Preserving Original Wood Bed

[Mapearso]

I need advice / suggestions on how best to preserve the wood bed on my truck

It is the original wood and is dry and warped, with a couple cracks but not TOO bad

I DO NOT want to replace the wood (its a driver / patina truck). I just want ideas on what to do with it

Just leave it alone? Boiled linseed oil? Spar varnish??

Thanks in advance guys

Pics ---

[custom10nut]

Be aware that varnish or sealer will only protect the top of your wood and the underside will be untreated. The problem is that this also stops the wood's ability to breath, and will eventually rot out from the bottom. How do I know this? 24 years ago when I bought my truck, I thought I was doing the best thing, and used a satin marine varnish to save the original bed. It looked really good for a few years, but Now I have come to realize that I screwed up, because much of the wood is rotting away, so now I need to replace it.
The best thing you can do is keep it out of the weather, next would be a cover to keep the sun off.

[jeffahart]

It has reached the end of it's useful life. It would be best to replace it; it looks to be unsound. Too dried out and cracked up

[GR8-68]

I would soak it with boiled linseed oil, but you also need to do the underside somehow

[toolboxchev]

Wanna get serious, try looking at marine products

http://www.westmarine.com/sikkens--c...04_128_002_501

Or even better yet!

https://www.dalyswoodfinishes.com/store/ Sealing it first after a good cleaning if its salvageable.

[special-K]

Mix boiled linseed oil and turpentine or mineral spirits and slop it on. Let it soak and saturate. You can do straight linseed if you don't mind it being oily for a while till it leaches out some. It will make the wood very happy and repel water. Use a pump sprayer and do the underside, too. Rusty metal loves it and it acts like a clear coat on paint or patina. So your bed strips will stabilize with that on it. If it's a funky old truck, another thing would be mix used motor oil with kerosene and brush it on. Mountain folk did this on their barns. It looks beautiful as it leaches out from blackish at the bottom to golden virgin wood color up top. Your bed is weathered, so no virgin golden hap'nin

That open grain could never be sealed with a hard finish...unless it's resin. Hard finishes are for planed and sanded wood. But even then, it's just like paint and will gouge or scratch, which lets water in and under the finish and eventually blistering it away to a big mess that needs to be stripped and refinished. Oil gets into the wood, like stains do, but oil is resilient to water, rejects it. You know what they say, "Water and oil don't mix"

[GR8-68]

He said what I wanted to say but didn't feel like saying at 3 am
There is nothing like naturally preserved and patina wood in my opinion, unless it is totally rotted or filled with termites to me it is good wood and needs to be preserved

[GR8-68]

I definitely love rustic lumber, the man cave is lined with barnwood the neighbor removed from his barn when he reskinned it. He was going to burn it.

[mike16]

My 63 was that bad. I put diluted mix of linseed oil and turpentine on it and let it soak in. repeated often over a months period of time untill it would take no more. after that evry 6 months. this was from 02 through '10. I sold the truck to a friend who has not touched the bed since. and it still looks good.

my understanding is that blo does not have any additives other than contaminates that make it unsuitable for food/medical use. boiling it makes it dry more quickly but also it darkens/oxidises over time.

[frenchy51]

I've never tried it but what about "Thompson's water seal"?
Anybody ever used it?

[Mapearso]

Thanks guys

I used boiled linseed oil

I'll snap some "after" pics

[special-K]

Thompson's is milky, leave the wood looking cloudy. Not good for pretty, just preserving (if it does that).

[stauffe]

I know this is an old thread, but a new problem for me. I bought a 55 truck in bad shape with a 9 foot flatbed in great shape. It has the original bed wood. I am putting the bed on my 55 tonner which is in great shape but has a rotted flatbed.

The boiled linseed oil and turpentine mix mentioned above sounds like a good way to preserve the wood.

My plan is to paint the bed frame and bed wood either black or green, the truck body color. My question is is "Can you paint the wood after treating with linseed oil?"

Now I have to come clean. I found this thread while googling "how to preserve old bed wood."

Truth be told, I like all old trucks, the truck I bought with the good bed is a Ford 55 F600. The truck it is going on is my 55 F350.

Pictures:



Edit: it looks like my picture didn't post.

[sick472]

Painting any wood treated with any type of oil would be a lesson in futility. If the wood has all but fried the oil out...paint might have a chance. If you need some color added consider an oil based paint thinned heavily with mineral spirits. This will allow the dry wood to soak up the oil based paint, giving it a stain, if you will, once it dries really well...then you can treat with an oil like linseed or otherwise. If you don't get enough color after the first staining, reapply for more darkness and so on.

[Palf70Step]

One of the best things I found is to use Danish Oil. Lightly sand/scotchbrite the wood. Apply the oil with a microfiber (wear rubber gloves). I did mine about every two years. The number of coats will very depending on how dry the wood is. Apply one coat, wait 24hrs, apply another. Keep repeating till the wood doesn't seem to absorb any more. This is the brand I was introduced to by a friend who makes storm shutters in Louisiana for the mansion and rich folk places. Again pain to get the under side, but if you allow it to keep absorbing the oil, it will get to the bottom.

[stauffe]

Thanks guys for the recommendations to a Ford truck guy!

As of now I plan on taking the boards off. I plan on having a mobile dustless blaster coming to knock off old paint and rust. So I can coat both sides in my backyard or garage. I might flip them because the bottom side are in better shape from what I can see. But maybe the underside where they laid on cross members are bad.