Bedwood- recessed washer - how to

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Okay, so I do not post much but I am an avid reader.

I thought I would post my how-to on machining for the recessed washers / carriage bolts for your do it your self bedwood kit (of course you will not have to do this if you buy your bedwood machined).

This might seem like a lot of work, but I get crisp clean results

I have done this several times. The last time was on my 1957 3100. I will do my best to describe.

For the 55-59 SB trucks, there are 4 bolts that hold the bed / wood to the frame. I machined my own bed wood out of oak planks I purchased from Lowes.

I do a test assembly with the bed, strips, and cross braces on heavy duty saw horses.

To properly locate the holes for the carriage bolts to go thru the wood and thru the cross braces: I drill up thru the bottum of the cross braces, I do not drill all the way, I just drill a starter hole.

I then remove the bedwood and complete drilling the holes to the proper size.

Now moving to the recessed washers for the carriage bolts on the topside.

1. Use the washer and a pencil to draw the outline of the washer on the bedwood. Using the washer to line up the square carriage bolt hole with the hole in the bedwood. Remember the washers are eccentric.
2. Find the appropriate size hole saw that will allow the washer to sit in the recessed pocket.
3. With a scrap piece of lumber drill thru it with the hole saw. This will be your guide.
4. Line the guide over the bedwood and the pencil marks from Step 1. Clamp the guide down to the bedwood with several c clamps. (I mark the template with an arrow to show the front of the bed, this makes sure all my washers eccentrics are set the same).
5. Now you can use the hole saw to cut a perfect outline for the washer to sit in. Remeber you are only drilling down about 3/16". This is only to get a clean crisp circle outline.
6. Now remove the temple and do the other 3.
7. Now using a router with a straight cut bit set to 3/16" depth you can carefully remove the inner wood left on the inside of the circle left from the hole saw.

I hope this makes sense. If you try and skip the hole saw and just do the router, it will tear out the wood and not have a clean edge.