TIL a small floor patch in a 1920s house took me three hours

The client wanted a new oak board to match the existing floor, but the old tongue and groove was a weird size. I had to hand plane a wider piece down to fit, which ate up the whole morning. Has anyone else found a faster way to match old flooring without a custom mill order?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_simon2mo ago

Three hours for one board is a whole new level of pain. Hand planing to a weird size sounds like a special kind of hell. I would have lost my mind by lunch.

kimr742mo ago

What's the weird size that made it so bad?

ryan_shah381mo ago

And honestly once you get past like 8 inches wide everything goes sideways. The plane wants to wobble and you're fighting the grain the whole time. It turns a simple job into a full afternoon of frustration.

violah432mo ago

Hand planing to a weird size" used to seem fine, but man, it broke me.