norms 55 chevy pu build

[washington blue]

Seems more people are viewing projects and builds lately, that's good. Sanded again and cleaned and finally stained the 8 bed floor boards. They will have to dry 3 or 4 days before I do more.

[dsraven]

gonna look great when all laid together. will the metal strips be black then?

[washington blue]

Thanks, I have stainless strips which are semi polished.

[washington blue]

Giving the wood stain some time to dry I decided to do a favorite thing I do, and that's get rid of sags and runs. Jumped into it so fast I totally forgot to take a before pic on the rear fender.

[washington blue]

I had luck tho, as I was looking things over I found a sag on the rolled edge of the box side. Found one on each side actually, so I got to work on them. Straight razor on a rounded edge and several feet long, what fun, no stress at all, really, no stress. The sags on those 2 rolled box edges only took about 8 hours to fix, lol.

[washington blue]

Found a sag on the bottom of the front bumper which was not too bad. Since the bumper was up on my table I decided to go ahead and sand it all the way down to 1200 and now It might be ready for buffing.
I'm including a couple pics of my tools, razor blades and the double D shaft I wrapped sandpaper around. The double D worked quite will on the rounded surfaces. My nib file has gotten kinda dull over time so I did not use it.

[washington blue]

Been several days since I stained the wood so last night and today I put on a coat and sanded it down. Then I repeated that a few more times using a grain filler. I plan to let that sit a day then put clear on the wood.

[dsraven]

an office eraser wrapped in wet/dry works well along with a squirt bottle of water that has a small drop of dish soap for lube.that way you don't pick up grit off the bottom of the dip bucket

[dsraven]

i ahve several tools for wet sanding besides the foam durablocks. several erasers of different size and flexibility, small blocks of plywood, a short length of wooden broom handle and dowelling of different diameters, whatever I have nearby that looks like it will work for the shape. i prefer hard items as soft items can cause grooves when sanding due to their deformity. if you want flat use a hard block and a crosshatch pattern.
looking good anyway. keep posting up your progress pics. love the color too.

[Jason 56]

Great looking progress! Razor blades to scrape off runs and sags work great. I know this amateur spent plenty of time using them in my project. Keep the pictures coming.

[washington blue]

Thanks guys, sprayed some clear yesterday. Don't know if I'm done or not, after I sand I suppose I'll know more. Wood is just a little different than primed metal.

[washington blue]

Did a little more spraying in a slightly different way yesterday.

[6DoF]

any way to get a clean shot for the win. what liner did you use? like it so far?

[Russell Ashley]

Wouldn't it be nice if the factory had painted and protected these trucks from rust like we do when we restore one. You are doing a nice job, you will have a beautiful truck that you will be proud of. Dark blue looks good on a TF.

[washington blue]

Thanks Russel, I haven't seen it assembled with the new paint of course and hope it looks nice when it is. It was blue when new but was so faded it wasn't really a good example. Kind of more gray than blue. My wife learned how to drive a 3 on the tree in this in her grandpa's pasture and she told me it had to be blue because it always was. lol.

[washington blue]

One of the only pics in it's past. Wife's grandpa's shop doorway decades ago.

[washington blue]

This photo is from about 1963 or 4 or 5. Need to look really hard behind the new combine. Little blue shirt girl is why I have this 55.

[washington blue]

6DoF, I used Raptor liner. Ordered it on line so I did not have to drive around looking for some. Looks good when it's done. There is a slight learning curve, need to hold it a couple feet away and use a swirling motion when spraying or it kinda makes lines. Be SURE and cover every square inch you don't want it on. Like my blue painted surfaces I had them sealed completely so none got on that nice paint. It is very sticky, it took a long time to tape up everywhere to protect my painted surfaces, have to be thorough and careful when taping so no leaks. I spent several hours (6-7) taping around the 4 fenders today. Then I spent maybe 20 minutes spraying. lol. I wore a tyvek suit, rubber gloves and a head sock, and a full face shield. That stuff will stick to skin, shoes, hair, not to mention concrete and metal. Also it stinks really bad. I do like the finished product, the way it looks is what I'm after.

[washington blue]

Got a little more bed liner sprayed. that's all I can do until I do some assembly.

[washington blue]

Started wet sanding color, rear fenders first. The top half is done with 2000 and the bottom is only 1200 so far.

[dsraven]

i have had great luck with a slow running garden hose placed above the area to be sanded. it makes a mess but works well.
looking good, thanks for the pics

[dsraven]

I have also used a big sponge above the sanding area and used clean water to replenish the sponge. since the sponge doesn't go in a dirty bucket the water is always clean too, no sanding "dust" from the bucket that way as the sanding byproduct just runs off. I find it works better than dipping the sander into the bucket

[washington blue]

The sponge idea is a good one, I'll try that.

[washington blue]

Both back fenders are now shiny.

[dsraven]

and your hands are super clean, lol.
nice work. great color. whats next?