The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun Speaking of bedwood

First attempt at posting pictures. On Saturday I started cutting white oak for the one ton flat bed project. (Friends sawmill).

Nice saw mill. Tried to cut planks for some side rails with a chainsaw one time, made a lot of firewood.

Do you have access to a kiln?

Yes. It’s not mine but an older gentleman in Vermont does it as a hobby. I usually air dry for a minimum of a year or way more - then bring it into the winter shop with woodheat. I have also made small kilns using a dehumidifier. I milled them to 1.5 inches. Final thickness 1.25. Allows for cupping and any twist. But white oak is fairly stable. Replacing the tongue and groove redwood on the truck bed that was rotted and infested with black ants. More than likely put a steel sheet over this wood too too bad though, I like the wood look. I have hundreds and hundreds of bf of red oak, black cherry, figured maple, poplar, and pine. Thinking about a Craigslist sale.

Vintage Truck magazine showed a picture of a cherry bed I made for a person.

This one ton will be nice - nos spindles, GMC 302 or Chevy 261. 4.10 rear end, frame-off. Not sure why I am doing this project given the other ones, but a guy needs a lift bed in the yard. Plus on occasion I visit timber sales and buy logs right from the landing. Beer money for the jobber.

Tom that will be a very nice bed when you are done, no one will want to use it for fear of damaging it

my brother and i debated using something more fancy, we opted for the cheapest pine 2x8s with deck stain since i was always planning to use the truck (hauled gravel last fall with it)
you mentioned finished thickness of 1.25 inch, that's for the planks and you will then trim that down further when installing?
i thought my bed was all 1 inch planks, we only notched where the boards rest on the cross sills and the ends, we left the 2x8s their full thickness under the bed where no one sees anyway

the zinc bolts cost the most in this project, i reused the metal strips, but a few needed material welded in that i took from another truck in the junk pile

perhaps one day i will restore a truck in a much more prefect elegant way and i will need to revisit the proper wood selection.
-s

The one ton has a dump bed that appears to be installed after factory delivery. Depending how they dry I may leave the wood full thickness. A 1/8” steel sheet over the wood should handle most of the abuse.

Your approach should work well. Nothing wrong with that, it looks great, and certainly is something to be proud of.

Tom, I'm still looking for some oak for bed rails if you decide to let some go!