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Restoring/renovating 100 year old house, removed pine t &g floors to repair extensive termite damage in sills. Culled termite-damaged boards and want to use good boards to re-install in one of the rooms. Hope to replace t & g and reuse these in a few months. Are these boards to far gone or can I actually do this? Is a benchtop planer/moulder, shaper, or router table best? Help! (Thanks)
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I tried this post last night and it's out there somewhere in cyberspace. I think maybe I hit the enter key instead of the Login button after my password. Is that what happens webmaster? Anyway.
If I understand your question correctly you want to restore the T&G edge to trimmed boards. Is that correct? An easy and inexpensive set up if you're not doing too much is to use a three-wing slot cutter in your router (no table). These cutters come with an arbor and assorted cutters in various cutting widths. (Amana, CMT, Jesada and no doubt others have them.) You stack them to create the groove width needed (in this case just over the thickness of the tongue). To regulate depth of groove A) select appropriate size guide bearing or B) use the router guide fence. Use router depth adjustment to center the groove on the edge of plank. Just set up a work area on the floor or bench that blocks up the plank a little off the deck. That's it, one setup once, no expensive matching cutter sets that require two set ups. The key is cut grooves in both edges of all planks (unless you're mating to an existing plank) and use double width, hardwood tongue material call "slip tongue." It's readiliy available from flooring suppliers. This also allows T&G butts. "Slip" the tongue in from the side after the butts are butted.
Scott