Using Hardwood Oak Flooring to Make Panels

[onocoffee]

I stopped by one of the Habitat for Humanity ReStores today and found boxes of Bruce Hardwood flooring for $50/box - which is about half the retail price. I bought it to use the hardwood to make panels that will be the tops for the cabinets I mentioned in another thread. I figure this will give them a classy look.

I've joined hardwood flooring together before with some remnants a friend had leftover from his home renovation. In that case, I took the maple flooring and ripped off the tongue and groove from both sides of the boards, domino and glued them together. This worked very well.

What I'm wondering is: if I want to leave the joint seams, can I just glue the boards (with the tongue and groove) together? I realize that the typical flooring application is to nail the tongue to the underlayment.

This is the product I bought - 20sf, 3/4" thick turned out to be $3.33/bf, which seems like a decent enough deal.

Plano Marsh 2-1/4

View features, specs and warranty information for Marsh 2-1/4

www.bruce.com

Thanks!

 

[peter halle]

Sure you can as long as the visible joints bother you.

Peter

 

[Michael Kellough]

Most hardwood flooring is designed to get a tight fit between boards on the top side.
To do that the fit is designed to be loose on the underside.

Try clamping several boards together and see if the assembly bows such that the top is convex.

To follow through with your idea you’ll probably need to do some trimming.

 

[Steve1]

Keep in mind that most pre-finished flooring will have aluminum oxide dust mixed in with the surface finish. It makes the flooring more scratch resistant, but can make sanding it more difficult and dull your saw blades quicker.