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Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:51 am

Hello

I'm looking for an information about wood slats. I saw in some show OG slats and they weren't made in one piece. Now I can't remember is it made in 2 or 3 pieces?!
Could you post some pics your OG bed wood slats?!
I would like to know how they were made OG slats.

Thanks Dudes

Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:11 am

This website has some information at the bottom about the length and width of each slat.

Everett, I hope it is ok to post here, if not, sorry.

http://www.dropgates.com/resto/slats.html

Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:47 am

One piece. Several folks make sets. I absolutely love the set for my '59 DC that I bought from Rick Wilson on here. Beautifully shaped, oiled and stained and ready to install. Came shipped to my door from Calif in a four inch diameter PVC pipe packing tube with caps. Indestructible! Quality is never cheap, but well worth the cost...

Bill

Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:17 pm

BulliBill wrote: One piece. Several folks make sets. I absolutely love the set for my '59 DC that I bought from Rick Wilson on here. Beautifully shaped, oiled and stained and ready to install. Came shipped to my door from Calif in a four inch diameter PVC pipe packing tube with caps. Indestructible! Quality is never cheap, but well worth the cost...

Bill

Well Bill I saw OG Nos slats and they are 2 or 3 pieces made.
I know that there are few people how make slats but shipping to europe cost a lot.
Thanks

Please put some pics of your truck OG wood slats.

Sat Jul 12, 2014 8:11 pm

Spitty1974 wrote: This website has some information at the bottom about the length and width of each slat.

Everett, I hope it is ok to post here, if not, sorry.

http://www.dropgates.com/resto/slats.html

Thanks for posting this link, it is a great informative resource for those of us with VW pick ups. I found it very interesting. :)

Sat Jul 12, 2014 8:36 pm

I installed very nice oiled slats from a vendor on this site. I expected the oiling to be all they needed. Not so. Even with the canvas on permanently, the slats very very quickly turned black.

I know the owner of a later model sc who put magnets on his slats so they are easy to replace.

Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:01 pm

Here are pics of a truck formerly belonging to HappyHippo, which he said had 43,000 miles when he found it. I believe it had the og wood slats in it.

It looked to me that at least some of the slats were in more than one piece.
Hippo's pics:

I took these pics:

Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:31 am

Was that to allow for expansion and contraction?

Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:49 am

IF those were OG, I bet it was a deal where they ran out of the proper lengths and just cobbled pieces together. It doesn't look at all uniform.

Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:59 am

My wood slat set is still packed away in the PVC shipping tube, but I'm almost at the point of installing them onto my Double-Cab. Once I break them out for the drilling of the slats and then mounting them to the bed, I'll be sure to post lots of photos on my build thread:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545000&start=0

Bill

Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:48 am

Okay, I remembered that I have already mounted a sample scrap of oiled/finished wood slat (about one foot long) onto the bed of my DC. Enjoy these shots...

Bill

Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:13 pm

rebapuck wrote: Was that to allow for expansion and contraction?

I think it is possible because in single piece wood warp - still working (wood technology). If we cut wood fiber they doesn't work.

Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:25 pm

My original condition un-restored 61 single cab has most of the original slats. From memory they are all multiple pieces and not a single piece. No pictures at this time but if anyone needs to see them i can take a few.

Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:29 pm

turkis-deluxe wrote: My original condition un-restored 61 single cab has most of the original slats. From memory they are all multiple pieces and not a single piece. No pictures at this time but if anyone needs to see them i can take a few.

I will be very glad to see this - I still looking for this :D

Thanks

Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:35 pm

turkis-deluxe wrote: My original condition un-restored 61 single cab has most of the original slats. From memory they are all multiple pieces and not a single piece. No pictures at this time but if anyone needs to see them i can take a few.

Yes, photos please. If we don't see photos, it didn't happen.... :P

From the information link posted above, your slats should be fixed with rivets and not screws??

Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:22 pm

KombiMadness wrote: turkis-deluxe wrote: My original condition un-restored 61 single cab has most of the original slats. From memory they are all multiple pieces and not a single piece. No pictures at this time but if anyone needs to see them i can take a few.

Yes, photos please. If we don't see photos, it didn't happen.... :P

From the information link posted above, your slats should be fixed with rivets and not screws??

Rivets are more water tight. Realistically it's better for the bus at that point vs originality.

Sun Jul 13, 2014 5:28 pm

Here's a few pictures of what I could get to easily. Now i'll retract my earlier statement about them all being multiple pieces as judging from the ones I can get to there are more slats that are one piece. And they are all riveted, some original and some I added years ago to replace a few broken ones. :)

Unfortunately my SC is mostly used for storing excess parts these days!!!

Sat Oct 04, 2014 7:32 am

It is true that some original slats are made up of multiple pieces of wood using whats called a scarf joint. This is undoubtedly because the lumber never comes in the exact size you want, and I end up with hundreds of feet of short slats that are unusable. VW was just being frugal and I guess labor is cheap. What interests me is that there are actually two different types of scarf joints. One is simply a steep angled flat cut. The other, and very interesting one, is the one clara posted. It is the same steep angled cut, but it has tenons to increase surface area for gluing. I've actually reproduced the flat cut one, but have never seen in person the profiled one. Both the joints are glued together to make the right sized piece of raw stock then run through the milling machine to profile the slat. These are solid joints and are not for wood expansion (that happens regardless).

Sat Oct 04, 2014 7:52 am

I just want to say that Rick (above post) is a wood slat "craftsman"! I bought his set for my '59 Double-Cab, and I'm extremely satisfied with his quality control, the profile of the wood and the fit of the slats.

Not the cheapest, but the best stuff I've seen!

A very happy customer,

Bill Bowman

Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:38 am

Bill, how do you plan to keep them that pretty? I don't have a garage. My canvas (Sunbrella) is on permanently. Parked, open side is to the north. And my slats still turned black rather quickly.