Q: A few years back I removed the carpet in my son’s room and put down wood floors. I wanted it to be rustic so I went with some old pine I got my hands on. It was approx 8″ wide and 1″ thick. I planned them, tongue and grooved them, then glued and nailed over a wood sub floor (with a sound deadening pad). They came out great and after years of ‘teenage boy’ stuff in his room they still are holding up very well.
I wanted to carry that look into our landing area upstairs and then on our stairs with a narrower plank. The pine I used on his was very heavy and I really cannot find it anywhere. The closest thing I can find in hardness (in a pine) is a 1″x3″ called ‘Appearance Grade SYP’. This is in the general lumber area of the big box stores. It’s very hard and heavy, and saws clean and sharp.
I was thinking of making one tread out of it and see how it holds up. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to edge, plane, and glue them together to make a 11.5″ plank that will hold up. Is this as hard as I think it is and will it take to normal wood glue, oil based stain, and poly? I beat on it with a hammer just to see what it would do; it dented but didn’t break apart like the regular pine does.
Thanks for any advice on the use of this wood. I really love the look.
A: Your pine floors sound really great. Of course you have to understand pine is quite soft so you have to be prepared to live with the floors getting dings in them. Your comments about finding a wood as hard confuses me. Pine is soft. If you can find a local small mill someplace they should be able to mill some pine to match and then you can stain and finish it.