Bed Wood Finish

[6xchevy]

Thinking about putting new oak wood in the bed of my 68 shorty, what type/kind of finish do ya'll recommend? She lives in a garage so there will be very little exposure to sun, rain, droppings, ETC. Thanks to all!

[FirstOwner69]

Check out this Mar-K link. There's all kinds of good info here including wood finishing and weather tests of different finishes.
http://www.mar-k.com/installation_hints.aspx

I stained mine just enough to highlight the grain then applied 5 coats of Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane (satin) to all six surfaces of the boards sanding lightly between coats with 220 grit. As part of the preparation I sanded all sharp board edges to chamfer them which allows better coverage with the urethane.

[GRX]

Depends on what you are going for really. I hit my oak bed with steel wool and a coat of Minwax 1 step PolyShades each spring. Has held up very nice for several years. But then I haul and am not going for a show winning finish either.

[Mator]

Walnut. Sealed and sanded between each coat. 5 coats of Helmsman on top and 3 coats on the bottom. Then waxed with Behlen Deluxing compound

[Davidf]

Have you considered using Ipe? Tougher than almost anything else out there for a reasonable cost in material. Unfinished will last 50 years +. I sealed my Ipe bed (on my '52) with a clear sealer just so the wood stayed the reddish Brown color. Otherwise Ipe turns a grey weathered color naturally.

The below photo is prior to clear sealer application:

[davepl]

Here's mine. I can look up the color, but it's Oak wood. I think my best choice was that I went semi-gloss. Gloss winds up looking pretty fake sometimes, and even this semi-gloss you can see still has specular highlights. When I say clear I mean the varnish or whatever the top coat is.

I went to a specialty shop and got marine materials. Big diff between sitting in the sun in salt water vs. your coffee table!

Remember they're just body color if you're going correct, but this is done so ubiquitously that it's almost correct anyway nowadays!

If you look up my threads you'll find the 12-steps or so I used, I posted it all. I practiced on the underside first, which I highly recommend. Added a week but now I have a finished underside and any mistakes I made (surprisingly few for what I expected) wound up underneath.

The scariest part was that there were TONS of bubbles as I laid down the clear. They went away on drying each time though.

[6xchevy]

Thanks to all, very interesting.

[Mmorgan32]

Where are all of y'all getting your wood? Are you buying kits or going to a lumber yard? If your just buying the wood how are you getting the cuts, holes, and the channel on the wood correct?

[Mator]

Originally Posted by Mmorgan32

Where are all of y'all getting your wood? Are you buying kits or going to a lumber yard? If your just buying the wood how are you getting the cuts, holes, and the channel on the wood correct?

I went to a local mill and got the boards. they were actually almost 1 inch thick when I dropped them off. A friend of mine does wood working as a hobby and makes furniture. He planed them down on his planer and we got all the measurements from MAR K and GMC Paul's web site and cut everything on the table saw.

[Willie Makeit]

Originally Posted by Mator

Walnut. Sealed and sanded between each coat. 5 coats of Helmsman on top and 3 coats on the bottom. Then waxed with Behlen Deluxing compound

Beautimus Mator! Well done!

[Mmorgan32]

Originally Posted by Mator

I went to a local mill and got the boards. they were actually almost 1 inch thick when I dropped them off. A friend of mine does wood working as a hobby and makes furniture. He planed them down on his planer and we got all the measurements from MAR K and GMC Paul's web site and cut everything on the table saw.

Was it a lot cheaper doing it that way? U just used a table saw? I've thought about doing it I just want to make sure I get it right

[Mator]

Originally Posted by Mmorgan32

Was it a lot cheaper doing it that way? U just used a table saw? I've thought about doing it I just want to make sure I get it right

I thought it would be cheaper but not really. I paid about 6.50 a board foot and I paid my friend $250 for all the work, material and finishing it off. I have about $450 in the wood without the new angle strips, bed strips and hardware. But I have a quality job that I can be proud of. I say go for it. If you make a mistake cut a new board and go on. You can do it.

