I recently found a deal for prefinished maple flooring for my great room area. It is 2 /14" maple with a micro bevel. My dillema is this:

I have a fireplace mantle that looks somewhat like the picture below. This runs at a 45 degree angle to the direction the wood will be laid.

I want to install a picture frame around my fireplace hearth that would look something like this:


Am I going to have to sand the edge of each board that I cut at a 45 degree angle to create a microbevel that matches the rest of the floor? If so, then how do I protect this exposed wood? Could I possibly just rip the boards that make the picture frame to remove the tongue and micro bevel, effectively creating a 2 1/8" picture frame and then eliminate the need for the micro bevel around the picture framed hearth?

I am nervous about the plank that is going to have to butt up against the corner of the picture frame. How is the perfect cut in the above picture acheived?

Based on my questions, am I getting in over my head? Is it possible to hire a flooring contractor to consult me on this install, maybe even on the install day? If so, how much is reasonable to pay for something like this?

Thank you for your help!

Brett

Tracksaw and router is the pro way but that will require some expensive tools. otherwise you can install the frame first and work out from it. Its easy to put a mico bevel on an end joint and if its a clean cut will only need a small touch up if any. all I do is roll a metal pipe/rod across the end joint with a little pressure and it will roll the sharp edge down. its going to be tedious but for a focal point its worth the effort.

Funny how pictures circulate around the web.

I did that job (my picture) in the Philly area back in 2004 for a PA state trooper. Great guy, took me to lunch every day.

The bevel was so slight I didn't taper the 45 degree angle cuts at all. I may have just cut the outside border of the frame to make it a square edge..not quite sure.

How were the perfect cuts achieved? Just like Kevin mentioned, the picture frame installed first, then all individual boards cut to fit..individually. They'll all never be exactly 45 degrees. In fact I think most were 46 degrees (plus or minus) because I started the entire job some 800 square feet away from the hearth...in another room.



All were routed, splined and glued. The hardest cut was the intersection at the corner of the hearth where I probably did it free hand with a table saw because jig or sabre saw cuts don't offer as clean a cut.

Price? It was in the bundle on this one.