The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Wood type

What is everyone using on their grain trucks for the pickets/slats/sideboards whatever you want to call them. I would like to redo them. Looking into quartersawn white oak, sapele, jatoba and a few others. Looking for something that will of course weather good, and I can just put an oil on to finish it without doing a varnish.

Chevrolet never made a factory Grain Body, those were all dealer/owner supplied/built, so make it your way, there is no right or wrong...

Mike B

It doesn't matter to me if it would be correct. I just want to use a wood and finish that is going to last a good while without a lot of refinishing after a couple of years. I don't want to use any varnish or lacquer, etc. Just wondering what has worked well for others.

OOPS my bad, I thought you were asking about the actual body...re-read and see you're asking about the finish.

It might help to know if it's a show truck or will it haul grain, or if it's garaged or out in the open?

Mike B

kclark, I have not had great results from spar urethane so I am still unsure what I will use on the bed of my '46 when I re-do it either. I used it on the bed rails of my stake bodied truck and even though it is outside a relatively small amount of time during the year, the finish didn't hold up at all (this is supposed to be my winter project but it hasn't been started yet....maybe because i haven't finished my summer or fall projects ....) I would post your question below in "making a stovebolt bed" or even try the search feature in that forum. I know I have read lots of posts on what to use for wood and what is the best coating or finish to use, including how bed wood came finished from the factory.

Good luck,
Bill

Mar-K has extensive research on their website.🛠

Mar-K.com has a tech tips section wherein they report results of a 6 year test using a variety of finishes. The bottom line seems to be that all clear finishes failed, some much sooner than others. The only finish that lasted, mostly, was paint. The series of reports they wrote and included in their tips section is worth the time and effort to read.

Oops Martin beat me to the reporting...

I would not say that all failed (I have not recently checked to see if they still show all results from all tests they have done over many years).

I used the technique that Mar-K considered to be best - follow the material/paint instructions very carefully.

- two to three coats of POR (with careful following of "repaint" time)
- two coats of high quality exterior house paint

Unless it gets heavily scratched - it does not fail.
Coat all 6 sides of each board.
It is tedious and awkward - but it has worked well for me.

It is on the 21' bed boards on my 54/55 GMC 350 COE flat-bed.
Painted about 6 years ago.
The bed sits uncovered for 8 months of the year - in upstate NY.

Here is a post in an old thread. Mar-K's links do not work - they have changed ownership and most likely have have changed links/webpage?

Mar-K did change hands a couple of years ago but part of the agreement was to keep the information available. Go to Mar-K.com and click on Tips and Tricks. From the menu pick your subject and click on it. Vast amount of bed related information gathered by the Technicians over many many years. Mar-K Tech is a member here and pops in from time to time.🛠

White oak is a good option in our neck of the woods, easy to get, durable, and pretty rot resistant.

White oak is good. Quarter sawn its better looking if you are into show grain. Overtime, it will weather grey if using a clear or an oil such as a good tung oil and then clear.

A fellow bolter here, SWradial i think, and does wood work, said a long time ago to be sure and stand the boards ion their end overnight and let the ends soak up all they can.......I've done that on many planks I have worked on and it does work and especially on pickup bed boards....most of them you see are generally "splitting and turning black" from the ends. I see it all the time at car shows. (hmmmn, wonder what happened to SWRADIAL?) I think I'll give him a shout.

I got some large OD pvc pipe, filled pipe with boards on end, filled with linseed oil, let stand for years.

Ed

Bois d'arc (Bodark) is the most rot resistant wood I know of. There are houses setting on Bodark blocks that have been against the soil for over 100 years and fence posts that are older than that. I have never used it for lumber and it might warp badly if used green. Once dried it is tough as nails and easier to work with metal working tools than wood working ones. I have done this for pistol grips.

I have a few thoughts, having worked with wood quite a bit. We all know that the original floorboards were flat sawn yellow pine (or something like that, eh, Tim?) Myself, considering that all finishes will eventually fail, recommend using quarter sawn wood of any variety to avoid the cracking that always appears in flat sawn wood. White oak is a sturdy and reasonably common wood, so quarter sawn white oak is a great alternative. The finish is up to you, myself I don't like the idea of encasing fine wood in plastic, which is what modern finishes are.
I have had an idea, though, if anyone has good connections with a saw mill. The first log from the tree, especially the end that is at ground level, is made up of lumber that is so permeated with resin that it is nigh impossible to get any finish to stick to it. This is the lumber that was traditionally used for wondows and door frames, largely because it is more water resistant than treated lumber. We get boards of fir in the shop that ooze resin. A bed, or side boards, or any weather exposed application of wood, made of this sort of lumber might be fantastically weather resistant even without any finish.
But I have not tried it yet. My own bed could use replacing, but first it has to run better...

Karl