"ATP*" wrote in message
...

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...

"ATP*" wrote in message
...

"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
Anyone know where there's a stash of old Marston Mat or other 'sheet
goods' in So-Cal?

Need to rework my old flatbed - the plywood rotted out again, to
where the Oddysey FL350 was pretty much tires sitting on the
framerails. Shop crane and a 6' nylon lifting sling solved that
little dilemma... ;-)

If you have a local lumber mill and they are reasonable rough-sawn oak
plank is the way to go. Pressure treated 2x is the second best
alternative.

The trouble with red oak, though, is that it soaks up water from the ends
and has no inherent rot protection. You can put the end of a stick of it
in water, blow on the other end, and watch bubbles come up. Waterproofing
it isn't very effective. We have a lot of it around here and you can
always spot it on a boat, if it's been exposed, because it looks great
for a while. And then it rots. g

White is very rot resistant (as is chestnut oak, if you can find it), but
white is not easy to find and it's usually premium-priced. You find it in
lumber yards that serve the boatbuilding trade.

I think we have white oak on our trailer at work. It's been on there at
least ten years and is in good shape. It's also thick like scaffold
planks. I remember we replaced the oak on an equipment trailer with PT SYP
and it did not hold up well on the tail, but that trailer was used for a
small dozer and some other fairly heavy equipment. 2x PT has worked fine
for me moving milling machines, etc. on a light duty trailer.

Oak is tough wood, besides being strong. It will take a lot of abuse. Too
bad white oak is so damned expensive, at least around here. Red is
relatively cheap but it's only good for interior work.

BTW, all of the interior trim in my house is a close relative: chestnut.
It's now 84 years old. People go ga-ga when they hear it's chestnut. But
when it was milled, chestnut was just a cheap substitute for oak. It
actually looks like open-grained oak.

--
Ed Huntress

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:06:23 -0800, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:


Where's that guy with the steel yard?

http://www.unicornmetals.com/
(look in Contact)

Ask for Rito, tell him Gunner referred you.

Got it. Get a few bids, then call him last.

Is he at the "Scrap Processing Facility" on 4th St. or the "Metal
Sales Facility" on Lambert?

On Lambert

Gunner



"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
snip
Decision time #1 - What to use for a deck, and where to get a decent
deal.

Whether to use plywood again (properly weather treated this time),
or expanded metal, or diamond-tread steel floor plate, or Oak plank...

I'm leaning toward 6' x 16' 1/8" diamond-plate with cross stringers
every 16" to 24", but then I have to flip the whole thing up on it's
side to paint the bottom...
snip

Have you considered ipe? Dense, rot-resistant, hard & strong. It's
become a popular decking material.

I haven't any experience with it personally, but plan on using it for
my next oudoor project.

R,
Tom Q.

--
Remove bogusinfo to reply.

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 01:10:24 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"ATP*" wrote in message
...
snip

I think we have white oak on our trailer at work. It's been on there at
least ten years and is in good shape. It's also thick like scaffold
planks. I remember we replaced the oak on an equipment trailer with PT SYP
and it did not hold up well on the tail, but that trailer was used for a
small dozer and some other fairly heavy equipment. 2x PT has worked fine
for me moving milling machines, etc. on a light duty trailer.

Oak is tough wood, besides being strong. It will take a lot of abuse. Too
bad white oak is so damned expensive, at least around here. Red is
relatively cheap but it's only good for interior work.

BTW, all of the interior trim in my house is a close relative: chestnut.
It's now 84 years old. People go ga-ga when they hear it's chestnut. But
when it was milled, chestnut was just a cheap substitute for oak. It
actually looks like open-grained oak.

Live oak is available at local sawmills in Texas, don't know about CA.
The heartwood is so damn tough you'll have to drill it, can't drive a
nail. It holds up forever in cowpens. That is unless you get the
wrong bull in the pen.

Pete Keillor

On Jan 1, 2:59�pm, wrote:
Bruce L. Bergman wrote:

snip �Decision time #1 - What to use for a deck, and where to get a decent
deal.

�Whether to use plywood again (properly weather treated this time),
or expanded metal, or diamond-tread steel floor plate, or Oak plank...

�I'm leaning toward 6' x 16' 1/8" diamond-plate with cross stringers
every 16" to 24", but then I have to flip the whole thing up on it's
side to paint the bottom...

snip

� Have you considered ipe? Dense, rot-resistant, hard & strong. It's
become a popular decking material.



