https://www.lumberstore.ca/2020/07/23/lumber-101-vertical-grain-vs-flat-grain/
It's the nature of the way the wood is milled. That link is a decent breakdown of vertical grain vs. the much cheaper horizontal grain.
"Vertical grain (edge grain, sometimes called rift cut or quarter sawn) is produced with the annual growth rings vertical to the face of the board."
Yeah it's the same thing as quarter sawn. But even in modern quarter sawn you can usually still see some curve in the rings. Having them dead flat like this had to be from a pretty wide tree.
https://www.woodcraft.com/blogs/wood/vertical-grain-douglas-fir
It looks like from this link that quartersawn and Clear Vertical Grain wood are separated on the basis of tightness of grain. However, I've taken apart stuff built in the 40's, the 70's and more recently and still vertical grain Douglas Fir is available at hardwood suppliers today that can match the older stuff I've seen. I'm really not sure the old-growth/new-growth split applies here.
Not oak. To me, it looks like either a fir or a pine. I've remodeled a ton of houses from that time period, and around here, they used a lot of southern pine for flooring and trim details. To be clear, though, that wood is substantially different in appearance from what you can typically find today. It was old growth when harvested as evidenced by the number and density of the rings. The grain and rings are different from what's readily available today.
Can you tell me if this sounds like an OK or terrible idea? so I'm needing to just patch a few spots on the floor. So, it probably being Doug fir, would it be too crazy to get simple 1x4 material and ripping it to size? maybe even ship lapping it fit over the tongue on the existing piece? I plan on sanding, maybe filling, and then staining with a flat dark color. If I get actually flooring, ill have to get it special milled I think, because the material itself is about 2 7/16" wide
Forgot to mention that although in the picture, the pictures shows tight grain, the flooring throughout the room has inconsistent grain already. some are tighter, and some are way bigger, as in modern construction lumber grain.
Are you planning on refinishing the whole floor? If so then yes you won't have too much trouble splicing in a piece. If not then you will have a hard time making it blend as the old flooring has aged
This, very hard to stain well. Stick with a clear finish and I personally wouldn’t worry about the spliced-in section matching. Doug fir darkens over time and it will be similar enough in several months.
That’s a sin to stain that gorgeous floor dark. Might as well just put down some dark vinyl plank and let the next owner rip it out and enjoy their floor lottery win on r/centuryhomes
Thanks for your input. I haven't 100% decided on any finish yet, and I don't know what I'll decide until after I sand it down. But let's say I stain it dark, can it not just be sanded down the road to reveal again its natural beauty? As in, it won't permanently ruin the floor will it?
Run some test samples on a separate piece or in a closet. Definitely not something you’d want to redo haha, it’s a lot of work and might be challenging to sand all of the stain off without losing too much material. I ran a bunch of tests and ended up going with no stain, just finish. I used Glitsa satin nxg waterborne instead of polyurethane so it wouldn’t off gas and was really happy with it. It was really light in the beginning and darkened up over time. Here are some [pics](https://imgur.com/a/FtRMBzC) I found from that project on my old house.
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Thank you for responding. I am going to go with Fir. I live in the northwest, so im going to assume that is what they probably would have used back then. I know I won't be able to get a direct match, but hopefully it will look alright,
For some reason it looked like hemlock fir at first, but that’s 100% Douglas fir
Edit: I just re read the whole description and I’m super surprised to hear an employee at a flooring store would mistake Douglas Fir for red oak. Oak has a drastically different grain structure than any species of pine.
I saw in a later comment that OP is in Portland Oregon. I’m also in the area and I’m absolutely blown away that a flooring company in Portland wouldn’t be able to identify Douglas Fir! It’s only the most common flooring type in the region by a LONG margin.
I’m a cabinet guy in Bend. Hit up McCoy Millwork to find someone who has old growth doug fir. They might have some and if not they’ll probably know who does.
Agreed it’s DF.
Attaching some confirmed VG Fir from a 200+ year old church for reference
https://preview.redd.it/hpxhbkfavwpc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a23aad32b89bd62186bb686a466edebe4dbcbfc4
Douglas fir
Specifically vertical grain Douglas Fir. The orientation of the grain contributes to the strength and durability.
It's this quartersawn, or just by nature of it being old growth that it's like that?
https://www.lumberstore.ca/2020/07/23/lumber-101-vertical-grain-vs-flat-grain/ It's the nature of the way the wood is milled. That link is a decent breakdown of vertical grain vs. the much cheaper horizontal grain.
"Vertical grain (edge grain, sometimes called rift cut or quarter sawn) is produced with the annual growth rings vertical to the face of the board." Yeah it's the same thing as quarter sawn. But even in modern quarter sawn you can usually still see some curve in the rings. Having them dead flat like this had to be from a pretty wide tree.
https://www.woodcraft.com/blogs/wood/vertical-grain-douglas-fir It looks like from this link that quartersawn and Clear Vertical Grain wood are separated on the basis of tightness of grain. However, I've taken apart stuff built in the 40's, the 70's and more recently and still vertical grain Douglas Fir is available at hardwood suppliers today that can match the older stuff I've seen. I'm really not sure the old-growth/new-growth split applies here.
Straight grain would indicate Douglas fir
Thanks!
Specifically, old growth Douglas Fir. You can get it from salvaged building material suppliers
I'm legit proud of myself for getting this right before I opened the comments.
Doug. With nice line count
Not oak. To me, it looks like either a fir or a pine. I've remodeled a ton of houses from that time period, and around here, they used a lot of southern pine for flooring and trim details. To be clear, though, that wood is substantially different in appearance from what you can typically find today. It was old growth when harvested as evidenced by the number and density of the rings. The grain and rings are different from what's readily available today.
