I know it's a '47, but since the stakebed came off my '59 when I converted it to a flareside, it bridges both sides of this group and I feel it would be of interest to some of you as it applies the same to all the trucks from the '20s to the 70s. Ok, so I have been fixing up this '47 2 ton and doing my favorite patina tricks to the surface rusted North Dakota truck. The '59's stakebed was heavy gray paint that was flaking off and peeling badly. The story starts two days ago when I got to making up the bed wood as I wait for the new bed strips I ordered from Mar-K. As I finished up the construction grade douglas fir 2x8s and 2x10s I picked out for the bed, I was dissapointed in my hasty and inexpensive choice of wood. I was intending to paint them, but no amount of paint could make them appear properly 'old'. So yesterday I went back to the drawing board and planed down the new planks to 15/16" and planed down some western larch barnboards from my stock to 5/16". I have a vacuum press in my shop so I am in the process of laminating this outer layer to my boards. I did the two outer planks which are 9 1/2" wide first and will do the other 8, which are 7 1/2" wide next. Now I'm happy with it. It just didn't feel right with the new boards. My local island hardware store only has carriage bolts in galvanized, so I burnt it off the heads with my torch so they will rust properly. I would have just used thick barn boards but didn't have anything but 1" boards around, and they were too thin for this application, which requires 1 1/4".

 

GB, I don't care if the truck or the bed do not belong in the 48-56 forum.... I am interested in anything you do, be it woodworking or your old work trucks!

 

Thanks Abe. The truck doesn't belong here, but the bed does, and I figure this thread is about the bed. It went directly from a '59 onto a '47 with no alteration whatsoever, so I figure it's exactly the same as a '48-56 stakebed. BTW, I recently bought an old portable 4 cyl welder and some PO has 'OL ABE' in large letters across the housing. It just dawned on me the other day it got it's name because it's a Lincoln Welder.

 

Hey, that's cool!

 

wondering if u checked with a saw mill in your area.. my TV watching says there are a few in WA. or if u have the land with at least one tree u could do without. cut it down and rent a portable sawmill and do it yourself.. the pre-owner of my truck did just that..

 

Did you cut some relief in the back side of the boards? And Re you puting on a finish
He is the local saw mill

 

Yes, I have a sawmill and ten acres of trees, but didn't have anything already cut and seasoned that would work. I want to take this truck to a vintage tractor and gas engine event in August. No relief cuts and I have never seen them on original wood. My'59 has original bed wood and so does my recently aquired '29 model AA. The strips do what's necessary to keep it flat enough.

 

Those circle sawn boards look perfect on there, nice job!
I plan to do something similar on my COE bed.....a buddy here has a sawmill and will cut my boards for me...

 

GB I really like your posts Of course lots of us have sawmills in our backyard and then there is the vacuum press And I still don't know how you get away with having a rifle range in your backyard in liberal Washington State?

Thanks for keeping us all entertained with visions of what we would like to have.

 

The side of Washington I live on is quite liberal. Ok, VERY liberal. Now head North of Seattle to the 'San Juan Islands', and they take liberal to a whole new level! Tree huggers, whale huggers, spotted owl huggers, pot huggers, it's pretty much endless. I don't read the local paper or go to any events in town or any of that. I am still a newcomer at 36 years here, but those of us that came here to get away from a lot of BS have seen no end of politically correct folks moving in. I will have to say I have made a decent living here creating ancient looking furniture, cabinets and doors from old wood and these creations grace a lot of beautiful waterfront homes here. I don't just do this because it is a trend to be 'green' or recycle something. I have always loved things that are worn and aged and have character. I was born in Seattle, but my folks were both Old fashioned New England Yankees. One of my Dad's yankee expressions was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without". I am on a rant, but I wanted to follow up my bed wood saga with I'm gonna fix the driveline, fuel tank vent and a bit more painting of the bed's frame before I deck this thing over. The 8 other pieces have not been laminated yet because my employee insists he needs the bench where we set up the vacuum press in order to finish up a cabinet shop by Friday. How lame is that? Maybe I can set up the press over the weekend when he isn't here........

 

Love the worn and aged look. We live in a conservative area and neat old historic town from the 1770s on. It is amazing how it is changing as people move into the great little town atmosphere for what it is then want to quickly change it to more of what they left. Most people here still appreciate our old, worn, stock 55 truck - but I can see it changing to where they want you to run it as a hybrid or electric and not put that original stock 223 6 cyl high carbon footprint vehicle on the road. We have several sawmill/woodshops around, but that will not help you on the west coast. Keep it old and worn as long as you like it.

 

What a sweet truck, but I'll say against all rules I planked my 78 250 with
No. 1 pine 20 yrs ago, then brushed flat black, and since I dump drain oil
on it, good for it. All these years no cracks typicall with oak. just a sayin

 

Our fair state isn't all liberal. There just happens to be too many of them...

Election results by county 2012





That's me waving from the southeast corner.

And GB, your woodwork is amazing.

 

Well, after a month of distractions I finally got this thing decked over. I decided to paint the bed strips with red primer and burned the zinc chromate off the carriage bolts I ordered. I coated the planks with Thomsens Water Seal from the lumber yard. Seems they have changed the formula. It's way thicker than it used to be, but it seems like it will be fine. Just one coat that soaks in will do it. Today I built a headache rack from various scrap I could find around the place. I wanted to still be able to see the cab, and also not too wide. I don't like having really wide mirrors to see around a huge headboard. I have some 1/4" diamond plate scrap that I plan to cut and fit between the channel uprights, down low, as 3 inset panels. This should protect the lower half of the cab. I will also make a couple of grab handles so us old folks can climb up into this beast a little easier. Just might get to that show in August yet!

 

Looks like she's ready to go to work!