I am thinking about replacing the bed boards on my 65 flareside. First, what is the wood? The wood in my truck still has much of the original green paint, but the Arizona sun is killing it. Second, is there a preservative that can be used? I don't care if it changes the color of the wood - it is a truck. Third, where can I buy a wood kit? I just want something to use - nothing for show because I like to use my truck as a truck and not a parking lot queen. Thanks.

 

The original wood is Oak, but appaton "not sure if that is the correct spelling" is a very durable wood used in big rig trailers.

Appaton is harder then oak and is kind of like cedar or redwood in not rotting.

 

Thanks for the reply. I am still wondering where to buy wood kits, and also about preserving the existing wood. Thanks!

 

i may be wrong but i think the original wood is pine(numberdummy can probably tell you what forest it came out of and which lumberjack cut the tree down). the kits you can get at several suppliers and are optional oak or pine if i remember correctly. i've never bought a replacement kit but dennis carpenter probably sells them.
if your original wood isn't rotted and warped etc i would think twice before tearing it out. the propper wood additive would probably make it look good again. i have no clue about what wood addatives to use. call the local hardware store or menards etc about additives. i'm going to guess some form of oil based preservative is used, personally i would stay away from varnishes as that stuff doesn't take weather well.

i'm not much of an authority i'm sure someone with more experience will chime in shortly.

 

The best wood preservative is ''Sikens'' ,you can find it at most marine supply stores'
It's used for wood grab rails, log cabins, and so on, Great stuff, last forever!

 

I have one board with a warp (more of a bulge) in the center - all the others seem fine. There is splintering. NumberDummy, your input about kits, wood, preservation?

 

There are several wood suppliers, I have had good luck with this one...
Home page Horkey wood and Parts

If your wood is not rotten, I would try to just clean it up an preserve it. Years ago we used linseed oil on truck beds to protect them from the elements.They also make rubber mats you could cover it with, and keep the sun off...

 

Thanks for the recommendation on the Sikens product line, but surprisingly, it is not sold in the Phoenix area (go ahead and check if you doubt me!). You mention bed wood covers, who makes them? Dennis Carpenter is notoriously overpriced but sometimes they are the last resort.

 

An option for a bed preservative coating is Man-O-War spar varnish. it is not very expensive, most boat shops carry it as do several home improvement stores. It is not very pricey, and you have a choice of finishes, I use it on the teak on my sailboat, and it holds up for about 5-7 years which with the new VOC compliance rules is pretty good. As far as repairing warped boards, the wood will usually warp up, this can be corrected by wetting the opposite side for a prolonged period as it is the swelling caused by the moisture that causes warping. it is alawys a good idea to put a coat of finish on both sides , but realistically that is not always possible. Hope that helps!

 

Apitong. It's an Asian hardwood, Dipterocarpus grandiflorus, usually marketed as Keruing except for lumber produced in the Philippines, where it's called Apitong. Very commonly used as flooring for Intermodal/ISO containers, so yeah, it's a pretty durable wood.

I agree. I think the most commonly used original truck cargo bed lumber was Southern Yellow Pine.

As for Sikkens Cetol, you can't get it anymore in a lot of places, although they've reformulated some of the products so they're allowable again in many areas where VOCs are highly regulated. On old lumber, you have to remove any remaining old finish before you use it. Take an afternoon drive to the Sikkens dealers in Payson or Sedona if that's the product you want to use.

Joe

 

why not look at a composite material like trex at lowes or homedepot....

my friend Tom is doing his bed with it, and it will last forever. i think he spent about 100 bucks for enough to do his short bed.

 

I am not certain of the wood used, but being from the land of the Southern Yellow Pine, I am reasonably certain that was not the wood used. SYP warps & splits too easily, when exposed to the elements. It is a soft wood in comparison to the oaks.

A company up near the Canadian boarder wouldn't have shipped wood from the southern end of the country to use for bed floors.





John

 

kind of a side note but still related enough i'm not highjacking the thread. i think originally southern yellow pine was a very close grained wood since it came from old growth timber. it's no longer available new because cutting old growth forest is less common(hopefully). if you want original old growth s.y.p. for your truck check out my barn where i have the orginal floor boards stored that i took up from my 1850's 2 story. used flooring is pbly the only place to get old growth s.y.p. now. i seem to remember N.D. saying ford owned their own forests etc so maybe they were willing to ship the stuff. i'm just repeating what i've been told i really can't verify any of that though.

joe does have a point in that my s.y.p. house flooring is extremely light weight. not so sure i want to relay it because the wifes high heals would pbly puch a hole through it.

i think my original truck bed is weather treated in some matter. if you want to go cheap on weather treatment i've been pouring used motor oil on a section of wood barn floor that takes alot of rain for a few years now and seems to hold up real well, no rot.

 

I used white oak when I re-did the bed of my 54 just cuprinoled both sides. It did start to rot after sitting outside after 30 years. A local high school or vocational school should be able to mill the boards for no charge. A couple of beds I replaced were of yellow pine painted the same color as the truck.

 

Good point, John. And Henry Ford especially wouldn't have done so. I hadn't considered that aspect in suggesting what woods have traditionally been used for such purposes.

However, as sgettin mentioned, old-growth SYP, and particularly longleaf pine (a subspecies of SYP) is/was a very dense and durable wood and was commonly used for flooring, both interior and exterior. What one gets now labelled as SYP bears little resemblance to old-growth, or even second-growth SYP of the late-19th and early 20th centuries.

So, what species were available in Michigan forests? Here's a semi-interesting history of Ford's sawmill operations in Michigan, although it doesn't name particular uses or species:

http://www.superiorreading.com/pdf/ford.peq.pdf

What it does do though is indicate that Ford's sawmill operations had ended before the era of our Slick trucks, so their truck bed lumber was coming from someone, and/or somewhere, else by then.

Reaching further back in my experience as a former wood products engineer, and at the risk of still not naming whatever Ford used, I'd suggest Yellow Cypress (AKA, Yellow Cedar, Alaska Cedar, Alaska Cypress, Nootka Cypress) would have been an appropriate and durable material for truck beds. It's not indigenous to Michigan either, and most of it grows in Oregon, Washington, and British Colombia up into Alaska. Oh well, nice try again, Joe.

Granted too, White Oak would be an appropriate truck floor material except for the negative properties it exibits when subjected to moisture for extended periods and when attached to steel (the bed rails and frame crossmembers). Probably not an issue if the truck is garaged all the time, but the outrageous cost of FAS or even SEL S4S White Oak nowadays could be an issue, and even if you buy it rough and surface it yourself.

So that leads to Bill's suggestion of Trex, or other plastic/wood composites.... Arrrrgh! Plastic in a vintage truck!? And some of you guys were complaining about how there's too much plastic in new trucks now....

Sorry, Bill. I'm just jealous because I didn't think of it.

Joe