Hardwood Hints: Cutting and Installing Slivers

When you go into a sand and finish of an existing installation, one common situation we all run into is an excessively big gap where a regular wood filler is not going to be a permanent solution.

A solution is cutting slivers, which are very thin strips of the same type of material as the flooring. They are cut at a taper, so that the top is wider than the bottom. The taper is cut at a 3-to-5-degree angle on one side of it. The reason for the angle is the gap is not going to be consistent throughout so it might be wider at one end and narrower at the other. Because of the angle, once the sliver is inserted, it’s going to be higher and lower and it’s going to be deeper or less deep depending on how wide the gap is. Apply adhesive to one side of the sliver. That way your sliver won’t end up gluing two boards together. This allows that board to function naturally.

I use the same exact species and make sure the grain somewhat matches the wood you’re installing the sliver in. You can use a featherboard or a regular jig for making the slivers. Adjust the saw anywhere from a 3-to 5-degree bevel on the blade. It’s going to be tool specific; it might tilt one way or another. The objective is to cut the sliver thicker at the top, thinner at the bottom, and smooth on both sides.

You want to cut different thicknesses if you have multiple places throughout the house. Apply glue on one side of it, insert the sliver, and tap it into place with a mallet. Now that the sliver is installed, let the glue set and then either use a block plane or a regular flush cut saw to trim it down to the surface of the existing floor. Once everything is sanded, it’s going to look like the gap was not even there.