Exotic wood beds

[rlm316]

I was planning on using teak for the bed in my '70, even went as far as to start picking up the wood. The other night a friend stopped by and the topic of my truck and the progress or lack of came up. I told him about the teak and how the wife let me know just how nice of a shelf it would make, so if I don't use it soon she will try to hijack it. It just so happens that he has access to some really nice exotic woods and now he has my thought processes all messed up. He set the hook pretty deep so I am leaning towards either bobinga





or cocolobro





Could you please give me some feedback on this. Has anyone ever worked with these woods and what precautions should I be aware of? I didn't see anything about either wood checking or warping. Thanks, Lane.

[72BlckButy]

Good luck with the decision, because those are two beautiful materials. I haven't been fortunate to use either, but man they are pretty....

[Hook'em]

I think teak generally weathers and turns grey in the sun. It might be ok in your application with the right treatment. I would check with someone who knows more about wood.

[John Fabris]

I used Teak in my truck. Used 10 coats of a UV Spar Vanish from West Marine (boat store). It looks great and I just wet sanded the finish and buffed it out after 1-1/2 years, look perfect.

With Teak, you can leave it natural (of which it will turn a silver color in the sun), you can oil it, or you can varnish it. Just don't use a plastic varnish like varathane, it is not flex with the wood....

Before the cutting...


During the varnishing stage....


Almost done...


And in the truck...

[1972Ryan]

John, That is B-E-A-utiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Orange]

Originally Posted by rlm316

Attachment 323127

That's gorgeous stuff right there.

The next best that I have saw that I liked was walnut. I think this is walnut - not sure.



DLB

[Blazer1970]

Originally Posted by Orange

That's gorgeous stuff right there.

The next best that I have saw that I liked was walnut. I think this is walnut - not sure.



DLB

That looks like stained oak to me.

[mnunn454]

Here's one that I thought worthy of a picture. No idea what kind of wood though.

[1972Ryan]

mnunn454 that appears to be pine or some softer type of wood than oak

[mnunn454]

Here's another

[IAFF2407]

I like the look of teak, it is meant to be an outside wood and if you stay on top of it, it won't go silver. Walnut is also a great wood, but personally I think it's a bit to dark.

I shouldn't be one to talk though, mine's green paint. I'm drooling at these beds

[mnunn454]

Here's another I just found at http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature...land/index.php

[rlm316]

Has anyone ever worked with either of these two woods? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks, Lane

[68 P.O.S.]

I didn't know they made blue stains...or bright colored stains for that matter. Uh oh, now I have an idea!

[jkaylor68gmc]

Google

Bed Wood and Parts, call them and talk to em about how Bubinga and Coca are to work with. They charge about $2100 for the rare African wood, they may be able to tell you how it is to work with.

Josh

[rlm316]

I just logged on to Bed wood and parts.I checked their prices and this is what they want for 8'fleet wood; coco $3701, bub $2121, and white oak $696 I would ask them some questions but I'm afraid that they will ask for my first born and after having her in the house for five years, I'm kind of fond of her. I certainly am glad that I found it cheaper than that. If I had to pay that I would try and draw wood grains on a piece of cardboard with a sharpie first!

[60ratrod]

i was thinking paduke and walnut for my 60 to go with my planned paint scheme

[WinDancer]

I try to use organics on handles for all my knives.
You can watch ebay and get decent prices on full boards. Some of the sellers will sell you bookmatched pieces- which means that the boards come in the order they were cut, so the grain patterns match.

My reason for chiming in, however, is a process for stabilizing wood. There are several companies now [Google wood stabilizing] and I have used most of them. Many knifemakers are doing their own, too, using various MinWax products combined.

Any way the wood is put into a tank under 10# of vacuum and left for a couple days. This draws ALL the moisture from the wood. The tank is then flooded with what appears and smells an awful lot like fiberglass resin, and put under 10# of pressure. It is then removed and allowed to dry completely. The varies with the size and type of wood.

I have had 4x4 pieces treated, and when you saw it into whatever thickness you want you can see that the stabilizing stuff has penetrated completely through the wood.

The wood works exactly like plastic when it dries. Gasoline will NOT penetrate. They will add one or two colors if you like. The biggest advantage is that the wood is now completely stable and completely weatherproof. Never needs a finish. Just buff it with pink no-scratch and it is ready to go. If it ever dulls you just buff it again.
I do most of my handles with the stabilized materials now because they are so stable that the wood doesn't moved around with the weather and cause the handle pins to split.
After 10 years of use I have never had a knife returned with splits or checks of split pins.

It is fairly expensive but this would produce wood bed that would absolutely win any contest at shows and elsewhere.

The best-advertised company is http://www.stabilizedwood.com/wssi.shtml and they have done a great job of explaining what they do. The pics are real- the colors come exactly the way the look on the site. It will knock your sox off, honest

I also have some antler done too, for the color.

