The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Cypress bed wood

Anyone use bare cypress for a bed floor? I would think that this would last forever. If so let me know how it looks and hold up to use.

Good news and bad news: The cypress will last forever, however it must be from a tree that is 70 or more years old. Now I don't know where you will get cypress wood that is that old or if you can prove it is that old. Perhaps some specialty wood dealer would be able to steer you in that direction. It is a good idea to find something you won't have to "do over" while you're alive. I had thought about using teak.

Well since my yellow pine bed is original to the truck, was not babied and has lasted for 57 years I figure a yellow pine replacement that’s kept inside this time should last me another 100 years. With a lot of luck I’ll get to see if, “that’s a fact, Jack”
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

yep Denny ...cant go wrong

for Fix it ..
I have not heard of AGE a factor in cypress ...but then again I have very limited use or call for that particular wood .
I would think that it would be as good or better than Red wood or simular speicies.
I do remeber readin somehwere that cypress is very good at evadin bugs an the climate due to what is called "Cypreseene" wich is basically a natural deterent to bugs an weather that accours naturally in the wood.
Woods of this nature have a natural Oil in there stucture that makes them the best outdoor type of wood .
now how it would hold up to any type of of solvent based or water based fancy clear coat ...i would bet you will have a failure as oil an water dont mix
You will have to deal with O' NATURAL ...dont try to to make it shiney .
It in time will take on its own natural patina ..an that is what ya will get ...may be what ya want ..may be want dont want ...it all up to you .
Tim


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Well thanks guys for all the info. I live in Florida and getting cypress is kind of easy. I think I will try this.

Last yr I put yellow pine in a 68 C10, the fella had tried cypress but the routered edge broke off each board when the strips were tightened down. He assumed it was not strong enough & bought pine(which worked fine), but may have been improper installation by him.

I put cypress in the bed of my '70 C10 back in the early spring of this year. Top coated with several coats of Helmsman's spar urethane and it still looks great and the truck is always outdoors. Below is a link to some pics.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2608399790059704903UnYXzP

Anyone ever use Locust? Back when I helped a family member work on his cattle fence he always used Locust post because of their rot resistance. Sort of like the Cypress I guess. I don't know about its "character" but it sure as heck lasted "forever" as fence post exposed to all the elements. Pehaps Sw_Radial has had some experience with Locust in his woodworking?....IF you have Tim chime in, I'm listening!

Alvin ,
My expierience with locust is a memory from back in the day of spliting an cutting wood everyday for the firelace for Mom(WAS MY JOB TO FILL THE FIRE RING EVERYDAY DAY AFTER SCHOOL), it was our only heat source and we had Locust all round the property for harvest & Man it tore up the chain saw but it didnt need split an burned HOT. round here in PA Locust never really grows Big enough in Diameter for woodworking hence the fact they make excellant fence posts as they grow to like 4" + or - an stop gettin bigger round but get taller an ya can get a few nice straight posts out of each tree.
Locust is plain HARD with a super dence grain ! Wich is why the Bugs probably dont like em and they will last forever.
So I couldnt tell ya much other than it will probably eat up an destroy most any Carbide woodworking bits you may have, You may have to purchase a Tungsten/alloy cutter for your router to do the rabbitts required on your planks if you have access to larger Locust down south?
Tim

Tim, back in the 60's my brothers in-law's would order a tractor trailer load at one time. They came from "somewhere up in the mountains". Judging from the way some of the fence post were split I would think you could find at least a few trees big enough to cut some bed boards??
I agee with the hardness. Growing up we heated and mom cooked with wood so I know all about that stuff. Around here the hardest thing I cut with the chainsaw was Hickory. Back years ago,high school and pre-military, I cut timber for the local Bowater plant. Hardwood and pine. Man, now thats work! Right!!

I'm actually trying to decide what i'm going to use in the panel but that is a "ways" off right now.

