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Shrinkage question?


aspenarb
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I need to cut a lot of oak planks for the low loader trailer bed. The chassis is flush with the top of the boards in 4 strips , what I need to know is how much shrinkage I can expect from green oak on a six inch wide board, being eight feet wide its something I need to consider.

 

Cheers

 

Bob

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10 to 15% depending on the tree and how dry it'll get.

Would it matter much to have some gaps? Could even be useful to drain water?

 

The gaps wont matter much but because the planks are between the tops of the chassis rails I need to allow enough room for them to expand when they are completely sodden or they are just going to heave. I was wondering about running a rebate down the boards to lap them but not quite sure the best way to do this, its a long way down 16 forty foot long boards :confused1:

 

Bob

 

Sorry Sky I need to type quicker :)

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Then I'd just bolt them down freshly sawn and not worry about rebates or such. They wont get any bigger than fresh unless the tree has been down for a very long time.

 

The tree is the one on the back of the truck on guess the weight, it was not in the best of health so it may pay to drown the timber prior to bolting down.

 

This is how its normally done but I cant bring myself to pay that.

 

KERUING HALF LAP DECKING IDEAL FOR WAGON & TRAILER BASES EX 32MM X 150MM | eBay

 

Bob

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The tree is the one on the back of the truck on guess the weight, it was not in the best of health so it may pay to drown the timber prior to bolting down.

 

This is how its normally done but I cant bring myself to pay that.

 

KERUING HALF LAP DECKING IDEAL FOR WAGON & TRAILER BASES EX 32MM X 150MM | eBay

 

Bob

 

I would think oak would be much better than keruing. I used I iroko or similar on my conservatory cill and it rotted out in 10 years. Rotted quicker than the bits of softwood I sneaked in to the build. I think people use tropical hardwoods to save spending money on a nice piece of oak ? You put a set of oak gates up and they are there for 40 years minimum.

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Well I had a measure up and elected to go for 200mm x35mm planks and we managed to get enough planking to cover the whole 40` trailer out of the one stick. Very little waste ,well chuffed.:) Just need to see how much it all shrinks in the summer. Is it worth treating this or just leave it alone ?

 

Bob

 

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