Moke Pickup timber

Questions (and answers) about Mokes that are not covered elsewhere.
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Farmer
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Moke Pickup timber

Post by Farmer »

I am restoring my 1965 Moke pickup by Bradburn and Wedge and I am looking for advice. They used a wood that I think is pine. It is tongue and groove and has clean d up nicely. If it was metal I would know what to do but not so with wood. I know that there is yacht varnish, microporous, oils and waxes. I would appreciate it if anyone can point me in the right direction for it to be both weatherproof and it also looks good as well. I hope that someone can help. Thank you.
Nigel(no top)Sykes
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Nigel(no top)Sykes »

Generally speaking for outdoor timber its best to use a hardwood. Obviously if you’ve got pine it’s a softwood, in this case the best would be a pressure treated but that’s a specialist job, second best would be to soak it in some form of preservative. The thing about these two options is the timber retains its original look....perhaps this is good, perhaps bad...that’s for you to decide.
Varnishes etc really only perform like paint and the stains you can get just change the colour but don’t protect much at all
Don’t forget, with pine you’ll have knots and they tend to ooze resin which will do no favours to any coating you put on.
I suppose really, the moke will be inside most of the time and come out when the weather is dry so a couple of coats of micro porous preceded by a stain (if you want to change the colour at all) would do the trick. Just be prepared to sand and redcoat if the knots start causing trouble.
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Nigel(no top)Sykes
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Nigel(no top)Sykes »

P.S. of course if you were to paint the timber then you’d dab some knotting fluid on the knots and that would cure that problem.
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pbraun
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by pbraun »

Me, I'd ask what they did originally.

I would treat it like an outdoor boat and varnish, being prepared to re-sand and re-varnish almost every year depending on exposure to UV light.

Peter
peter
1965 Mini Moke, English built, on the road again!
Farmer
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Farmer »

The replies make me wonder if I actually have pine boartjds. There are on knots at all. It is light coloured with some grain showing. We have owned it from new and the wood is original. I recall treating it many years ago. I think we used a type of microporous but not sure, which is why I asked for help on the forum. It was used for many years on a milk delivery round. Every day of the year except Christmas Day. The wood is in temarkable condition with the only damage being small water ingress around the bolt mounting holes causing a small amount of timber decay. I remember the wood being a darkish colour which could be due to many coats over time or stain could have been used.
Nigel(no top)Sykes
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Nigel(no top)Sykes »

From the sound of it you’ve not got pine then. Normally I’d venture oak but not if you’ve got it held in position with steel coach bolts.
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Farmer
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Farmer »

Definitely not oak. I know the grain of oak. It looks. Like pine but it has lasted much better than I would expect.
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Nigel(no top)Sykes »

Well let’s face it, if you’re restoring it then it won’t be out much in inclement weather so any covering you put on the boards should do the job.
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Bodge
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Bodge »

Farmer wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 17:07 There are no knots at all. It is light coloured with some grain showing. We have owned it from new and the wood is original. I recall treating it many years ago. I think we used a type of microporous but not sure, which is why I asked for help on the forum. It was used for many years on a milk delivery round. Every day of the year except Christmas Day. The wood is in temarkable condition with the only damage being small water ingress around the bolt mounting holes causing a small amount of timber decay. I remember the wood being a darkish colour which could be due to many coats over time or stain could have been used.
I spoke to John Lloyd at M Parts about this. Besides restoring Mokes, John owns one of the few remaining wood turning businesses in the UK and knows his stuff about different woods.

He thinks that the wood is western red cedar in all probability. It was the favoured wood for coachbuilders back in the day, and of course, that's what Bradburn and Wedge were. The wood is straight grained with very few knots and is worked easiy both by hand and machine.

The wood has a reddish brown colour but over time, this is usually lost. During the 1960s there was much less choice of wood coatings and he suspects it would have simply been coated with a good quality yacht enamel. Whatever was used, it certainly helped to preserve it. You might want to look up a traditional varnish called Le Tonqinois which I have used with great success on wooden floors. Hope that helps. Roger
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Tim
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Re: Moke Pickup timber

Post by Tim »

English ash was traditionally used for things like Morris Minor Travellers and Mini Travellers and Countrymen. Its not a great choice because its not particulalrly durable, but was readily available and is easily worked.

Classic Boat Magazine did a long term test for the best long-lasting clear finish for timber. It was exteremely useful to weed out the claims of manufacturers from the truth. You should be able to google it to find a good quality timber finish. A lot of them onlylast a little while in the sun.

Tim
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