First off don't consider any form of metal. The coefficient of
friction between your greasy machine bottoms and the metal deck will
guarantee accidents. Secondly most truck beds are made of apitong.
It's nasty stuff to work with but tougher then nails. I have a twenty
year old trailer that has had the apitong beat to death and I had a
chance to pick up some 5/4 oak for a buck aboard foot so that is what
is going back on. I gave Gunner some 1" AC plywood for his trailer and
he has nearly worn through in just a couple of years. Plywood doesn't
work for a weather exposed deck. If you look at the decks on Dunkel
Bros. Machinery Mover's trucks you find them mostly wood. probably
apitong. If you really want to go cheap, find an impoter of Taiwan
boats and get the cradles from him. They are usually apitong and all
you have to do is resaw the 6" x 6" beams into decking material.
Leigh at MarMachine

On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:32:13 -0500, Pete Keillor
wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 01:10:24 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:
"ATP*" wrote in message
...
snip

I think we have white oak on our trailer at work. It's been on there at
least ten years and is in good shape. It's also thick like scaffold
planks. I remember we replaced the oak on an equipment trailer with PT SYP
and it did not hold up well on the tail, but that trailer was used for a
small dozer and some other fairly heavy equipment. 2x PT has worked fine
for me moving milling machines, etc. on a light duty trailer.

Oak is tough wood, besides being strong. It will take a lot of abuse. Too
bad white oak is so damned expensive, at least around here. Red is
relatively cheap but it's only good for interior work.

BTW, all of the interior trim in my house is a close relative: chestnut.
It's now 84 years old. People go ga-ga when they hear it's chestnut. But
when it was milled, chestnut was just a cheap substitute for oak. It
actually looks like open-grained oak.

Live oak is available at local sawmills in Texas, don't know about CA.
The heartwood is so damn tough you'll have to drill it, can't drive a
nail. It holds up forever in cowpens. That is unless you get the
wrong bull in the pen.

I'm reading all these - problem is in Los Angeles there's no such
thing as a 'small town sawmill' for a whole lotta miles, and they
aren't going to ship in 'the cheaper grade' with wanes and
imperfections. You start talking White Oak at the lumberyards and
they think furniture grade, and visions of dollar signs will be
dancing in their heads.

And most of what we've got natively is California Live Oak and
that's bendy stuff. You'd be lucky to saw it up and get 6' straight
planks out of it, let alone 16'. And some cities you need a permit to
touch them - they were trying to fine a homeowner in Burbank or
Glendale $360,000 for having an arborist trim a few dead branches from
a live oak in their yard without a permit.

I'm going to build the side rails and sub structure (tubing on 12"
or 16" centers) for planking it with 2X6 or 2X8 or tread-plate or
mezzanine grating, and then worry about if or what wood to use...

Or just give up and get the common Pressure Treated D-Fir or SYPine
that they sell everywhere. All the heavy tire loads will be the two
outer full planks on each side (right over the frame rails) and they
can be replaced periodically.

-- Bruce --

On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:19:43 -0800, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:

On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:32:13 -0500, Pete Keillor
wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 01:10:24 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:
"ATP*" wrote in message
...
snip

I think we have white oak on our trailer at work. It's been on there at
least ten years and is in good shape. It's also thick like scaffold
planks. I remember we replaced the oak on an equipment trailer with PT SYP
and it did not hold up well on the tail, but that trailer was used for a
small dozer and some other fairly heavy equipment. 2x PT has worked fine
for me moving milling machines, etc. on a light duty trailer.

Oak is tough wood, besides being strong. It will take a lot of abuse. Too
bad white oak is so damned expensive, at least around here. Red is
relatively cheap but it's only good for interior work.

BTW, all of the interior trim in my house is a close relative: chestnut.
It's now 84 years old. People go ga-ga when they hear it's chestnut. But
when it was milled, chestnut was just a cheap substitute for oak. It
actually looks like open-grained oak.

Live oak is available at local sawmills in Texas, don't know about CA.
The heartwood is so damn tough you'll have to drill it, can't drive a
nail. It holds up forever in cowpens. That is unless you get the
wrong bull in the pen.

