Bed Wood

[flashed]

How many companys make Bed Wood for our Chevy Trucks ? I know of Bed Wood and Mar-K , any others ? Best place to buy from ? I need Bed Wood and stainless strips for my 70 short bed ,thought I had a deal on some but it didnt work out . I can buy direct from Mar-K for less than I can get it from Summit Racing . I imaging shipping will be a bit expensive too.

[jcwren]

Heh, I just went through this. I was going to go with a Brothers Truck kit for my LWB SS, until the $300 shipping. I ended up ordering mine through Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts. The price on their web page said price included shipping, but the web page hasn't been updated to reflect the new higher shipping rates. As a compromise, I'm driving up to Abbeville, SC on Wednesday to pick it up. The kit include the bed wood, stainless strips, and the bolt kit, and is pre-drilled for the bed to frame counter-sunk washers, but not the angle strips.

I did consider Year One, but they were 3-4 weeks, and it wasn't completely clear if I could have them shipped to Year One in Braselton and pick it up without incurring shipping charges or not. I do know I would have had to pay sales tax on it, which would have added another $45 to $50.

I do know I'll have to seal the wood, I'm not sure how much finish sanding will be required. I'm hoping this turns out well.

[flashed]

Are you picking it up from a business in South Carolina ? And I already have the bolt kits so I dont need that , actually have 2 bolt kits I believe . Which companys wood did you buy ?

[jcwren]

Picking it up from Trucks USA, Abbeville, SC. I don't know if they sell direct or not. Not sure what you mean by "Which company's wood did you buy", if you mean other than Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts (http://www.classicheartbeat.com/)

[flashed]

Mar-K is one company that makes bed wood and Bed Wood is another and there may be more . I will look up Trucks USA ,Thanks for the info .

[msgross]

gmcpauls.com has the instructions to make your own. https://gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

[flashed]

Unfortunately I am not equipped to make my own wood but thanks for that info , lots of great info in that link .

[jcwren]

I live in the cabinet capital of the US (Buford/Flowery Branch/Gainesville, GA), and talked to several woodworkers about having them do the lumber for me, and it's not economically viable. It's apparently somewhat difficult to find 97" inches of good straight hardwood lumber in 9" or better widths, and the wood is not cheap (assuming we're talking red oak, and not pine). The actual planing and dadoing of the wood is pretty straight forward if you have the equipment. Most of these cabinet shops stay pretty busy, and aren't interested in small jobs, and they're usually scheduled out a month or more in advance.

If you can avoid the shipping charges, it makes more sense to buy a kit.

It all depends on what quality bed you want, how much time you have, what equipment you have, etc. In my case, better to buy a kit.

[mikelom]

Try to check out Horkey's Wood and Part. My buddy bought from them before.

[rockyrivermark]

Wished you lived closer. I'm a cabinet maker and milling bed boards takes under and hour on a table saw with dado blades.
I'd call a few cabinet shops in your area and maybe you'll find a car guy willing to help ya out.
If you have any mill shops in the area they may sell you the materials and mill if for you also.
Worth a shot
Mark

[6T7 C10]

I ordered from Mar-k about a month ago. I cringed at the shipping but ordered it anyway. It came packaged very well and the pieces were top notch.

[flashed]

Do you mind disclosing how much shipping was from Mar K , you can PM me if you prefer ?

[jcwren]

It’s going to vary depending on exactly what you order and where you are. Go to their website, put in your cart what you want, then go to ‘Checkout’, and there’s a button to estimate shipping. Big difference between UPS and Fedex.

[tristan]

Board member GR8-68 makes and sells beautiful bed wood kits.

[Grumpy old man]

Have you tried to contact GR8-68 He's in NC near Winston Salem . He does beautiful bed wood Here's a picture of a Black Walnut set he made for his 68 and Two sets one Ash and another Black Walnut he made for my 67's .

[Red71gmc]

Wow! That wood is beautiful stuff.

[Coalkracker]

If you have a few tools to do it yourself you can always go to a sawmill and get some kiln dried white oak and buy your hardware separate. Not sure what kiln dried cost but i bought some air dried at about a dollar a board foot recently for a project i had going on.

[flashed]

Gr8-68 is no longer doing the wood beds , already asked him .

[DaHos]

Per PM here are some pics of the last 2 I did.....Both Oak, nice grain, NO splits or cracks.....

[jcwren]

Is there any really good guides on how to assemble the bed? The Brothers booklet is pretty much useless. In my case, the box is already assembled, and it's sitting on the frame. I'm sure I can get it done, but there's probably 50 years worth of tricks and tips that would avoid putting it together and taking it apart multiple times

[67chevemall]

Wow black Walnut it is.

[CanadianK20]

Originally Posted by jcwren

Is there any really good guides on how to assemble the bed? The Brothers booklet is pretty much useless. In my case, the box is already assembled, and it's sitting on the frame. I'm sure I can get it done, but there's probably 50 years worth of tricks and tips that would avoid putting it together and taking it apart multiple times

I just installed my set from Mar-K, very happy with it. The easy part was putting it in. It just takes time to adjust everything to get the proper spacing. I’d measure your box corner to corner first and try to get it as square as possible before starting. I used ratchet straps to pull and hold mine square. The spacing specs they state were impossible for me to get 100% but the areas not spaced correctly are really only visible to me since I did it.

[jfnar]

Other than appearance, are there any advantages to one kind of wood over another? I have a little HF sawmill and access to red oak, white oak, gum and pine. I even have an Ash blow down that's only about 50 yards from my mill. I know it'll be time consuming and I'll probably regret it before I get finished but I plan on trying to make my own bed wood when I get around to my '59. So far I've only cut up red oak for trim for my house but I have enough experience with it to know that you throw away a lot more than you keep out of a log.

[OregonNed]

My friends help was indispensable to get my bed disassembled and reassembled with my new wood. Ron here milled and finished all the oak boards I purchased at a local lumber seller. I picked it quarter-sawn for better stability.

[Shaky]

Spectacular!