wood bed

[Boise69]

I currently have a bed liner in my truck but I'm going back to the wood bed with brushed aluminum strips. I stained my deck this summer and i went with my own tinted color. I took a red oak minwax stain and mixed with a cabot clear solution. It turned out great.

I'm planning on finding an almost black stain and then, by hand, very lightly, highlight the grain with a green stain, let it dry, and then urathene the entire project. I'm going for a black with green highlights and then a deep shine overall. My truck is green btw.

For those who have done it, Is urathene the way to go or is there a better material that doesnt cover the color of the wood but is clear and protects it from weather for longer than a few years?

TIA

[HuggerCST]

Go to Mar-k.com and check out their tests on bedwood coatings in the tech section. Good info. I am in the process of using Minwax Helmsman clear urethane with UV protection. There are better coatings I'm sure, but for what I plan to do with mine, the Minwax will be good enough.

[D M. Manning]

I juust cleared my with Minwax

[Solver]

I used to use the urethane and it only seemed to last a few years. Last 2 I have used Valspar marine varnish and it seems to be holding up much better

[Sammy]

After a little research I decided to spend the extra money. I went to a marine boat dealer bought a medium priced quart of their stuff. Wasn't real reasonable in my eyes. $39.00. (some was $55 or more ) But fiqured the extra I paid it would stand up to UV/ & salt water it should be worth it. Found 3 cans of different stains kinda mixed them with some trial on another smiliar wood. Found what I liked & used that. Marine stuff is so much thicker than what you get at the hardware store & drys real hard. But it goes a long way too. After 5 coats barely used 1/4 of the quart.