Best wood for flatbed truck?

[orangecherokee]

What do you guys think is the best? Locust, oak, pine?? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[Danbert]

Go with Bamboo. They are using it for flooring in houses now. It looks real cool.

[backpack09]

Go with Bamboo. They are using it for flooring in houses now. It looks real cool.

That or maybe cork, Looks cool, impact resistent, I have no idea of pricing tho. It is another type of flooring.

[orangecherokee]

i'm not sure that's the style I'm going for and honestly I've never heard of using that on a flatbed truck. Flooring and cutting boards but not for trucks. I would like to see a pic though.

[The PIG Smith]

I have 3/4" tongue and grove Non-treated decking on my flat bed.

[Elliott]

Prolly a hardwood, oak is nice. Pine will be too soft. Ash or Hickory maybe. IIRC, ash is a good structural wood used for boats. Weren't the wood slats used in pickup beds oak?

[orangecherokee]

i think oak is what's needed but i think that's gonna be high dollar.

Pig Smith, what kind of wood and did you get to that 203 yet? thanks

[tgreese]

IIRC the original bed boards in such trucks weren't any fancy wood; close-grained fir or clear southern yellow pine. The hot rod trucks usually use oak, but any white hardwood would be fine too - oak, ash, and birch are widely available. Again IIRC birch is the chapest of those three. Don't know about locust, but the carcasses of furniture used to be built from gum, which is a hard and consistent but not very attractive wood. Poplar seems to be widely available and popular now, having a tight grain with no knots, but it usually has a greenish cast and it's not as hard as oak, ash, or birch. You could even use Trex made from reclaimed plastic and sawdust, but it might melt if it's too close to the exhaust.

[Serious Johnson]

Ipe (pronounced E-pay). 5/4 costs a little more than twice what 2x treated pine runs, but it'll outlast the truck.

S.J.

[Serious Johnson]

Tim:

Trex is not at all suited to heavy load bearing -- it'll sag between supports.

S.J.

[orangecherokee]

i'm sorry if i gave the impression this is a street truck. it's an old farm truck that's been in the family for ages. my dad just wants to build it back to it's prime condition. this will win no awards but i want it to be tough so that my dad can be happy with it's durablility and look. IIRC, these boards are thick and look to be a hardwood but i can't be for sure.

[CustomWag]

Here's another vote for hardwood...oak or ash. (black) Locust is really hard and also resistant to rot, was used for fenceposts, seems like that would be a good one too if you can get it

[tgreese]

Yeah, I hadn't thought about the Trex bending.

How about plywood? 5/4" truck decking (ie for loading dock floors and such) is available, and would be really strong.

[JeepinPete]

Oak is used on heavy equipment trailers, heavy duty skids, stuff like that...

[hogwagon]

I recommend white oak. It is tough as nails and holds up quite well.