Floorboards | Marking Up And Fitting The Central Planks

At last the time had come to make and fit the floorboards! I had really been looking forward to working with some real wood again, and setting the epoxy resin aside for a while.

Now, the Ash provided to make the floorboards is beautiful wood and it would be a crying shame (as well as expensive) to waste any of it by careless working. So the mantra for this phase of the build would very much be ... "measure it twice, and cut it once".

Bearing this in mind, the first task is to fit the two central planks which run along either side of the centre board case. This requires a section to be cut out of each plank to accommodate the case.

Rather than directly mark up and cut the planks themselves, I made a pattern to be sure the fit was correct before any wood was cut. I wanted to be sure that the width of the cut out would ensure that the two central planks would sit 1/8" apart when fitted, and that the curved front end would sit nicely around the case.

Here is the pattern, slid into place. This is how I wanted the planks to fit.

When the fit was correct I used the pattern to mark out the waste section on both boards, like this. 

Only when I was completely confident did I get out the saw, planes, chisels and rasps.

Lastly I test fitted them, as here.

So far, so good. I have floorboards!