tone? thanks.
Maryland wood floors Hardwood flooring installer


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## reedwood

It's great if you need short 5/8" material like for drawers and you get it real cheap.










I bought a huge lot of clear 1×6, 1×4 maple flooring at a clarance sale and used it to make 16 dovetailed drawers.

I cut and planed the grooves off the back and faced the rock hard clear finish inside the drawers. I used prefinished 1/4" maple ply for the bottom so the inside was completely finished.

I was able to sand the outside and dovetails, ease the edges and spray finish upside down.

It was only worth it because I bought it at 75% off. Otherwise, I would just buy hand selected solid 3/4" stock.


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