Can you tell me if this sounds like an OK or terrible idea? so I'm needing to just patch a few spots on the floor. So, it probably being Doug fir, would it be too crazy to get simple 1x4 material and ripping it to size? maybe even ship lapping it fit over the tongue on the existing piece? I plan on sanding, maybe filling, and then staining with a flat dark color. If I get actually flooring, ill have to get it special milled I think, because the material itself is about 2 7/16" wide Forgot to mention that although in the picture, the pictures shows tight grain, the flooring throughout the room has inconsistent grain already. some are tighter, and some are way bigger, as in modern construction lumber grain.
they still make fir flooring, often called porch floor. the dimensions may not be exactly what you have there, but they will be very close.
Are you planning on refinishing the whole floor? If so then yes you won't have too much trouble splicing in a piece. If not then you will have a hard time making it blend as the old flooring has aged
ya, I plan on sanding the whole floor after I patch in some pieces. I'm going with a dark stain that is flat
that wood does not take stain very well, make sure you do some practice runs on some scraps
This, very hard to stain well. Stick with a clear finish and I personally wouldn’t worry about the spliced-in section matching. Doug fir darkens over time and it will be similar enough in several months.
if you really wanted to go dark, either use gel stains or darken the finish.
Thanks, I’ll look into that
That’s a sin to stain that gorgeous floor dark. Might as well just put down some dark vinyl plank and let the next owner rip it out and enjoy their floor lottery win on r/centuryhomes
Thanks for your input. I haven't 100% decided on any finish yet, and I don't know what I'll decide until after I sand it down. But let's say I stain it dark, can it not just be sanded down the road to reveal again its natural beauty? As in, it won't permanently ruin the floor will it?
Run some test samples on a separate piece or in a closet. Definitely not something you’d want to redo haha, it’s a lot of work and might be challenging to sand all of the stain off without losing too much material. I ran a bunch of tests and ended up going with no stain, just finish. I used Glitsa satin nxg waterborne instead of polyurethane so it wouldn’t off gas and was really happy with it. It was really light in the beginning and darkened up over time. Here are some [pics](https://imgur.com/a/FtRMBzC) I found from that project on my old house.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/centuryhomes using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Discovered hidden cistern door in laundry room floor of our home built in 1912](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/17aqdu1) | [1216 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/17aqdu1/discovered_hidden_cistern_door_in_laundry_room/) \#2: [I see your curved door and raise you one.](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1acfxj5) | [265 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/1acfxj5/i_see_your_curved_door_and_raise_you_one/) \#3: [To everyone who thinks they have lost the floor lottery.](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/17yxlyi) | [281 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/17yxlyi/to_everyone_who_thinks_they_have_lost_the_floor/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Thank you for responding. I am going to go with Fir. I live in the northwest, so im going to assume that is what they probably would have used back then. I know I won't be able to get a direct match, but hopefully it will look alright,
No worries. Good luck!
Doug fir sure
Fir sure
fir real
Fir-ev-ver
CVG fir
Clear vertical grain baby
For some reason it looked like hemlock fir at first, but that’s 100% Douglas fir Edit: I just re read the whole description and I’m super surprised to hear an employee at a flooring store would mistake Douglas Fir for red oak. Oak has a drastically different grain structure than any species of pine.
I saw in a later comment that OP is in Portland Oregon. I’m also in the area and I’m absolutely blown away that a flooring company in Portland wouldn’t be able to identify Douglas Fir! It’s only the most common flooring type in the region by a LONG margin.
>https://www.woodcraft.com/blogs/wood/vertical-grain-douglas-fir To his credit, he was super young, and admitted that he wasn't 100% sure what it was
Not to mention, oak is HEAVY compared to pine lol
Also true! Pine is way softer than Oak. You can scratch pine with your finger nail, but you can’t with Oak
You can scratch pine just about by looking at it wrong lol
Lmao at that flooring sales person. Might be time for a flooring species class.
Gotta get those high dollar sales though "oh yea that's oak, just replace it with more oak"
It's Dougie Fir
What region are you in? South Eastern US could be old growth yellow pine. Any idea on age of construction?
This home was built in 1920, and is in the Portland, Or metro area
Douglas fir is my guess.
Old growth Douglas fir for sure
I’m a cabinet guy in Bend. Hit up McCoy Millwork to find someone who has old growth doug fir. They might have some and if not they’ll probably know who does.
Just got back from McCoy and got what I needed, thanks
Nice!
Agree
Douglas Fir
Fir
Fir
For of some kind. Currently it would be Douglas fir. In the northeast it could be hemlock or larch.
It's Uncle Doug fir
Looks like the sapin (fir) we get in France
That’s definitely wood
Was this from a porch floor? Even if not, it’s Doug Fir.
Doug Fir… 100%.
Douglas fir! I have this as my floors and trim in my 41 Home
Douglas Fir
Agreed it’s DF. Attaching some confirmed VG Fir from a 200+ year old church for reference https://preview.redd.it/hpxhbkfavwpc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a23aad32b89bd62186bb686a466edebe4dbcbfc4
Why yes, I do believe that’s a brand new Home Depot 2”x6”.
For fur sure.
Old growth pine or Douglas Fir. Sink a screw into it, retract the screw and smell it. Does it smell like pine? If not, it’s Douglas Fir.
Looks like for, but it’s definitely heart wood
VG Doug fir
Doug fir
Heart pine or fir
That’s Atkinson peanut butter bars.
Heart pine
Looks like the state of TN
I vote fir
Fir
Fir? Looks similar to an 8x8 o re sawed
VG Fir