Hand-scraped wood floors. Why and where to use

Design theme?
Hand-scraped wood floors when created using tradition and actual human artisan techniques create value in any home. These floors are not limited to a particular design theme. They adorn perfectly, the most minimal to the ultra traditional. Hand crafted goods add value. Regardless of whether you plan on ever selling your home, installation of authentic hand carved flooring increases the appeal and wow factor of any home. We have had many customers comment on their homes selling and attributed it in part because of these handcrafted floors being installed.

Realistic costs are possible on handscraped wood floors The art form of authentic handscraped floors is something that motivates us at simplefloors. Not only do we boast the largest species selection and handcrafting techniques of hand-scraped floors, our beginning price point starts below $3.00 per square foot.

The hanscraping techniques:
Time Worn Shallow Sculpt
The least aggressive of the hand-scraping techniques. The hand tool lathe is used to gently carve valleys into the surface of the floor. The edges of the floor are also carved to 

an uneven, random state.

Flowing uneven paths throughout the surface are characteristics of this hand scraping technique. The Time Worn Technique, accomplishes the natural uneven effects of foot wearing patterns and subtle textures. 

Saw KerfThis hand scraping technique consists of a multitude of Smaller chisel marks in selected groups running throughout the body width of the wood surface. Smaller intricate lines arranged in close proximity to each other produce whole unique distressed sections of the floor. Primarily due to the arrangement and creation of the smaller marks and greater quantity of them this is one of the most time consuming hand distressing processes.

Chisel impactUsing a sharp flat end chisel, the artisan applies blows with a hammer to the top of the chisel. The end of the chisel is held to the wood surface at an angle. The chisel is then placed at the adjacent edge of the fist blow mark, again at an angle. A small pie shaped indent randomly placed throughout the body of the wood surface results. Chisel i

mpact is not only one of the most striking in appearance it is one of the most time consuming hand scraping techniques and of no surprise by far one of the most requested. On some stained colors, deeper tint is often applied to the marks themselves creating further contrast with the surface for an authentic time aged appearance. The Hand Chisel Impact is not able to be mimicked by machine and takes the average artisan one day to complete 75 square feet.

Cross Slash
A series of stacked line gouges carved into the planks surface using a flat gouge blade. 

Typically this vintage technique is accomplished using multiple scrape marks and at an angle to the length of the plank. Original craftsmen did not have the power tools to achieve perfect

planed surfaces. The stitch cross gouge will range in size depending on the intent of the artisan and resembles the scrape mark left

 by the overcut of a tooth saw blade. Darkening tints will often be applied to the Stitch cross gouge making it more visible. This scraping technique is often used as a compliment to one or more of the other scraping techniques.

Zipper punch
The zipper punch distressing technique is used as a complimentary element of the overall distressing technique. Not as conspicuous as most techniques it can actually resemble a small metal zipper indents side by side on the surface of the wood floor. To further describe this distressing technique, you might imagine what a coarse, often referred to as “bastard file” file imprint stamped into a wood surface would look like. This techniques re-creates the impression of the teeth marks left in the wood by a hand held coarse file used centuries prior.

Hand-rubbed & toned
The process in which the flooring stain is applied heavier and lighter in various areas of the plank. This creates an uneven depth of color ranging from nearly translucent to dee

ply opaque. The goal is to achieve a very uneven time weathered look with the use of color stain. Often times this is used in conjunction with hand sculpting techniques to provide further depth and texture to the surfaces. This technique results in a surface with a variation of tones within the given stain color.