Installing Patterned Hardwood Floor with Festool TS 55

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I made a video for the contest showing the octagon pattern floor I did last summer.  I shot a time lapse of the installation and put together this video.  I used my TS 55 and my Kapex and some other various tools as you will see.  Actually the Kapex is never seen in the video.  But it was at least as important as the TS 55 for it's repeatability of miter cuts.  I could swing left to 22-1/2, then right to 22-1/2 then back to the left and know I would be dead on each time.  I do wish there was a micro adjust knob fro the miter though. 

Here is the link to the video...



Dan Pfeiffer
Mentor, OH

 

[RJNeal]

Nice job Dan, on both the floor and the video.
Rick

 

[jonny round boy]

Nice job Dan, on both the floor and the video.
Rick

+1

Though I don't get why the centre of the floor is left like it is - seems unfinished....

 

[Stephen B]

Exceptional floor work a excellent time laps entry.  [smile]

Just a technical question, (and hopefully not a dumb question), and unlike conventional flooring,  I have always wondered how such floor work is able to account for wood movement?

 

[joiner1970]

Exceptional floor work a excellent time laps entry.   [smile]

Just a technical question, (and hopefully not a dumb question), and unlike conventional flooring,  I have always wondered how such floor work is able to account for wood movement?

We've got guys laying fancy floors on the job I'm doing in London. I asked the same question and was told if the boards are properly acclimatized then there shouldn't be much if any movement. I suppose a lot depends on where you live.

 

[packratpop]

Nice job! Love the video! Like other armchair pundits I may have gone another way with the center treatment but it is distinctive!!!
Your final product sets your work apart from others and makes the room, best of luck in the contest.

 

[stvrowe]

Nicely done Dan.  I assume a medallion will go in the center and would love to see a video of that install.  I would also like to know how you made the final cuts to close the pattern.

 

[Saskataper]

Very cool, that takes some serious skill.
Fun video as well, it's nice to be entertained while learning at the same time.

 

[peter halle]

Great video.  

I also assume that a medallion is going in the center.  If so, is the medallion to be installed by the maker?  We have a member here (not active in a while) who makes medallions and I think that I remember that he installed many of his.  Would have thought that it would have been installed prior to finishing the floor though.

Another question just for curiosity sake:  How does your image not appear in the many parts of the movie?

Peter

 

[nclemmons]

Dan

Fantastic floor and video.  Love the design and stop motion with the incremental tool movements.

Technique reminds me of Frank Howarth's videos on YouTube.

Can you explain how you will do the center as well?

Neil

 

[duburban]

we've got a winner!

 

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Thanks for the comments.  Here are some answers...

The center will have a medallion or perhaps a piece of stone.  I haven't found a medallion I was really crazy about yet so it's not done.  That gets put in after a nice simple circular cut with a router.  And the medallions typically come with a template.  Stone (like a piece of granite) can be cut in a perfect circle with a water jet.  Still stewing on all that.  No one will know anyway once the wall-to-wall goes down?  Actually it will probably end up covered with junk mail.

The final cuts to close the pattern were at the outer ring of cherry.  I picked a starting point and worked my way around fitting the miters individually.  They took some tweaking (would really like a knob on the Kapex for micro adjusting the miter angle).  It is all splined and the rows at the wall are glued.  I used wedges that I made from scraps and blocks screwed down just at the wall to hold it tight.  I also used some cool little wedge devices called quoins (pronounced "coins") that I got from my brother who is a printer.  They are meant to hold plates in a printing press.  There is a key that you use to expand them by about 1/4".  Very handy for this work.  See them in the photo.  And there was some face nailing at the edges. 

Movement in the floor is going to happen. And it is.  There is some gaping now that it's winter.  But it is no worse than a straight layout and maybe not as bad with the shorter spans.  The house has A/C and really good insulation.  I put this floor down at the end of May.  It was almost the last of 3000 sf I did over about 6 months.  So this flooring had been thoroughly acclimated to the space.  Manufacturer recommends 2 weeks.  I had 6-8 before the first boards went down in December and 6 to 7 months for this room.  So I have flooring that was put down in every season.  The stuff that went in in December has not gaped but has noticeable cupping in August.  The Last room went in in late June and has lots of gaping in January.  I would say best time to put it down is April.  And I do have climate control with A/C and a humidifier on the heater in winter.    I am not a floor installer by trade but I suspect the only way to not have movement with gaping or cupping is to leave the flooring bundled and stacked in the middle of the room. 

The video is a collection of stills from my still camera that I had clamped to the wall with an extremely wide angle lens.  At first I set it to shoot every minute but if I got stuck on something I ended up with a lot of photos of my ugly butt fussing with whatever the detail was.  After the first octant was done I simply walked over and snapped a shot after each board went in while I stood just out of frame.  I staged some stuff to show how it was done.  Like the saw running down the track and my favorite part with the CT cleaning up the router mess.  I put it all together using Windows Movie Maker which is a surprisingly capable application that has been bundled with Windows back as far a XP?  I suspect Mac has an equivalent and possibly more sophisticated app.  Mine is in Windows 8.  It let me set the time on screen of each frame individually, make animated transitions, add titles, add music and do things like pan and zoom within frames.  It can a real time sink.  And doing the photos probably added a couple hours to the install time. 

Hope that answers a lot of questions.  There are lots of details that I skipped in the video so it wasn't too long and boring.  Thanks again for the comments. 

Dan Pfeiffer

 

[Benjamin]

Just incredible….. me and my wife are amazed and want to do something similar. Hope you win.

 

[TheTassieBFG]

another Wow video.. love the way you have done it. Looks nice and simple in the video but i would hate to try it.

 

[Jonhilgen]

I love this video!  I wish I could make documenting my work a priority like this.

Excellent workmanship, mind boggling to this cabinet installer.

Jon

 

[Alli]

Not only is your work outstanding but that video is one of the most entertaining woodworking tutorials I have seen. Excellent job.

 

[irishroey]

Fabulous work dan