Hey Denny, Where did you get the Southern Yellow Pine. I'm looking for some for my 65' Chevy K-10 LongFleety

Joel

I have no idea Joel, I didn't say that I did mine yet. The wood stores around this part of the country do not carry it and have no interest in getting it for me. That's a ways off in the future anyway. However if anyone does find a source for Southern Yellow Pine please let us know where you got it.
Our sponsor supplies pine bed wood but I'm not sure what the species is. The general condenses seems to be that the best alternative would be white oak. That's what Old Iron Sides is made from, and you'll have to agree, she’s lasted a goodly number of years.
Are you sure that your wood is quarter sawn???? That might be real purrrty but that would be rather unusual and would not have the strength to support much weight. If it was the original bed from the factory it would have been face sawn.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Quarter sawn wood is stronger than plain sawn wood, Denny. It is also more stable than plain also. It is also much more expensive to buy and probably would have to be a special order product. Many saw mills don't cut quarter sawn wood because of all the waste. Too say that it would not support much weight is not true. Most mills around here would charge a premium to cut quarter sawn oak.

Hey awsumcars, www.classicparts.com claim to have hard yellow pine. Don't know if it is the same as southern yellow pine but I think it is.

There are Cypress reclaimers that go out into rivers in the south and pull up massive ancient trees that fell off logging barges a long time ago. Pick up a woodworkers mag and I bet you will find a distributor.

MAR-K's bed wood:
Southern Yellow Pine or
Appalachian Red Oak.

We are having a special on bed wood right now, for those who are shopping. Please go to the Truck Parts for Sale section of the forum to see the details. Buy Bed Wood and get the Standard Bed-to-Frame Mounting holes FREE + our Free UPS Ground shipping special still applies.

Not to give y'all a hard time, as I plan to buy come custom punched stainless steel strips form you soon. But I am a wood worker of sorts, and had to comment on your choice of red oak for bed wood.

Red oak is not very rot resistant at all, perhaps the least rot resistant of all the oak choices. Sure, it looks fine, and most people will take care of their truck, even park it in a garage, but for those who have a working truck that is left outside, and those who don't worry about messing up the finish on the bed wood, if you even finish it to start with, red oak is a bad choice, if it gets wet and holds moisture, it will rot more quickly then you may think.
This has some good info: http://www.ahec.org/hardwoods/guide/oakred.html
And the important part:
"Durability, Rated slightly to non-resistant to heartwood decay"

A much better choice of oak would be white oak:
http://www.ahec.org/hardwoods/guide/oakwhite.html
And the important part:
"Durability, The heartwood is resistant to decay"

I will be using white oak for my bed wood.

Many people may not know there are even more than one choice of oak, and those who do may not know the different property's.

We do a fair amount of timber framing (sometimes called post and beam construction) knowing the different quality's of woods available helps to know what to use them for for the best performance.
For example, red oak would be fine for girts and rafters, but bad for post because of moisture at the ground, and the tendency to rot, so we use white oak for post, and rot is less of concern.

I think the very same applies to bed wood, why use a wood prone to rot when there are better choices with essentially the same look?

Grigg

Hey love2fixit,

Where are you getting your cypress in this area? I'm down the street from you and just about to start working on the bed in my '50 1/2 ton. After reading this thread, I may take a crack at it myself. If I screw it up, I can always buy the pieces and not be out much money.

Thanks,
RedGreen

I have a 64 chevy short wheel base that has been in my family longer than i have,and i am in the process of restoring it.I was thinking about useing ceder. I know some people continue to haul stuff in their trucks after restoration but her days of hauling is over. do you guys and gals think would be right choice?

Ceder, at least the red ceder around here is rot resistant, that's a plus.
It is also reasonably soft, so if you truly don't plan to haul anything significant then it may be OK.
It's your truck, if you like the looks of it, and understand the compromise then go for it.

I may be to practical, but in my mind even a truck that may not be used heavily should still be ready for serious use as a truck if plans do change. I think a well done restoration of a purely functional and practical truck is more beautiful than a "cosmetic" restoration on a less than useful truck.

Grigg