Original bed boards

These were protected by two steel sheets bolted to the floor. The wood however rotted away where the sheets caused rain water to consolidate, at the sides and at the joint between the front and rear sheet.

The first series "four stake pocket" bed had six boards separated by five skid strips (not counting the outermost angled strips at the bed sides. These six "boards" were not necessarily one individual board between each skid strip. More often than not, the "boards" were made up of two or more narrower boards set side by side. These individual narrower boards may have been edge glued together when the bed was build, but it is hard to determine from boards so old. Even if they were not edge glued, they were quarter sawn so cupping would not have been an issue.

Note how the narrow boards are not necessarily laid out parallel to the skid strips which are evenly spaced and parallel to the bed sides. Also some of the narrow boards are not uniform in width, but were sawn with a tapered width.