I used purple heart in my bed. I wanted to keep the purple look though. I first used Watco Oil to seal the color in, a trick used by boat builders. I then put 6 coats of spar urethane on it. Take a look at the sites below, lots of pictures building the bed. Coach Frank

https://sites.google.com/site/bluejaygarage/home
53 half ton http://s159.photobucket.com/user/sworden73/library/?sort=3&start=all&page=1
72 Nova SS sold
75 Corvette
52 Chevy Styleline Coupe