Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Morning gang!

Well, I am now to the point where I can focus my attention on the bed floor. My plan was to go with pine and stain it black like it would have been originally. I am not one who thinks all bed wood floors needs to look like a bowling alley. :-)

I had initially planned on using Mar-K but now that they are out of business, it seems to be a bit difficult to find economically priced pine. I looked at bedwood.com and they have a nice product, but there is no way in hell I am paying $1105 for a pine bed floor. I have a longbed fleetside so with the boards being 97" long I apparently have to pay truck freight shipping.

I really don't want to cut the lumber myself.....first off, I suck at woodwork. Also, it is just not that much fun for me. I know some folks like doing it, and that is fine, but it is just not for me. I don't mind staining it, but I don't want to mill anything myself. The last time I attempted to use a radial arm saw, I nearly killed myself....but I digress.

Does anyone have any recomendations for me in the Phoenix, AZ area for bedwood? I would even drive a bit to go get it. Classic Industries wanted over $500 for shipping! That buys a fair amount of diesel to go get it myself.


Thanks, Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

cjponyparts.com

They don't give a quote on shipping online, but their price is not bad either.
you will need to call for a shipping quote 1-800-888-6473

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Yeah, I have looked at them as well. I wanted to stay with pine and it looks like they only have red oak and ash.

Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Have not bought this - https://classicparts.com/1960-72-bed...fleet-97?qty=1

Price seems reasonable,not sure about shipping.

I had my cabinet maker friend make the last set I used... might talk to a couple cabinet shops. All the specs are available. They used to be on GMCPauls, since they recently redid their website they might still be.

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

I forgot they had the standard grade for less - https://classicparts.com/chevy-gmc/t...-long-fleet-97

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Might see about poplar. It's a hardwood, but usually painted or stained Walnut or darker because it has green heartwood. Might not be the look you want, but it's tough and can be cheap

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

If you are able to find a local source for southern yellow pine, then maybe you could buy the boards and then find a woodworker to cut it for you. Dimensions can be found here:

https://gmcpauls.com/pickup-bed-wood/

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

^^^ :mm:

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

https://youtu.be/4fUCnP9IkVI?t=868 video mentions using neighbor to cut bedwood in Peoria. Looked at google maps and there is a a cabinet maker in the same complex....

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

This source is one of the best I've found. He can do pine on request. You probably wouldn't like the price or shipping, but he was close enough for me to pick it up in person.

https://horkeyswoodandparts.com/

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Hi Jason, yeah I looked at them as well, but due to the length of the boards, they wanted over $600 to ship to me.

I am really thinking that I will have to mill my own. Nobody close to me has reasonably priced pine for a longbed, and paying $800 or more for pine lumber boards is just crazy.


Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

I will take a look at poplar.....I was also looking at alder as well.

I really want to go with the stock black look and will be painting the rails black as well, so I didn't want to spend a ton of money on good wood just to stain it black.

Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Thanks Jason! Yeah, they seem to be pretty close to me. I will give them a holler to see if they can lend some advice.


Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

I paid $180 at a local hardwood store for red oak boards for my shortbed stepside.

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Thanks Rich, yeah they ship freight as well so I am going to assume that it is in the $600 range for shipping to me.

I know there are a few places in Nevada and Colorado.....It may be time to load up the camper and take a road trip. LOL!

Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

I have been calling around as well.....I found a place that has Maple reasonably priced as well. I may have to go that route. My Father in Law is a wood worker.....and I will probably just enlist his services. But, if I do then it will have to wait until it cools off.....July in Arizona is no fun to do any kind of work outdoors.


Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

With millwork done ready to install, or just for the wood to take to a mill to be cut?

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

That was just for the boards. I selected them out of a large pile of 8' boards at a local hardwood store. The pile had all sorts of random widths, and one edge of each board was rough and not cut straight. It took a decent amount of time to select boards that wouldn't result in a bunch of wasted material. I then took the boards to my dad's house, and we spent about six hours cutting them to length and width and adding the notches for the bed strips. We also planed them down to 3/4" because they were maybe 1/16" thicker than that. We used a router to cut the counterbores for the eight large carriage bolts with off-center washers.

Here are some posts from my build thread:

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...&postcount=360

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...&postcount=495

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...854269&page=21

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1736817448
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740878182
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740878254
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740941285
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740941307
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740941324
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740941345
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740963061
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740963092
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1740963112
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1749268816
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...1&d=1749791200

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Very nice! Thanks for the pics. Well worth the effort for a show quality bed.

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

IMHO, painting maple is a crime against humanity, but your f-i-l probably already told you that ;-)

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Yeah, I agree with you 100% LOL!!


Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

Have you tried " RAH Lumber" says Pieora, AZ. $7.00 a board ft for least exotic varieties. You still need to mill it depending on their prices.

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

I have not...I will call them in the morning. Thanks for the lead! :-)


Clay

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

I did a fair amount of shopping around when I was looking for wood. One major issue I ran into with most places was that they wouldn't let me select the wood myself. Instead, they would insist on selling me boards that were almost double the width that I actually needed. I got into a bit of an argument with one place over that. It is completely illogical. I was happy to find a place right in my town that would let me select my own boards.

Re: Bed Wood Recommendations
 

I lucked and got my bed wood from a guy that used to sell on this forum. He doesn't any more.
But one thing I did was not put the bolts that hold the box to the frame thru the wood. I used carridge bolts and clearanced the under side of wood for the bolt heads.
One more thought maybe use composite wood like deck boards since you are going to paint it anyway?
Pic of my 68.