[Mmorgan32]

Originally Posted by Mator

I thought it would be cheaper but not really. I paid about 6.50 a board foot and I paid my friend $250 for all the work, material and finishing it off. I have about $450 in the wood without the new angle strips, bed strips and hardware. But I have a quality job that I can be proud of. I say go for it. If you make a mistake cut a new board and go on. You can do it.

My truck is all original so I was thinking of doing something with reclaimed lumber or just doing new hard wood but staining it dark. Sounds awesome man thanks

[davepl]

Originally Posted by Mmorgan32

Where are all of y'all getting your wood? Are you buying kits or going to a lumber yard? If your just buying the wood how are you getting the cuts, holes, and the channel on the wood correct?

Mar-K. Beautiful. Inspect the ends on delivery in case it got beat up.

The problem with doing it yourself is the channels for the metal strips. I have a router, could probably do it myself (as well as any non-carpenter).

The wood from Mar-K is planed, which is nice, and is furniture grade. So you can indeed buy that wood, but it's not the cheap stuff at Home Depot, that's for sure!

[Mmorgan32]

Originally Posted by davepl

Mar-K. Beautiful. Inspect the ends on delivery in case it got beat up.

The problem with doing it yourself is the channels for the metal strips. I have a router, could probably do it myself (as well as any non-carpenter).

The wood from Mar-K is planed, which is nice, and is furniture grade. So you can indeed buy that wood, but it's not the cheap stuff at Home Depot, that's for sure!

That's what I'm worried about is the channel for the strips. I've done a lot of really nice wood work but I'm by no means an expert I go through a lot of trial and error, not liking the finished product ripping it apart and doing it again lol

[davepl]

Well, if you were adamant you could go to Home Depot and ask for some oak scraps and practice the router pass until you're good at it or decide there's too much risk. Don't know until you try! But try on scrap first...

[Mmorgan32]

Has anyone gone with pine instead of oak? It's a lot cheaper

[Joe Pass]

I used Classic's southern pine kit..$199.00 + $50.00 for the shipping....3 coats of Helmsman spar varnish brushed and the last (4th) coat I sprayed on for a flat/smooth finish. Classic offers the holes drilled for an extra $30.00

[Mmorgan32]

Originally Posted by Joe Pass

I used Classic's southern pine kit..$199.00 + $50.00 for the shipping....3 coats of Helmsman spar varnish brushed and the last (4th) coat I sprayed on for a flat/smooth finish. Classic offers the holes drilled for an extra $30.00
Attachment 1413807

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That looks awesome!!! But what's classic? Early classic in Fresno,ca?

[Joe Pass]

http://www.classicparts.com is who I use for just about everything...although they are not the closest to us, there shipping is reasonable and about 5 days to Cal.

[Mmorgan32]

Originally Posted by Joe Pass

http://www.classicparts.com is who I use for just about everything...although they are not the closest to us, there shipping is reasonable and about 5 days to Cal.

Cool. Ya I got one of there catalogs. I actually like the look of the pine better.

[GRX]

That Pine looks good. Nice grain patterns. The original wood for these beds was southern yellow Pine was it not? Back in the old days they would soak the planks with used motor oil. What a stinky mess it must have been.

[special-K]

I use a mix of linseed oil and turpentine on raw wood. It seals well and lasts a good while. Just slop more on whenever you want. That's how we treated our wooden ladders. I use it on log walls and any wood I want to seal without putting a hard finish on.

Has anyone ever thinned body color paint into a semi-transparent stain? I don't have any pictures, but that's my favorite way to go. It's great on an original truck you don't want to restore but the floor needs wood.

[Davidf]

Yep, I just cut the pieces to shape with a table saw using dimensions from Mar-K. I used Ipe so I don't ever have to worry about the wood rotting or being damaged. Ipe is so hard/dense that it sinks in water. It is also readily available as it used extensively as decking material.

[68c10airstream]

I consider the bed finish like my deck at my house! What do wooden boats use?? Some are worth $100,000 plus and i don't think refinishing it all the time would be desireable!

Boats are exposed to extreme uv penetration, vibration, impact from water, wet/dry cycles, etc so marine grade spar varnish gets my vote!

If it was for show only possible shellac as it never sets up hard but in warm weather it's a little sticky. Shellac is from the lac bug that uses tree sap to make it's own concoction to seal it's larvae in.