Timber Milling

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Wonder how they sourced so much timber for building truck bodies ?

By making good fortune out of bad. There was a series of articles in the magazine Light Railways dealing with the sawmills of the Victorian ranges (it's funny how various interests and researchers overlap!).

In 1939, widespread bushfires which came to known as the Black Friday Bushfire burnt out large areas of the state. Although it devastated a huge area of forestry, it created ideal conditions for harvesting timber over the next 3 years. In the years 1939-42, Victorian Forests Commission harvested more timber than the 20 years prior or 20 years following. Stands of dead trees were felled wholesale to retrieve the timber before it rotted, free from the entanglements of branches and forest trash, and unencumbered by sustainability requirements, as the forests were decimated. This happily co-incided with a spike in demand for timber for war work, for ammunition packaging, vehicle manufacture, small shipping, etc.

[Keith Webb]

Wood Solutions website https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/Woo...mpare-Species/ has a good guide to comparing timber species and their properties.

The site is run by Forest and Wood Products Australia who are a client of mine.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

I notice many restorers today use tropical hardwood for body construction - this is incorrect.

Please see the following drawing for the Canadian 2H1 15-cwt body as fitted to CMP trucks. The construction of these bodies were based on the British design. Note the thicknesses of the boards and the types of wood used in the construction of these bodies.

Canadian%2015-cwt%202H1%20body%20construction.jpg

Also, HMVF Forum has a thread on the subject of a manual for wood types used by the British Army, which could help in the selection of the proper soft and hard woods for restoration: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread...618#post116618

EMERWood01.jpg EMERWood04.jpg

EMERWood02.jpg EMERWood03.jpg