Check out my lumber wagon

[Farmall Guy]

I finally got my basment all sealed up for the winter and it's time to get my future fooring moved inside. Theres around 2200 board feet of red oak loaded on the back of my 1951 A-40 Mack, she was just down to the helper springs I bought this truck about 5 years ago with the intent to restore it... well we can all see how far that project got but I finally found a use for it so I guess it all worked out in the end. I have no idea how much this load weighed in at but the stack was about 3' high 8' wide and 10' long, if memory serves the Mack has a 25K or 30K rear end under it. One things for sure I'm glad I didnt have to move it with my pickup off this piece of proporty.

I had all the lumber milled up from a large tree that fell on our neighbors proporty, he told me I could have it if I could get it out. It seems to have dried out real nice over the summer so next fall or winter I should be able to start laying it down as my finished floor. I cant wait to see it all done, most of these boards are 10-12" wide but there are also quite a few that are upwards of 20" wide. Its all stacked inside on a concrete floor stickered every 2 feet, I know there will be some loss but I'm only doing about 1000 sq ft so I should have more than enough here to do the job.

I posted pics a while back sowing the recovery of this tree from the swamp that it was in, thought everyone might enjoy an update on my progress, definatly been a project.... and its going to be for some time now but it'll all be worth it in the end.

 

[mtngun]

Cool truck ! ! !

I don't recall the original thread on this tree -- did you use a chainsaw mill ? Which saw ?

 

[tomtrees58]

nice tom trees

 

[BobL]

Love it!

 

[Farmall Guy]

Thanks, someday I'd like to restore the old Mack but for the moment I just run it around here to keep it running, this job really put a smile on my face.

I'll post up a few of the pics from the original thread. One of our neighbors came by to help out getting this tree out, I bucked everything to 9' or 11' logs depending on their size. Then we hooked 100' of cable to my JD backhoe back through a snatch block on Billy's ford to act as a make shift tower to get a littl lift then ran the running end back to the logs. The bigger ones had to have a snatch block back at the log then the dead end ran to an anchor to get a little more pull. We managed to pull 10 logs ranging from 20"-42" like this.

I bought my 880 for this job, I always wanted one and this gave me a good excuse to spend a little money that probably should have been spent somewhere else. I took the time and cut off a few cookies off the stump after bucking off the log, I dont run into a tree this size very often that I can cut on so I wanted to get as much time on the new saw as posible.

The first 6 logs we pulled were out of the top of the big oak, we pulled 2 logs out of the but and 2 more from a second tree that came down 90* from the first. All of this was a result of a large wind storm that came through here about 2 years ago. The second tree was hung up for close to a year making it imposibl to get in there to get anything out with out having to work under it. Once that came down I was able to get in there and fall all the damaged trees that were still posing a hazard then pull some logs.

Managed to get alot of good fire wood too and now about 8 months later there is no evidance that this much lumber came out of the area. My neighbor was quite impressed that we were able to get all 10 logs out with out rutting everything up back there. Made me happy to hear that

 

[Farmall Guy]

almost forgot to mention I had a buddy I went to high school with mill everything for me. After this job we got to talking and he is milling all the lumber for my house and I had him mill up about 1400 bdft of hard maple that came off the site for paneling inside the house. I always wanted to buld my own place and being able to use lumber that came from trees I cut for the finish on the inside is like iceing on the cake

 

[MotorSeven]

Cool ole Mack! Are you going to shiplap, T&G the oak or just butt it? Also, I would let it dry for a couple of months inside under heat before laying it. It will still shrink some more after coming in from outside.
I hear you on the house thing. My dozer guy is just finishing up my 2000' driveway and digging my basement. Once the footers and block is up I will be skidding my own trees and milling all the lumber for the 30x36' house. I figure 250 cedar trees ought to be enough for the log walls. I already have some red oak, & walnut stickered for cabinets. I am itching to get cutting & skidding!

RD

 

[Farmall Guy]

I'm planning on ship lapping the floor but due to the width of the planks I think I am going to also counter sink deck screws then glue a plug over the heads to keep the boards from cupping after they are laid. I doubt even t&g would hold a 20" plank flat over the next 75 years or so with out some fasteners in the center of the plank too. I'm open to any sugestions though and I'm sure I'll have alot of questions once I get ready to lay the floor down.

 

[irishcountry]

Wow love that truck!!!! Great story thanks for the pics!

 

[olyman]

you got a running truck--thats normally the clincher on any old truck--if its all there, and if it runs--90% of the work is done!!!!!!!!

 

[deeker]

Nice truck and new saw!!! Love the 88, own one...but could and would use the tuck, too.

Keep up the great work!!!

Unable to rep you for now. Anybody got any extra???

Kevin

 

[Farmall Guy]

you got a running truck--thats normally the clincher on any old truck--if its all there, and if it runs--90% of the work is done!!!!!!!!

Thats for sure, This truck is pretty well all here I just dont have the time right now to go through it and do it right. Someday I'd really like to so I can take her out and really open her up, an oak flatbed and a nice set of chrome stacks would look real good.

 

[820wards]

I finally got my basment all sealed up for the winter and it's time to get my future fooring moved inside. Theres around 2200 board feet of red oak loaded on the back of my 1951 A-40 Mack, she was just down to the helper springs I bought this truck about 5 years ago with the intent to restore it...


Nice truck, nothing like a good old US HD suspension. My ex-brother-in-law has an ex-military Dodge Power Wagon. I'll bet it's fun to drive.

jerry-

 

[Burlhunter13]

Crazy cool truck! Good job man! opcorn:

 

[johncinco]

I can appreciate your ideas, but I can also say its highly unlikely to come out right. The look would be awesome, but you are going to have one heckuva time with those boards moving on you. Even bolted to the floor, your going to get buckles and movement something fierce, especially if your talking about any board 20" wide. I would recommend narrower lengths, and taking it to someone with a shaper/planer and having it processed. The narrower widths are going to be more forgiving to any changes in drying, humidity, and changes in your foundation. Since you said this was going in your basement, that would be a factor as well. You'll still have your own wood you harvested, but you wont have to tear it up and re-do it in a coulpe years. Or a wife yelling about it!

I'm putting an ash floor in my place. I had a big plan similar to yours. After talking with flooring guys, wood worker guys, and anyone that has milled wood, I changed my mind. Good luck with your project either way and post up how it turns out.

 

[rarefish383]

Fantastick truck. I missed out on a 48 Ford F5 cab over a couple years ago. It had been a logging truck all of its life.

On those wide boards buckling and warping. Run them on your table saw to put 2 or 3, maybe even 4 groves about 1/3 of the way through the board, on the down side of course, to relieve the stess in the wood. I used to restore antique furniture and we saved some beautiful Oak tables with warped tops by doing this. We'd run groves about an inch apart full length of the boards, not far enough to break out of the end where they would be seen, and then wood screw the bottoms to little 1X1 cross boards. Every day we'd try to put a turn or 2 on the screws and in a short period of time we had them flat again. My cousin and I were at the Timber and Log home show in Baltimore a couple years ago and an Amish family was sell custom cut wide board T/G flooring and the had done the same thing on all of their wide boards, Joe.