My first trailer decking

hackberry jake · April 22, 2012, 09:30:24 PM

I sawed out my first trailer decking yesterday. Got enough to do the trailer from one large white oak log. I have sawn long white oak before and had a lot of tension problems. This log was over 130 years old with very fine growth rings and it acted like it didnt have any tension at all. It all stayed perfectly flat from one end to the other. I cut this for my own trailer, but what do you guys charge to do it for other people? oh, and here are the pictures.

eastberkshirecustoms · April 22, 2012, 09:47:43 PM

Looks way too nice to be trailer decking!!! IMO, you need to take out a few boards and make some of them shorter, then it will be just grand ;)...Nice work anyway.

customsawyer · April 22, 2012, 09:56:25 PM

Some wood workers would cry if they saw those rays and flecks in a trailer deck. ;D

bama20a · April 22, 2012, 10:03:24 PM

Quote from: customsawyer on April 22, 2012, 09:56:25 PM
Some wood workers would cry if they saw those rays and flecks in a trailer deck. ;D

Me for one. :'( :'(

Sawmill Man · April 22, 2012, 10:20:38 PM

.30 bdft. their logs or about .85 to a 1.00 a bdft. my logs depending on length.

WDH · April 22, 2012, 10:37:45 PM

$1.45/BF is the price that I have heard quoted.

Magicman · April 22, 2012, 10:56:40 PM

Man's gotta have trailer decking and I have also used it for bridge decking.

Sawmill Man · April 22, 2012, 11:00:38 PM

WDH you need to send me some of them folks, sure would help on diesel cost.

Magicman · April 22, 2012, 11:06:17 PM

I just hung up the phone talking with tomorrow's customer. I will be sawing White Oak into 1X6's for fence and corral lumber. As I said above, folks use what they have for what they need. ;D

hackberry jake · April 22, 2012, 11:23:10 PM

You guys are talking about white oak like it's pretty special, but I would say 3 out of 10 trees around here are white oak. I guess it just depends on your location, what you think is special wood.

5quarter · April 22, 2012, 11:57:55 PM

Nice Job Jake. The deck will probably outlast the steel frame. White oak was made for outdoor use. I save out only the best logs for grade lumber. the rest gets cut for more mundane things...like posts, rails, stakes etc...

paul case · April 23, 2012, 12:40:29 AM

Jake,
I charge $.30 to saw someone elses logs and for 1'' or nominal(1½'') lumber I get $.60 and full 2'' or thicker is$.80.
Your floor looks awesome good job

PC

hackberry jake · April 23, 2012, 02:23:24 AM

.60 seems kinda low to me Paul. It's 7' x 16' which is 112 square feet x 1.5 inchs thick is 168 board feet times .60 which is $100.80. Thats cheaper than treated pine. I think I'll keep my white oak for my own uses for that price. I guess if I had an excess, it wouldn't be to hard to make some money on it, but that trailer decking took me pretty much all day (counting cutting, hauling, saw milling, and installing).

paul case · April 23, 2012, 07:50:55 AM

Well not actually. Anyone who buys from me says 2x boards when they want 1½'' thick. So most lowboys like yours are about 77'' x 16', and 7 - 11'' boards figures out to be the same as store bought 2x12. The bdft I figure this way to make it the same, apples compared to apples with the lumberyard. 224 ft. About $135. It don't cost me $.20 bdft for the log and takes less than 2 hours for me to mill so for the work I am making about $40/hour which is my going rate for sawing. PC

bandmiller2 · April 23, 2012, 08:35:38 AM

I do alot of trailer decking and truck side boards.Oak $1.00/BF softwood $.50/BF.Most tag-along lighter trailers are set up for store bought 2x planks you want to match the thickness as one end is usally under a lip. Frank C.

Jim_Rogers · April 23, 2012, 10:20:54 AM

I know Frank is not too far from me but I get a lot more for oak trailer decking and all my customers say my price is cheaper then others they have gotten quotes from.

I just did a drop side low bed trailer for a very well known trucking and towing company in my area.
This is the third truck bed I've done for them.

I use red oak as in my area white oak is hard to find and I save all that for boat builders, being that I'm near the coast.

I got $2.75 per bdft for my red oak and I got paid to deliver as well.

I get $3 for white oak.

I would suppose that my customers could get it cheaper somewhere else, but I do provide a fairly unique service which is that I go to the company and measure up their truck or trailer. Then I come back to my office and make up a plan:

The planks are spray painted on the ends with the colors of the plan.
This make it easy for the installer to cut the planks to lengths and follow the plan. Putting the plank on the trailer so that everything lines up with the cuts and the support rails.

