I have a big pile of high quality tongue and groove floorboards that I would like to reuse as decking timber for a small-ish deck.
The trouble is I don't quite know what the best tools to use would be to cut off the tongue and grooves and get the boards to a standard width. I was thinking that there might be a way of converting a mitre saw to a table saw and do it that way. Is that feasable? Also I will need to round off the edges of the resawn planks. What could I use to do that? I've got a budget of around $600-$700 for new tools (e.g. a reasonable quality mitre saw), but I'm not sure if that would be adequate by itself.
I don't mind doing things a little bit inefficiently, but I don't want the project to become a massive time sink either. Any suggestions?
Best Answer
First, a disclaimer: Make sure the wood you are going to use will stand up in the environment you're placing them in. You may be better off using these with the T&G on an indoor project. Weather outside will quickly weather non-pressure treated wood, and decks typically require thicker boards than you'd have inside since they don't have a sub-floor.
For long cuts along the length of a board, the best tool is a table saw. And the second best would be a circular saw with a jig. If you don't have plans for more projects like this, or simply need to save space, then the circular saw makes more sense. Setup a jig with a long straight edge that you can run your saw along and clamp it on top of your boards to be cut.
To smooth the edges, a router would be best. You could also use a block plane or sander. I'd be tempted to get a belt sander to make this project go quick and to give me the chance to cleanup the finish on the boards at the same time. A small orbital sander would also work and have other uses around the house, but it would take a lot longer and wouldn't be as useful if you want to cleanup the finish on the boards.
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