VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 What kind of wood

Yep to that I shore gotta agree. Now I am more confident that the floorboards are original. .....
If I could be as confident about the interior seat & headliner materials.....

Mr Mack
I can send you photos of mine, which is definately original
Chris

Chevguroo, pics of original seat & headliner material? Pics are appreciated, how about emailing them?
Thanks...

MrMack
Will do
A mate of mine uses "beenatree" wood in all his Chev restorations, any one know of that timber
Chris

I did a search and found links for beenatree crafts and furniture but nothing about the wood itself.

"Been a Tree" What ever he can find or what ever is available.

Beenatree is all I use when I build wood structures. Even there are materials that have more strength or workability it is the only way to go.

Yeah, Chevguroo, That is the best stuff,I know of, to use for woodworking projects.

Gentlemen, while you're at the subject.
I removed the bed from my '26 and some pieces were remarkably well preserved. The two “beams” (no idea what those are called in English) in the length direction were hardly damaged, just grey on the outside. I cut off a piece and sanded it to see what kind of wood it is. They tell me it is Maple. Would that be the right kind of wood to rebuilt the whole bed, it’s very dense and heavy, but when I see that after 80 years it only discolours a bit but the inside is still as new I think that a bed made of maple would at least last my lifetime. Anything against it? Easy to finish? I added two pictures; can you tell it’s Maple?




I hope they are not too small.
Thanks
Richard

Most likely the entire bed was not made of a single wood specie but a combination of several. If you look at postings early in this thread you will get a flavor for the woods that were used not only in body wood but truck and pickup beds.

Yes I know, what ever would do the trick for not too much money. Things haven't changed much.

To connect the two beams they used Oak, still there but not as nice as the Maple, I worked with Oak before, but never with Maple, the sides of the box were to far gone to say what kind of wood it might have been and the bed was replaced with pine floor boards,(tongue and groove) that were almost gone. I was wondering if Maple for the whole box would be the right choice if I never want to do it again it is. More expensive, but to me worth the trouble unless there are issues I have no notion about, like; some hard woods will ”eat” steel for instance or discolour when coated with the wrong stuff. The Cab is going to be up to KC-Wood, he does a very good job and at those prices I can’t get my hands dirty, he uses Ash.

Thanks for answering and if you know some more about Maple I would be very interested.

Richard

There are many different types of maple from very soft to very hard. White oak or any wood with closed cells would be the better choice for exterior exposed wood.

The board in the first picture appears to be oak and from the flecking it appears to be quarter sawn red oak but I can't say for sure.

I can't say at all what the wood in the lower picture is but I think a fair guess would be sycamore. Don't quote me on that.

For what it's worth, I spent my life working with wood, white oak would be the choice of domestic woods to be used in an application where it would be subjected to abuse and the elements. It is both very strong and rot resistent.

Most of the Holden bodied Chevs in Australia used Queensland maple, and a mixture of other timbers. There are many types of maple and most of them are soft, so be careful.
Qld. maple was very hard and close grained. We mainly now use Tasmanian oak, however some use other types of oak or ash. Just make sure you use something strong

Good to see a few of the experienced timber people worked out what beenatree was
Chris

If I lived in the Southern US I might also use Cypress wood which is a hardwood that will take the wet.

Cypress is not a hardwood at all. The term hardwood is often a misnomer. Balsa is also considered a hardwood but it is far from it, being one of the softer woods.

Cypress is also far from rot resistent. If you can find it, sinker cypress is quite resisitent to rot but it has also been submerged completely for 100 years or more.

OK, I have got to admit that I am way over my personal bourbon limit here as it applies to replys to blogs. But What the flitch? ?White Oak prevAils!!! It PREVAILS !!! GET THIS , as it applies to bed wood, it cannot be overcome. WTH, Bill

White oak, redwood, cedar, black locust, honduran mahogany are all high in tannic acid which resists rot. White oak is more closed celled which resists water penetration. If sealed they all will be about the same in water penetration. Strength wise white oak is the best of the lot. Our '20 Chevy "T" fire truck has remains of a redwood bed. Not bad service for over 85 years of wet/dry cycles. Most firetrucks used oak bed wood.

...a guy named Forest SHOULD know about woods....so what kind of wood is Cedar Elm? soft, hard, or whut?

For you non-forest folks, softwoods are conifers more commonly called pine trees or trees with needles. That also includes fir, hemlock, and cedar among others. Hardwoods are deciduous or trees that generally have leaves and loose them each winter. Generally because live oaks and a few other deciduous trees do not loose their leaves in the fall/winter but in the spring when new growth replaces the leaves, as they are lost. So for you not yet in the Paul Bunyan society it does not have anything to do if the wood is actually soft like balsa, cork or hard like cypress.

Dear Chipper!
I must say that I envy you. You always manage to sound so RATIONAL. And, you are usually in control of those pesky FACTS. They sometimes give me fits. I am somewhat passionate about WHITE OAK and tend to fly off-the-handle in my support of this specie of wood as it relates to certain uses.If I were to re-wood ANY truck bed, I would not hesitate to use WHITE OAK. Mainly, for all the reasons you pointed out; plus, it is beautiful! Thanks, Bill/KC Wood

except, I think the truck beds were southern pine...


epi

Kepi,
I think it depends where the truck was assembled and what size it was. Up North many pickup beds were White Pine, in the South more likely Southern Yellow Pine. Larger trucks often had oak or other hardwood beds. What ever they could get without knots for the length required, center cut (to minimize warping and cupping) and locally grown likely would be their top priorities.

chip,

thanks...I was thinking pickup beds...didn't know about the white pine...


epi