pretty good work thus far, the jig you have who makes it?

I bought the 100" model through Amazon.com. It's the only accurate way to cut big sheet goods outside of a table saw and a bunch of space.

Useful information:

http://www.screendoc.com/ezguide/cuttin ... arts.shtml

Manufacturer's site:

http://www.eurekazone.com/

Thanks, It looks like you use any circular saw with it. Essentially making it a less expensive version of the festool set up. I like that.

Ditto!!!

Great find!

Yes, you screw or double side tape (like I did) a tough plastic base to a regular "right blade" circular saw. I happened to pick up a new Porter Cable model and have that saw dedicated to the base. The nice thing is that the base has a zero kerf insert that you cut through the first time, so there is virtually no chipout using the saw to cut expensive plywood.

The only downside is that it is more difficult to plunge cut compared to a Festool, but that can be done too with care. And of course you save a ton of money and get table saw quality cuts.

Another question... Wifey wants NOT to do 45s in the corners, so I'll be doing an alternate overlap pattern. I figured I'd still have to start at the corners and finish in the middle and thus iterate the cuts to get to the final dimension. Is there a better strategy when doing alternate overlaps at the corners?

thats how I do my corners, do the pieces that meet eachother first, and piece in the middle one.

Ther is two differnt ways to lay out the corners you want.

Option A (butt and pass/log cabin) You would make the two sides as big as the field (the left and right sides) then the top and bottom would be the field and overlapping the two side boards you installed. The next (R&L) would go to the edge of the top and bottom boards you installed, and carry out the pattern.

Option B (Heringbone/ Other names) You would make the bottom border board as long as the field + the width of the wood (2.25) then the board on the right of the border would lock into it, go all the way up 2.25 past the field, continue the pattern around and around until you get dizzy.

Either way, spline, tounges, groves, and glue are your best friends and should be used everywhere, glue the corners to the floor, spline it all together, glue boards to eachother. (youve made it this far, Im sure you were already planning on all that) and me I would use a router and slightly bevel/ease the feild that you just cut back to match the beveling on the wood (put a small amount of sealer on it too) same goes for the boards you will piece in the middle of the borders

Yes, I will be doing the dizzy herringbone style, wrapping around the field multiple times until I'm lost.

I wasn't planning to glue all the corners together, keeping in the spirit of allowing the floor to float. Wouldn't the heavy gluing create problems when the field starts to move? In any case, this is my first job, so I'll take your advice and do just that.

I've already eased the sharp edge on my circular-saw cut field using another small handplane set with the blade barely protruding. Two or three swipes of the plane held approximately 45 degrees takes off a little more than a hair's width of material... matching the factory bevel pretty well. You're right though, I'll need to plane the edge of that last cut board in the middle of the side too.

the glue is to minimize the movement (both up and down, and boards moving away from eachother) No glue will stop the movement, but having it will help it be tighter.

The glue on the floor in the corners is to secure it to the floor, you cant staple the boards on both ends (the length side you will be able to get as close as 3 inches from the end, possibly as close as 1 inch dependant on manufactuer specs.) Nut you will have the width of the board un staple able. The following board would be able to recieve a fastener, but the section behind it will just be spline. Thus the recomendation for it.

OK, the job is nearing completion. Here is my setup cutting a groove in a long board to fit in the middle of one side:

I'm at the very end and need to rip a bunch of boards around 1.5" wide to yield my 1/2" gap to the wall. Do I really need to face nail these boards or can I just glue these narrow pieces to the last full row? Do I need to cut away the underlay and glue to the playwood? I'd rather not do that in case I need to repair something later. Plus, don't I need some room for movement?

You can tell I'm a complete amateur when I asked the question about gluing the last row; you can't tap the boards into place until after the glue dries on the first board! So I nailed them all down with finish nails LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO.

I used a trick when I reached the 2nd and 3rd boards from the wall that I've not read about on this message board. I couldn't get my big nailer into the joint so I face nailed at and angle, then straight down through the tongue of the board as close to the finished wood as possible using my 16 guage pneumatic finish nailer. A problem results when the next board is put in place in that the bottom of the board with the female groove now interferes with the nail going straight down through the tongue. I took those boards to my table saw and milled off ~half the bottom wood of the female board. There's just a stub left to catch the male board, but not so long as to interfere with the finish nail. In the end, I've got a tight joint and no finish nails showing on the 2nd and 3rd rows. My last row was 1.75" wide and most finish nails were hidden under my quarter round.

Another hint when nailing that 4th row from the wall... hold a piece of 1/8" hardboard against the drywall above the plunger on the nailer because SOME of your hits will rebound and hit the wall. And the soft end of the hammer won't hit the wall either; the steel end will impact and make a dent. I tried using a piece a cardboard as a protector but the edge of the hammer just cut right through it again denting the drywall. So now I have to touch up the wall...

I wonder why my pic didn't show on my last post? I'll need to figure that one out as the job is done and the quality meets my high level of perfection (anal-ness). In only took 5x more time than what an expert would take! I don't know how the pros do it with a table saw... tenoning jig... shoulder plane... block plane... bandsaw...

I edited your post to fix the image. You need the in the address

Thanks Walkonus! I'll remember next time.

Next question for the experts... my "practice" room is done, now I need to do a long hallway. We plan to put a border of one strip of Brazilian cherry down the edges of the hallway and lay the center with rustic maple, all strips running in the same direction down the hallway. I haven't laid out the pieces yet across the ~3' width, but I know that the fit will not be even, that is, I'll need to rip (at least) one row narrow. Of course I don't want a 1/2" or 3/4" board left over so the question is what is the preferred layout plan? My thought was to start from one wall, then as I got near the center of the hall rip one or two boards such that my width spacing would end with a full width cherry board at the other wall, leaving a small gap for expansion across the hall. I might rip, say, 5/16" off one center board if I use an odd number of boards total, or rip two boards to, maybe, 1 7/8" each if the number of boards across the width is even.

Am I on the right track or am I going to get in trouble with this scheme?

start in the middle of the halway and work both directions, thats what I would do anyway.

I'm only concerned that I will get a very small piece of cherry at the sides if I start from the middle, and I won't have enough leftover to do two strips each side. I just need to lay it out and see what I get.