I have done this layout service for many years for all my customers:

The above pictures are from 2001.

Then years later if a plank fails or the break one with a heavy load they just call me up and tell me the trailer/truck number and the color of the plank from the plan and I can make up a replacement one from my records.

It works for me and for them.

Jim Rogers

Bogue Chitto · April 23, 2012, 10:28:49 AM

You need to take the tires off and put some table legs on that. 8) :D

CalebL · April 23, 2012, 10:29:53 AM

Jake, when I cut trailer decking I charge $1 a bdft for red oak and $1.25 a bdft for white oak for my logs. If it's their logs, I charge .35 a bdft. Anything less than that and I feel like I am giving it away.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · April 23, 2012, 10:42:08 AM

Quote from: Jim_Rogers on April 23, 2012, 10:20:54 AM
I know Frank is not too far from me but I get a lot more for oak trailer decking and all my customers say my price is cheaper then others they have gotten quotes from.

I just did a drop side low bed trailer for a very well known trucking and towing company in my area.
This is the third truck bed I've done for them.

I use red oak as in my area white oak is hard to find and I save all that for boat builders, being that I'm near the coast.

I got $2.75 per bdft for my red oak and I got paid to deliver as well.

I get $3 for white oak.

I would suppose that my customers could get it cheaper somewhere else, but I do provide a fairly unique service which is that I go to the company and measure up their truck or trailer. Then I come back to my office and make up a plan:

The planks are spray painted on the ends with the colors of the plan.
This make it easy for the installer to cut the planks to lengths and follow the plan. Putting the plank on the trailer so that everything lines up with the cuts and the support rails.

I have done this layout service for many years for all my customers:

The above pictures are from 2001.

Then years later if a plank fails or the break one with a heavy load they just call me up and tell me the trailer/truck number and the color of the plank from the plan and I can make up a replacement one from my records.

It works for me and for them.

Jim Rogers

Jim, may I say I am impressed with the way you work your decking and the color chart for your records. Pretty DanG cool. I would try this but you probably already have a patent on it, just waiting for me to do it so you can claim my mill, backhoe, Logrite and chainsaws. :D Jokes aside......very, very smart Jim.

Calebl.....my Oak prices are more in line with yours and really a little less. We wish we could get the prices Jim gets. Just different markets, I guess.

WDH · April 23, 2012, 09:36:35 PM

A treated 2x12x16 at Lowes is $30. If you saw a rough cut white oak board that is 1 5/8" thick that is 12" wide and 16' long, that is 24 BF. So an equivalent price to match a treated 2x12 in rough cut white oak would be $1.25/BF.

barbender · April 23, 2012, 09:49:10 PM

Every once in a while I'll try to put some of Jim's organizational genius to work, I've been working on some of the lumber stacking pallets he posted on once. I don't know if I can keep up with his deck plans, that is slick! I agree on hackberry's trailer deck, the ray fleck on that one board is something else

bandmiller2 · April 23, 2012, 09:52:23 PM

Designer trailer decking thats a new idea.Most of my decking goes on landscaper size trailers.Frank C.

hackberry jake · April 23, 2012, 09:53:41 PM

1.25 sounds more like it, next time I need trailer decking, I think I'll just go buy it off of Paul. You're too nice Paul. When you say you pay .20 for the logs, is that for 16' logs? And do you normally recover as much as they scaled out to be? I know I have a lot more waste with 16' logs than I do with 8'ers. Not to mention harder to handle.

paul case · April 24, 2012, 12:12:18 AM

I have some uses of my own for those shorter boards on long tapered logs. I almost always get more than scaled bdft out of my logs, long or short. For instance I cut up a 18' log into trailer flooring last Saturday. It made 9-2x12,2- 2x6 and 1 2x8 full length and a few shorter boards. The log scaled 220 doyle. That is about 384 by my figuring.
If I am buying logs delivered I will pay $.25. When I do my own logging I pay the landowner $.10 and it costs at least That much to cut them and bring them in.

I can cut ya some but mine may not be so FANCY as your flooring in the picture. PC

hackberry jake · April 24, 2012, 12:28:43 AM

I did kind of feel bad for using it as trailer decking, I think I counted maybe five knots in the whole thing, I wanted to plane it all and put a coat of spar urethane on it, but figured that would make it slicker than greased owl feces. It has a big dirty dozer sitting on it right now that leaks diesel. Good thing I'm not a big fan of oak I guess. It's good strong durable wood, but too generic for my "fine woodworking".