Premium wood bed kits?

[davepl]

I'm not a carpenter, so I'm looking for a pre-cut and pre-drilled wood kits for my bed; it's a longhorn, so the wood is of course longer.

Is there a board vendor or other that makes what's known as the best? Or are they all about the same?

I'd prefer pre-finished, ready to install.

[FirstOwner69]

Mar-K! Not prefinished though. I don't think anyone makes prefinished. You also have to drill the perimeter holes (all 39 in my 8' bed) since the locations may vary from bed-to-bed. The frame mount holes are pre-drilled. They have pine as original or oak plus your choice of steel, polished stainless or un-polished stainless. Here's a picture of the oak I just put in. Are you going stock or fancy?

Oops... I forgot the pic. Here it is

[davepl]

Thanks, we used MarK side trim and the woodgrain pieces were nice.

I'm going fancy. Otherwise I suppose I should have stuck pine in and sprayed it blue like the factory did. But I'll go polished stainless and oak, as I do like the look.

I already ordered the polished strips from LMC, which have been sent by freight, so hopefully they don't suck and I don't have to return them.

[FirstOwner69]

It's a lot of work, but well worth it. I used stain just to highlight the grain and give a color to complement the maroon, then 5 coats of Minwax Spar Urethane on all six surfaces of the boards. The Mar-K website has all sorts of info on finishing, etc. One tip that they highlight is to radius all sharp edges of the wood so the topcoats are thcker than they'd be on the sharp edges.

I've had more positive feedback on the bed from the guys at the body shop that did my paint and metal work than anything else.

[davepl]

Mar-K doesn't have online ordering (hello?) yet so I guess I'll have to call them sometime.

How'd you apply the urethane? I'm wondering if spraying it would yield a better result than brushing.

[davepl]

Holy cow! Mar-K wants $310.00 shipping. I'd expect it dropped in my yard by a Chinook helicopter within the next half hour for that!

[FirstOwner69]

You can order online. Just open their online catalog.

Don't know about the shipping. I actually bought the whole setup on ebay from a guy who sold his truck.

[special-K]

Get the dimensions,print them,and take it to a lumber yard/planing mill near you. Wood is wood and no matter where you buy it,it is generally sourced from all over. There are shipping costs in about any stick of wood you buy already,why pay again? Just be sure to get select/clear grade. You will likely have more options on species,too. It may cost you less to buy X amount of board feet of whatever species plus a milling charge where it's just X amount of wood for who knows what that buying the same thing as a classic truck "wood bed floor kit" for restoration. One thing for sure,even if it's not cheaper to buy you won't be adding shipping to that.

[CC69Rat]

It's not really as difficult as it may appear. I had never done it before and made my own from the specs on GMCPauls site. I agree with Tim, getting it locally is so much cheaper than pre-cut and then paying to ship it.

If you decide to try it, you'll want to brush on the spar varnish. Some people spray it, but I just didn't have the equipment to do it. One of my best friends owns a cabinet shop and he also suggested brushing it on to get better coverage. (Doesn't make sense to me either .. just what he suggested) I'm guessing the bristles get into the grain of the wood better than spraying but who knows man.

At least selecting your own species you can get what color you want, stained, satin / gloss etc. I had $157 in the wood and varnish then of course my time.

[srvivor71]

Originally Posted by special-K

Get the dimensions,print them,and take it to a lumber yard/planing mill near you. Wood is wood and no matter where you buy it,it is generally sourced from all over. There are shipping costs in about any stick of wood you buy already,why pay again? Just be sure to get select/clear grade. You will likely have more options on species,too. It may cost you less to buy X amount of board feet of whatever species plus a milling charge where it's just X amount of wood for who knows what that buying the same thing as a classic truck "wood bed floor kit" for restoration. One thing for sure,even if it's not cheaper to buy you won't be adding shipping to that.

X2. Totally agree with this. And if you're not confident in your finishing skills, you can probably find a local woodworker/hobbyist who would be happy to help.

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by srvivor71

X2. Totally agree with this. And if you're not confident in your finishing skills, you can probably find a local woodworker/hobbyist who would be happy to help.

GMC Paul has the cutting diagram on their webside for the boards. He also includes the dado pattern for the steel channels which hold the boards in place. When I built my truck I wanted something to match the colors but that meant either silver or cherry candy. The "custom" bed floor guys wanted $1200.00 for a purpleheart bed. I have a friend who is a woodworker so, three hours with a planer and a table saw with a cutting blade and a dado head I had my bed boards. $275.00 for the unmilled purpleheart and a half case of Boddington's Ale for my friend.

[midniteblues]

around here theres a small family owned mill. these fresh cut 4/4 oak boards for my swb stepper cost me about $45. when i'm ready too do the bed the boards will be ready for finishing.

i can imagine with a longhorn the vendors will charge extra because of the length.the mill will also but it'll still be WAY cheaper than a vendor.

find a mill,get the wood,get gmc pauls layout,find a cabinet shop too do the work.

i'm certain sombody there will be glad too do the job for you.

doing your own wood you can make lil' changes(if you desire) like not exposeing the bed mount bolts.(like we did on the kids truck)

also you can have your choice on wood(just be sure too pick a hardwood)

your building one he!! of a nice truck there dave keep up the good work

[425HP409]

When I restored my 68, I bought the wood kit and stainless strips and hardware from LMC. I had no problems with it and it fit perfectly. I don't remember the shipping to be out of line either.

I restored my 77 GMC Sprint (El Camino) this year and installed a wood bed in it. I measured my bed, went to Home Depot and bought oak planks, had my bro in law help me dado the edges and finished it and installed it. I had found precut wood bed kits for anywhere from $800-1200. I probably spent a couple of hundred doing my bed.

I finished both beds myself. I hand sanded the wood with a sanding block using 220 grit paper, then 120 for a finish. I put a light stain on to highlight the grain and get the color I wanted, then put on two coats of clear by brush.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

If you decide to try it, you'll want to brush on the spar varnish. Some people spray it, but I just didn't have the equipment to do it. One of my best friends owns a cabinet shop and he also suggested brushing it on to get better coverage. (Doesn't make sense to me either .. just what he suggested) I'm guessing the bristles get into the grain of the wood better than spraying but who knows man.

Not sure what your friend's reasoning was,but I would agree,based on my own reasons. Yes,the brush will likely give better penetration. But,maybe he meant you'll get a far better coating,because you will. Brushing puts so much more material down than spray. Polyurethanes level out and brush marks disappear,so no advantage to spray. I'd steel wool between coats and be sure to get very clean before recoating. For head finish I'd use Minwax Helmsman. That stuff can be built up like resin for a deep coating and will hold up like none other.

[davepl]

Thanks everyone! I have a family-owned mill a couple of miles from my house that I've been looking for an excuse to visit, so now I have one.

The "dado" scares me. Sounds like New Yankee Workshop. I have a Craftsman table saw and a chop saw and a sander. I am not a wood worker!

My house has a lot of complex carpentry and I'm still friends with the general contractor, so I'll see if maybe he's got a dude that can cut them to size and dado and so on.