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Posted by jeff s [98.148.80.37] on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 00:50:42 :
In Reply to: Wood for stake bed posted by frostysnoman [174.51.154.192] on Monday, January 18, 2010 at 21:16:53 :
I went through the same research after I built a flatbed dump. I wanted a wood floor w/ bed strips in it. I ended up finding a nice decking wood that comes out of a managed forest in Indo marketed as Mangaris. It's actually Red Balau. It's a bit softer than Ipe, but the grain patterns were nicer. It has some real nice grain patterns in an orangish-coppery look, with the grains highlighted in dark. It came in 5/4. I'm putting in on the floor with black imron bed strips. I'm using the same wood for the sides. The decking comes finished in 5.5" wide planks with soft corners, 6 to 16 foot long. It ran about $4.20 a linear foot. Maintenance on it is supposed to be oil, once a year. I'm a wood-worker by hobby, and I'm impressed with the wood. You won't have the problems of checking that you find with some other hard woods. Teak would be nice, but it's gotten ridiculously expensive at 20-23 a bd foot around here. I use my dump, and couldn't justify letting such nice wood get beat up on the sides.
As far as low sides go, right now I have some low sides off my old dump out of the wood they use for standard gates. I haven't found the time to use the mangaris for the sides yet. I need to work the vertical pieces that go in the pockets... probably this spring. I keep the low sides on it most all the time. !8" of side is a bit high all the way around. I ran 3 boards (16.5") starting at the cab, and about 3/8th's the way back, I tapered it down to two boards for the back half of the bed and around the stern. It's a good look for the truck, especially if you have a metal headboard. It leaves you 11" sides towards the back, which is easy to toss stuff over
We have weather right now, but next week I can get it out and get a few pictures if you're interested. Somethin to look at if nothing else.
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