Projects 1956 Chevy Carryall new wood body

1956 Chevy Carryall. Everything you don't see in these pictures will be wood. If you remember the Power Wagon project from a few years back, this will be very similar.

 

Man, that is going to be cool! I’ll be following along to see your progress.

 

Is that a one ton panel truck that you started with?

 

Great project, I'll be following the build. Bob

 

It's a 3/4 ton that was buit with a Cantrell wood body. The owner did a lot of research on it so I got a lot of paperwork with it. It looks like they made them in 1/2 3/4 and 1 ton models, It looks like the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks may have been special order only. 56 was Cantrells last year, I don't know for sure but this may be the only 3/4 ton they made. I know they made at least a few 1/2 ton trucks, if there's one around anywhere I'd love to see it.

 

Cantrell was what came to mind when I saw this thread. A friend wrote an article on the company, I'll pass this info along to him and ask if he has any info in his files.

Bob

 

Interesting, so it was probably a model 3612 Chassis with Windshield Cowl, when Chevy built it.

 

Pretty good chance, wheelbase looks right.

 

Chevy made 1/2 and 1 ton Panel trucks, but only 1/2 ton Suburban Carryalls. The 1 ton panels were longer wheel base. The 3/4 chassis is the same wheelbase as the 1/2 ton long bed truck, which is between the short bed 1/2 ton, and the 1 ton.

 

Very cool .

 

As far as the history of this truck i've got more questions than answers. This is a picture I got with the truck, it's badged as a 3600 and it has 8 lug axles. GVW on the tag is 6900.

 

I've got most of the floor in place, made of White Oak. Working on getting the pillars made. The back corners are the worst because they determine the location of the rest of them and because I have no original wood to use. I have a couple pictures but the actual location shape and size are going to end up being my best guess. The wood around the rear fender is not original and came with the truck. It looks like someone cut some metal out of the back of the fender to fit that wood. I'm not sure why and it's likely to cause a problem later.....but that's for another day.

 

show the tooling that does those perfect finger joints!

 

Where did you source? What is it called? And, what tool powers it? I'm far less than an amateur woodworker, and in total awe of your progress so far.

 

Nice shop. Do you the means to sharpen your own cutters?

 

I see a true craftsman.

 

Wow. I love TF trucks, but have never seen or heard of these models.
I’ll be looking forward to the finished version!!

 

powermatic or even bigger?-nice!

 

The cutter resembles a custom made unit from a saw shop vs catalog or ready made. Looks to be for a 1” spindle?

 

No I don't. I've got multiples of everything so I let the dull stuff (saw blades, planer/jointer knives etc..) pile up and send it all out at once. I have never sharpened the finger joint cutters. They are carbide and compared to most of the other cutting tools they don't see a lot of use.

 

I run these on a 5hp Powermatic shaper with a 1-1/4' spindle. For smaller joints I don't need all of the cutters but when I do need to it's a bit much even for that shaper. I ended up modifying the spindle to add a third bearing to the top of it, it made a big difference. The cutters are almost 6" diameter. I had them custom made but don't remember where, been too long. They weren't cheap, I do remember that!

 

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Thank you for taking the time to share pictures and to tell the story of the reconstruction.

 

I am also following along as I know what it looked like when it arrived since I brought it

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

Finger joints on station wagon bodies always get my attention. How you hold on to the piece and get the perfect cut must take years to master. Off to find a YouTube video of the operation.

 

It became immediately obvious the first time I saw those cutters spinning that I was not going to be feeding the wood by hand. This is what I came up with. Made from whatever steel I had in the shop at the time, it's been modified a few times over the years. It's keyed into the slot in the table and is driven by a screw attached to the table on the right side, I drive it with a drill. There is a bearing on a bracket that is attached to the blade guard to hold it down. You can see the clamp I am using to hold the piece of wood in the cage. In use the wood would have whatever angle(s) the finger joint needed to be at cut on the end of it. I would have to do whatever it takes to get the angled end of the board parallel to the fence and hold it there. If the board is only angled in one direction it's pretty simple, if the end is a compound angle I have to get more creative. The depth of cut of the joint is 1-1/4" so I do it in multiple passes. You can also see the extra bearing I added to the top of the spindle.

 

Holy Cow! That’s a hell of a jig. Made a lot of coping jig’s (in left and right) (sticker stock ran on molding machine prior) for raise panel doors. Stock being 1 1/2” thick at times. Never had I made a jig that heavy duty.

 

I bet that makes a lot of noise. I can smell the saw dust from over here.

 

What's the flat face cowl?