I'm reading all these - problem is in Los Angeles there's no such
thing as a 'small town sawmill' for a whole lotta miles, and they
aren't going to ship in 'the cheaper grade' with wanes and
imperfections. You start talking White Oak at the lumberyards and
they think furniture grade, and visions of dollar signs will be
dancing in their heads.

And most of what we've got natively is California Live Oak and
that's bendy stuff. You'd be lucky to saw it up and get 6' straight
planks out of it, let alone 16'. And some cities you need a permit to
touch them - they were trying to fine a homeowner in Burbank or
Glendale $360,000 for having an arborist trim a few dead branches from
a live oak in their yard without a permit.

I'm going to build the side rails and sub structure (tubing on 12"
or 16" centers) for planking it with 2X6 or 2X8 or tread-plate or
mezzanine grating, and then worry about if or what wood to use...

Or just give up and get the common Pressure Treated D-Fir or SYPine
that they sell everywhere. All the heavy tire loads will be the two
outer full planks on each side (right over the frame rails) and they
can be replaced periodically.

-- Bruce --

Shucks. I don't recall your original use, but if you are hauling
wheeled equipment, then you can bolt wood runners to your metal deck.
We did that on the IH bobtail for hauling levee rollers (concrete with
steel rims). The runners were just 2" x 10" untreated pine but would
last quite a while. We'd unbolt them at harvest season and cover the
holes with duct tape, then put on the grain hauling side boards and
tailgate. The fairlead roller for the hydraulic winch was removed and
a 1/4" plate cover with angles on the underside to locate was taped
down over the hole. After the rice was in the bin, we reversed the
process.

Good luck with your trailer.

Pete Keillor

Ok - there are wood specialties and such - look for hardwoods in the
phone book. Buy full sized - non-planed. So it is thicker, stronger
and has a bit of rough on the sides.

In LA there are wood scrap yards I bet - from building - but also Ships.
Yes the docs on cargo ships - those that are not container are braced and
crated in large beams and planks. You might find you can buy Teak cheap.
It would last forever and be strong. Teak is used on the decks of
battleships so the strength is there. We used to get it overseas when
they came to port.

One never knows it might be South American and a hard Si based rose wood.
Might be green, brown, red, purple.

Martin
Martin H. Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.
http://lufkinced.com/


Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:32:13 -0500, Pete Keillor
wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 01:10:24 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:
"ATP*" wrote in message
...
snip

I think we have white oak on our trailer at work. It's been on there at
least ten years and is in good shape. It's also thick like scaffold
planks. I remember we replaced the oak on an equipment trailer with PT SYP
and it did not hold up well on the tail, but that trailer was used for a
small dozer and some other fairly heavy equipment. 2x PT has worked fine
for me moving milling machines, etc. on a light duty trailer.
Oak is tough wood, besides being strong. It will take a lot of abuse. Too
bad white oak is so damned expensive, at least around here. Red is
relatively cheap but it's only good for interior work.

BTW, all of the interior trim in my house is a close relative: chestnut.
It's now 84 years old. People go ga-ga when they hear it's chestnut. But
when it was milled, chestnut was just a cheap substitute for oak. It
actually looks like open-grained oak.
Live oak is available at local sawmills in Texas, don't know about CA.
The heartwood is so damn tough you'll have to drill it, can't drive a
nail. It holds up forever in cowpens. That is unless you get the
wrong bull in the pen.

I'm reading all these - problem is in Los Angeles there's no such
thing as a 'small town sawmill' for a whole lotta miles, and they
aren't going to ship in 'the cheaper grade' with wanes and
imperfections. You start talking White Oak at the lumberyards and
they think furniture grade, and visions of dollar signs will be
dancing in their heads.

And most of what we've got natively is California Live Oak and
that's bendy stuff. You'd be lucky to saw it up and get 6' straight
planks out of it, let alone 16'. And some cities you need a permit to
touch them - they were trying to fine a homeowner in Burbank or
Glendale $360,000 for having an arborist trim a few dead branches from
a live oak in their yard without a permit.

I'm going to build the side rails and sub structure (tubing on 12"
or 16" centers) for planking it with 2X6 or 2X8 or tread-plate or
mezzanine grating, and then worry about if or what wood to use...

Or just give up and get the common Pressure Treated D-Fir or SYPine
that they sell everywhere. All the heavy tire loads will be the two
outer full planks on each side (right over the frame rails) and they
can be replaced periodically.

-- Bruce --