WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

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WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:08 am

Ok, it will soon be time to get back on the WC63, and I have lost some details on the wood bed. Question is, how thick are the boards in the bed, and on the side box, and the top?
I have the widths, but thickness eludes me right now. We have a sawmill here that will plane and shape them for me.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by ng19delta » Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:49 am

Go to http://www.wc-52.com/cargo_box.html- the base info is for a WC-52, but other than the length, I believe the boards are the same dims...

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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:25 am

Yes, I have that printed off and I study it every day, but I don't see the thickness for the bed boards. I did see the sides as .75 inch.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by ng19delta » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:04 am

Under his "Initial Comments" he states: "The wood surfaces consist of 3/4" thick, white oak boards that were T&G'ed to form wider boards. An exterior wood glue was used. My floor boards are 7/8" thick. The original primer was gray but I used white Zinsser Bulls Eye primer/sealer which is thicker (applied two coats) than the original primer but is most likely a better primer than the original primer. The wood grain was still very visible after two primer coats. The primer coats should be sanded, especially before the color coat is applied to insure dependable adhesion. Biscuits are also a possibility over T&G since after priming and painting, one can not tell the difference. "

I think either thickness would be fine- I'd measure mine, but I can't get to the truck at the moment!

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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:41 am

I do think the floor is thicker than 3/4; the Power Wagon I restored I put thicker boards in but I can't remember now and they are hard to measure on the truck.
But your 7/8ths floor thickness sounds better. The mill will cut any size and thickness I tell them to. I will use that. Thanks.
The tongue and groove thing does have me thinking as I have no machine for that. I did think about biscuits as an alternative. And for the sides and top, 3/4 inch boards.
Maybe he used 3//4ths for the floor too, but I will go with 7/8ths, as you did.
I am sure any primer today is better than the original.
thanks.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by ng19delta » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:26 am

dpcd67 wrote:
Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:41 am
I do think the floor is thicker than 3/4; the Power Wagon I restored I put thicker boards in but I can't remember now and they are hard to measure on the truck.
But your 7/8ths floor thickness sounds better. The mill will cut any size and thickness I tell them to. I will use that. Thanks.
The tongue and groove thing does have me thinking as I have no machine for that. I did think about biscuits as an alternative. And for the sides and top, 3/4 inch boards.
Maybe he used 3//4ths for the floor too, but I will go with 7/8ths, as you did.
I am sure any primer today is better than the original.
thanks.
Well, the tongue & groove would have been used to make narrow boards wider- otherwise it was several separate boards next to each other... I wouldn't worry the biscuits or T&G if you can get boards the right width to start... And just as an aside, John at MWM does have them already cut and milled for a reasonable price...

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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:37 am

Ten foot, clear, white oak, 14 inch boards might be a stretch to get.
Reasonable price for a wood bed and sides and top kit? What is it? Has to be well over $1200 and I can get the wood milled to size for a fraction of that, direct from the mill.
I have all the metal parts from MM.
Anyway, a restoration to me is doing as much as I can myself.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:34 pm

I was at Vintage Power Wagons this afternoon; I am fortunate to live close. I measured original bed floor planks on two WC51s there. 7/8ths. So, I will make the floor 7/8ths, and the sides and tops, 3/4.
Question solved, at least for me.
BTW, all the guys at Vintage are super nice and helpful.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by Tim Shanteler » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:42 pm

When I went to the lumber yard to get my wood for my WC52 (composite bed), I asked for white oak. The foreman asked what I was using it for and when I told him, he suggested red oak. It is virtually the same and a lot cheaper. The selling point was, "since it's going to be painted, it doesn't matter". That was 8 years ago and it still looks awesome. I used the WC52.com site and everything came out perfect. It would have really be tough to rebuild the bed without it.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:31 am

Yes, that's right. But white oak and red oak are very different in the way they handle water. Red oak has open capillaries which allow water to infiltrate and cause the wood to warp and leak. white oak has closed pores. Which is why only white oak is the only oak that can be used for whiskey and wine barrels. And why the Govt specified white oak.
(I majored in Forestry and that is about all I remember)
Now, if you seal and paint the wood, then it doesn't matter.
In fact, I might use Ash, as it is plentiful now and cheap. Due to all the Emerald Ash Borers killing all the ash trees. And cities are cutting them all down now.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by brian in denver » Thu Feb 15, 2018 3:46 pm

I know on the 1/2 tons the beds are 5/4. thats lumberman talk for 1-inch. if you measured shrunken original at 7/8 it was probably 1-inch like everything else.

another reason for T&G and finger jointing is to prevent cupping and warping.

