If you’ve been looking for a hardwood floor, especially reclaimed or distressed hardwood flooring, you’ve likely noticed that certain floors are billed as “hand scraped” wood. It’s obviously something that has to do with aged wood floors, but what does it mean?
What Does It Mean
Before sandpaper was invented, wood had to be smoothed by hand. This was done with a draw knife. A draw knife is a knife with blade and handles on either side of it. The crafter of the floor grips both hands and pulls the knife across the surface of the wood. This is the scraping. Ideally, it scrapes away the rough surface of the wood, creating a smooth surface. However, it does not create a uniformly smooth surface. There will be scrapes of different depths and lengths. That creates the look of antique hardwood flooring. If you’re looking for new flooring that looks antique, hand scraped is a way to go. It’s a subtle touch that makes the floor look aged.
Authenticity
Hand scraped wood flooring can lend authenticity to your faux aged hardwood floor. However, it needs to be genuinely scraped by hand. There are also floors that are scraped by machines. While they mimic hand scraped wood somewhat, they’re too uniform. The charm of a hand scraped wooden floor is the unpredictability. Each draw of the knife is a different lethn and pressure. That creates irregularity in the wood. That’s not something that can be mimicked by machines. Make sure you buy a hand scraped wooden floor that’s actually scraped by hand.
The floor can be scraped by the person installing the floor, by you, or it can be scraped at the factory. Typically, the only wood that can be hand scraped is solid plank hardwood. Solid plank is the only wood thick enough to withstand the scraping process.
If you choose to scrap the wood yourself, you should make sure you practice in an unnoticeable spot or with extra wood. Also, you should make sure you buy an actual draw knife. The design of the knife is important to getting the right look. If you choose machine scraped wood, it can look great too.
You should make sure you look at the different types of scraping and make sure the matching pieces are installed as far away from each other as possible. That’s the best way to mimic an authentic floor with a machine processed floor.