There is a wood company here that sells everything they can cut to Gibson Guitars. The wood must be highly figured and large enough for a guitar front or back. My first visit there had me on my hands and knees gathering their 'scrap'- stuff they couldn't send to Gibson. They sent me home with everything I could fit in one box, for free. Next trip I picked up about 6 boxes of wood and let them pick a finished knife. The pieces that were way too big I just left on the ground out in the open weather and took the ones that were more managably sized. They buy full logs and don't fool with slabs that aren't figured enough.

These kinds of places are high production and never take time doing anything with scraps. You might ask everyone you know for a month about 'wood' and maybe you can turn up a place of your own.

Just another option to be aware of and my .02.

[hvychve]

I keep telling myself, my next truck will have a wood bed, but than again, I think why, I cant use it. I love the look of a nicely done up wood bed with tons of clear on it. I than wonder how and what I will be able to haul in it, well I guess I could haul blankets, feathers,anything soft , because I know after all that work and seeing how pretty it is , I would be afraid to put anything in it.

[Warren]

the wood up above stated is walnut is red oak with a medium walnut stain.

Seems a bit extreme to use Cocobolo or one of the exotics though would nice. Just that wood is getting harder to get, no more Honduras mahogany for example though they do cut there for their own factories to make premium doors, Marvin door does this they bought up a factory there. Some of the old boats on Lake Muskoka done in Mahogany and teak are just stunning.

When I make furniture I select wood from prime lifts, oF that about 10-15-20 percent is prime grade wood. When I make my wood bed I will use boards that are of a certain grain type that I prefer and I will pick boards that are about 1/2 wider to an inch wider than finished width, joint them and rip them to size. I will also machine the wood then let it sit on its edges then re machine it, this give it a tension release. Also good idea to put a couple of dadoes in the bottom same as they do for hardwood floors, this is done to take some strength away so the board if it is wanting to move is less likely or will move less. Picking boards that are not so wild and centered heart will make a bed that looks nicer in any of the more common woods so wood selection to me has alot to do with the final look

I would pick boards with centered hearts, this looks the best in a table top as you can have straight grain joining to straight grain then the look just flows right accross. Will not show as much on the wood bed as the metal strips divide it up.

I see alot of oak beds and the grain really is not very pretty but oak is a coarse wood anyway depending on where the tree grows. Colder climates and strong winds like say the Michigan area the boards will have a tighter finer grain, closer growth rings and be heavier and denser than say in Pensylvannia.

Padouk is not a good choice, there are two main types and both darken quickly one of them very quickly, I did a craft show once and something that was in the sun for three days went from a bright orange red to a very dark and boring burgandy colour. A finish with a UV barrier would help but some say only slow it down and not prevent it. Cherry also darkens quite a bit from sunlight, if you left something sitting on cherry for several sunny days it would probably show once you moved it.

Unless you dont care about a big colour change I would stay away from Padouk. Some of the other exotics like bubinga you mentioned I dont know about or just havent used them yet. Bibuinga stinks to plane, it can have grain running one way on one half of the board and then grain running the other way on the other side. Not jointer or planer friendly.

They use IPE on high end decks, I think it might work well it is a very heavy hard wood and the dust is terrible, sticks to everything and is probably a bit toxic, Ipe oddly has a high fire rating I think I was told it doesnt burn.


Warren

[Ricks1971]

Well guys when bought the wood for the floor of my stepside.I used apitong which I have used for years on my flatbed trailers. It weathers well and you can seal it with either varnish or linseed oil. It looks kind of like a mahogany or teakwwod. It won't break the bank either! Here's a pic of the wood.

[N2TRUX]

Here's a couple of cool treatments. No idea what the wood is.

[Bishops Trucks]

Teak and Bobinga are great woods to work with. I've used both on cabinets and furniture I have made. As with 90 % of the differant woods out there, If you properly treat them then you will have no problem with them in your bed. The biggest reason you don't see more exotic woods in the beds of trucks is because of the price. I'm thinking about either Zebra wood or Purple Heartwood for my project truck. Follow this link to see some differant woods. http://www.gilmerwood.com/Gilmerwood...e%20Images.htm

[1972Ryan]

You may be able to buy the exotic wood cheaper at a wood dealer and make your own. We have a lumber dealer here that deals in hard to find wood and they seem a lot more reasonable.

[barthmonster]

I am new to all of this, but I have to ask. Why are a lot of people using 'varnish' or similar older-style product ? I would think that a good automotive clearcoat sprayed on such as Southern Polyurethanes Universal clear would have much more UV inhibitors in it. Yes, I've seen it put on wood before, there used to be a customer photo on their website where a guy did his kitchen cabinets and it looked great.

Hey, with my son's truck, maybe I'll be the first to give it a try !!