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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by Walter » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:01 pm

Good Evening Everyone:

I am a wood hick and buy and sell eastern hardwoods everyday. Yes, dpcd67 is correct. White oaks have tyloses, which does effectively plug the cells, making it ideal for whiskey barrels. Red and White oaks, Ash, Elm and Sassafras are all considered to be ring porous species and will have similar grain patterns that may show through the paint to a greater or lessor extent, though a trained eye may be able to tell the difference. I believe that if you look closer in the specifications Red Oak and Ash were authorized substitutes when White Oak was not available. If I recall correctly, other species were also authorized as substitutes. The preference for White Oak was it tends to be more decay resistant than the other ring porous species, certainly an advantage in the South Pacific. I have used a mixture of all three.

I used biscuits and had no problems. One secret, dont skimp on their numbers. I used them on spacing's that varied from 4-7". I have done a late model, 1945 WC-52 composite bed as well as a wood floor on a WC-53 both with good results. Currently, I am working on a late model WC-63 with a composite wood and steel bed.

If you are buying rough sawn as well as kiln dried lumber from the saw mill, I would suggest that you buy 5/4 or 6/4 material if you want to net 7/8" when you are done The choice depends on how much warp/cup the dry pieces have to start with. You wont have enough material to net 7/8" if you only use 4/4 or rough 1" material to start with, especially if the narrower boards have to be glued together. If you can buy net 1" lumber that is already straightened and planed on both sides, you might get away with it and still net the 7/8".

To review the process and why you should use 5/4 or 6/4" if it is rough sawn -- here is the sequence. The first step is to face one side of the board to take out any cup on the first side that has worked its way into the wood as it dried. This is usually accomplished on a joiner. You will need a power feed if using a joiner. It is safer. Or, if you are careful, and I have done this, use a planer by backing off of the top roller pressure. Depending on the extent of the cup you can easily loose a quarter inch in thickness during this part of the process.

Once the first side is all but perfectly flat, then plane the other side for size. I usually straighten the edges of the board at this time in the process by running them across a joiner to take out the kink and crook that again developed during the wood drying process. The board is then ran through a table saw to straighten and square the other side and jointed for smoothness. The bow in the board, if it is not too bad, can be dealt with when you biscuit and glue them together.

When you make the biscuit cuts be sure that you are consistent on which side of the board you use to make the cut. This will minimize the amount of waste you will have when making the final planing. Typically I have found that when you are ready to glue the smaller pieces into the wider boards, one side or the other will be identified as to its nicer appearance. Typically I orient the boards so the nicer appearing boards are all facing the same direction. The final planing then takes place for smoothness and sizing.

My observation of the wood originally used was either 1 Common or Face and Better grade lumber. As a wood guy, I just could not bring myself to slop a bunch of OD paint on it and cover up such beautiful wood. It is a little more work, but have finished all three vehicles by painting the bottom or wheel side of the board in OD paint and using polyurethane marine grade clear finish on the side of the board that faces inside the vehicle with really good results. It also simplifies the explanation process when the vehicles are publicly displayed. Neither of these two are hangar queens. They are actively displayed and have been driven extensively. Both made the AC '12 Convoy, both are used in the summer plying the back mountain roads of Central PA. The 52 also went 1600 miles down the Bankhead.

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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:47 pm

Ok, 5/4, is One inch and a Quarter. 1 and 1/4. Because a quarter is a quarter inch. One inch is 4/4. I do not believe the beds are one inch thick, and I have not heard of that before.
As for painting the bed, I have seen them varnished with clear varnish; they do not look right and I will paint it green, and I do like the look of wood. I did varnish my WM300, white oak, and it looks good, but for a military vehicle, no.
The mill will plane the wood for me, so I don't have to worry about how thick to buy it; I tell them what I want and the wood they have will be selected to be flat, planed already, to 4/4. They plane it again and have a laser guided saw to make it whatever i tell them, while I watch.
But for the bed sides and top, those are 3/4, right? I have the late bed with the drivers side short.
The remnants of my sides are that thickness. Floor is 7/8ths, but I have no pieces of that left so I am going by what I have heard, and I measured. And my WM300 was 7/8ths.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by dpcd67 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 5:12 pm

BTW, the commercial companies selling bed wood for Dodge WC trucks, is 3/4 ths thick. Mar-K, and others.
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Re: WC 63 Wood Bed Boards?

Post by Walter » Fri Feb 16, 2018 5:21 am

Good Morning DPC67:

Agreed - the floor boards are not 1" thick. If all of your boards are the correct width you are good to go with having the mill plane the boards to the correct and finished size, If you need to glue narrow boards together you will need to buy slightly thicker material to allow for the final sizing and planing.

Agreed - on the 3/4 commercial floor boards. I actually used 3/4 material for both the bed boxes and the floor boards. It just makes working up the material simpler and faster.

Regards,

Walter


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