Inlaying a Floor Medallion
Exotic scraps find a new life as the focal point of a floor.
Synopsis: This short article offers a brief description of how to make a decorative floor medallion, and focuses on cutting into a finished floor to make a precision fit for the medallion. The technique involves creating a router template around the medallion, then using a router to pattern-rout the medallion’s shape into the floor.
In the 20 or so years that I’ve been installing wood floors, I can’t bear to throw out scraps, especially from the more beautiful, exotic wood species that I’ve been asked to use. Instead, I turn these scraps into the focal point of any hardwood floor. I recently dug into my scrap pile and used wenge, cherry, and maple to create a star medallion for an entry hall.
Assemble the medallion
There aren’t many rules for making a floor medallion. I always start with a full-scale drawing, labeling the wood species for each part. Most of the medallions that I make follow a pattern with a lot of similar shapes and sizes.
The medallion pieces must be cut accurately. The fastest, safest, most accurate method for cutting is with a crosscut sled made to fit your tablesaw. These sleds are easy to make. They also are extremely accurate, and more important, they help to keep fingers safely away from the sawblade.
When all of the medallion pieces are cut, I assemble them into a single unit. If the medallion is made from 3⁄4-in. stock, I glue together the pieces and apply clear packing tape over every seam. Thinner stock (such as the material that I used for this project) can be glued to 1⁄2-in. Baltic-birch plywood. Either way, the completed medallion then becomes a layout tool.
Install the floor first
The easiest way to install a floor medallion is to rout out a hole in the flooring, then drop it in. If the medallion is for a new floor, I lay out its position on the subfloor before the flooring goes in. Because I install the flooring first and then cut out for the medallion, I make a bold reminder to the guy with the nailer (me) not to nail in the field of the medallion. As the boards go in, I also like to glue any butt joints that fall near the medallion.
If the medallion is going into an existing floor, I position the medallion, then find all the nails in the field with a magnetic nail finder. If a nail falls in the way of my cut, I usually can move the layout slightly to avoid hitting it.
The router template is built in place
When the floor is complete, I reposition the medallion on the floor. Because medallions are seldom perfectly symmetrical, I trace around the perimeter of the medallion and use index marks (on the floor and on the medallion) to make sure that I can reposition the medallion exactly.
Next, I cut blocks that fit tightly around the medallion for the router template. If I can get away with it, I tack the blocks directly to the floor. With this maple floor, nail holes would have been visible, so I attached the template blocks with double-face tape instead. For a smooth router cut, the blocks must remain stationary. So I also joined the template pieces to each other with glue. Because the template pieces fit tightly around the medallion, don’t attach the last piece until you lift the medallion free.
For more photos, drawings, and details, click the View PDF button below: