|
|
Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.24] on Monday, June 18, 2012 at 12:23:50 :
In Reply to: Bed boards...not, like, where you sleep...well, maybe. posted by Severe Duty [99.14.92.150] on Monday, June 18, 2012 at 02:52:29 :
I was at a local shop a while ago where logger was having a custom low-boy made for him. He wanted a trailer that he could haul either logs or heavy equipment on, so it was sort of like a regular low-boy trailer with a wood deck but with fold-down log bunks that recessed into the deck when down. Seemed like a neat idea and the shop was doing a beautiful job on it.
Anyway, for decking he used cottonwood. That seemed completely ridiculous to me because I thought cottonwood was weak and rotted fast, but he said in an application like that where it's mostly subject to being torn up by the tracks of the machinery, it's tougher than anything else you can get around here, and he can get big logs for free and have them milled for very little. For rot-resistance he slathers it all with used motor oil. Says it's the best wood there is for toughness on a low-boy deck.
Keep in mind that around here we can't get good hardwoods like white oak at anything approaching a reasonable price. Tamarack is a good hard rot-resistant wood but it does tend to be brittle and crack. I would probably use it for a nice looking truck bed, if I could high-grade some clear heat tamarack out of a "d-fir/larch" (which is how it's graded) lumber pile, but if oil-soaked cottonwood is as good as this logger said it was, I'd definitely give it a try for a working truck.
Follow Ups: