Just for fun I thought I'd show the work I'm doing on my TT I got last December here in Illinois. The truck has all its original wood, which is great, however, at some point in its life someone decided to paint its original stakes black, and spray paint the insides silver. It was driving me crazy to see silver painted on the wood.
So I started stripping (paint off the truck) on the weekends, and boy, it isn't as glamorous and as you would think. If it weren't for end result, i would have given up by now, as it is taking forever and is messy as hell. Anyways, I have to show someone, so I figured I would post some pictures for you guys of the stakes coming back to life. I'm oiling them with boiled linseed oil and will wax them with beeswax (I'm a beekeeper so I have plenty) when I'm all done.
Pictures:
Ryan, looking good. It has to be a "labor of love" because there is no fun or profit to it .
Ryan,
Great looking TT. I'm glad I got over my initial reservations about seeing pictures of you stripping on weekends.
Erik
Donnie are you ever right. I think I would charge about $1500 to do this for someone else's truck with all the time and tedium involved....but now I love the way it looks!
Best original aftermarket cab and bed I've ever seen! Congrats Ryan ; you done good! Do you have any idea of the stake wood and horizontal board type? Its good for us restorers to see how shaped the stakes are/were
George, Thank you! The wood is puzzling me, and I am pretty good at telling the difference between pine vs. oak...I think this may be something else. Walnut perhaps? Definitely a heavy, dense wood. I'll take some pictures this week of the grain up-close and maybe you can help identify. The vertical stakes have almost no visible grain (Poplar?), and are different than the the horizontal boards, which have a tight grain, but don't look like quarter-sawn oak. Maybe Walnut? The face boards of the solid front stakes where the name of the farm would have gone look like they may be pine, which makes sense for wider boards. The stakes have a slight taper to them from bottom to top and every edge was rounded/sanded. The stakes also have iron bolted to the bottoms for strength. I'm happy to take close-ups of the stakes for anyone wanting to build a stake bed for a TT. I tell you what...they are incredibly practical. This thing comes with me on every outside project at the farm. The back is a wonderful mobile workbench and it means the truck gets run-time year round.
Humm! I bet you could use those stake pockets to temporarily mount a big vice for a well rounded workbench! Good Job Ryan.
There's an idea. I have a big old vice like you are describing out in one of the buildings!
Ryan,
The wood that is often used for flat-bed truck bed construction is a species called apitong. This may also be the type used for the gates.
Apitong is very weather and wear resistant. It's also very resistant to cutting. Found that out one time when I wiped out a brand new carbide circular saw blade half way through a cut. Apparently it has naturally infused sand in the grain, much like teak.
Apitong is dark like walnut and has a medium grain. The wood shown in your photos appears to be this wood from my experience.
You have one beautiful truck there. I'm jealous.
Mike.
Thanks Mike! I am unfamiliar with apitong wood. Does it grow in the US or have another name possibly? I figured as this truck came out of Wisconsin that it was probably made from a local hardwood. I'll do more research on apitong as this wood seems very hard, no warping and very strong.
They look great.I think perhaps hard maple??
I finally finished this project on the TT. Stakes are stripped of their black and silver paint and treated with linseed oil. Still hard to tell what the wood is. Maybe ash, maybe maple? I'm pretty sure the stakes themselves are maple.
Gotta love a wood cab truck. Beautiful !
Apitong boards are available at any shop that repairs semi trailers. It is used on trailer floors.