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Long story short, supply chain issues and long waits for contractor scheduling has found me with a 1300sqft of LL Flooring Bellawood Natural Matte Hickory, solid 3/4" hardwood flooring. The boards look really nice, and we had great success installing a similar amount of the engineered version in the basement on concrete. However, the engineered flooring had few milling/dimensional issues... while the solid it seems to be the rule. Boards are varying in widths all over, from one end to the other, board to board, bulges in the middle (near knots?).

Sorting/racking boards doesn't seem like it's going to work when ends aren't matched and there are middle bulges. Running all the boards through a router table, or running a router sled over, slimming down all boards and recreating the tongue and groove seems like a painfully long process.

A block plane seems like it will be unable to adequately straighten a (worst case) 6 ft board.

So I'm left wondering, could I get one or two 2200mm linear rails from i.e. Amazon, a router bit or two (maybe a special tongue and groove set, otherwise just square or something to recreate the microbevel) and for boards that need width-fixed... route in place. The linear rail should ensure a good straight profile (as opposed to the block plane which I think might not fare well over 6 ft of shaving).

I just don't want to return all this wood, and be at the mercy of 2-3 months minimum lead time, which could ultimately end up with similar width issues. I'd rather just make the best with what I've already got.

nmz787
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    To simplify, you have 1300 sq/ft of 3/4" hardwood flooring and the flooring wasn't milled well from the factory. You're asking about how to true it up so that it will fit well on your floor when you install it. Correct? – FreeMan Dec 03 '21 at 12:27
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    You'd also have to convince yourself that these imperfections are from milling itself and not from swelling or warping of the wood after milling. In the latter case they may exacerbate or ameliorate after your fix and deform the fit again over time/humidity etc... – P2000 Dec 03 '21 at 14:55
  • The boards have been tested to be the same moisture level :( so I think they're stuck at the dimensions they are currently – nmz787 Dec 03 '21 at 17:29
  • @freeman correct – nmz787 Dec 03 '21 at 17:29
  • Would a 12 inch planer do the job. Might be too much to buy one(~600$), but could probably rent one. Should be better than trying to use a router. – crip659 Dec 04 '21 at 00:14
  • Seems to me you have gotten a bad batch of material. You or anybody should never have to do what you propose to do. Return it. – Jack Dec 04 '21 at 05:07

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