Hand Scraped Wood

Hand Scraped Hardwood Flooring - Austin Flooring Store

Hand scraped wood flooring is becoming one of the most popular floors in all across the United States and the World. One of the main reasons is the people like the old worn look or the rustic antique look. Hand scraped wood gives any home a unique looking hardwood. The hand scraped wood floor gives a unique look with character. Kind of like an old worn look of a farmhouse or old estates found in Switzerland, Europe or United States. Many years ago only the finest of skilled flooring contractors with the right amount of experience were able to simulate the look similar to the old worn look. Hand scraped hardwood flooring was not an easy thing to do and the cost to perform such a task were astronomical. Thanks to the evolution of newer technology manufactures were able to create the same effect without the extensive labor and costs.

Now manufactures have high tech machines. While the process of milling the wood takes place, these machines skim the top of the wood in different areas to simulate the appearance of hand scraped hardwood. This process creates rows of depressions on the sides of the wood planks. Than they get gouged with different specific sizes and depths. Each manufacture of coarse have different specifications. Finally the wood floor planks get stained or pre finished to enhance the time worn look process. In affect each plank looks entirely different from the other.

The worn patina or the change in an object's surface resulting from natural aging due to wear or oxidation is born. The beauty of uniquely worn pockets, dips, and softened edges gives the plank a sense of history and a certain depth of character. It is not always possible for a craftsman to replicate this worn look with old traditional wood. The wide plank floors installed in American homes 100 years ago have acquired a certain distinctive pattern over a long period of time. The foot worn look of flooring literally takes many years. So carpenters that do this technique use a hand held block plane to scrape off the edges. This in turn makes the hardwood look like it has been shaped by many years of foot traffic. First they use this plane to scrape the edges, taking in consideration of wood grain and knots. This causes allot of starts and stops with the plane. After this the edges get hand sanded to refine the process.

The history of the knots and dips go back to the days of the horse-drawn carriages. Americans main transportation before automobiles were introduced, some of these carriage houses were turned into residences. Still to this day some of these residences still retain the original floors and the wheel marks of the carriages and horse shoes are still visible. Some still have grooves or notches made by the saws or axes first used to cut the timber. So to replicate these kerf marks, craftsmen use a draw knife and notch out the wood to make these drastic uneven edges. After it gets hand sanded to smooth out surfaces. At the manufacturing plant tools like metal gouges, hand planes and chisels are used to create the appearance of the hand scraped wood flooring, otherwise known and hand sculpted hardwood floors.

Never expect a sample to look the same as the piece you have from any showroom. For the pattern of any hand scraped hardwood will be different or the stain may have absorbed a little different from the previous sample. For sub floors hand scraped wood flooring is also available in the 3/4 inch thick solid form. Hand scraped wood floor is also available in the engineered wood for concrete slabs installations. All manufactures are different and all have different specifications on the installation. So check if its glue down, staple/nailed, floated, click or glued by the tongue and groove together.

If you ever need to refinish any hand scraped wood floor make sure that you not re-sand with the standard commercial machines regularly used for any sand and finish. The reason is that using these machines will take away most of the character applied to these floors, thus defeating the purpose. Always light sand by hand. Doing the sanding by hand is allot of labor but the hand scraped wood floors were intended to keep the character. Some engineered flooring may have a very thin layer on top and machine sanding would probably impossible to begin with. Austin Flooring Store is more than happy to help you out with any hand scraped wood you need in Austin Texas.