The Stovebolt Forums Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Help with finishing bed wood to black. 1954 3604

I find the sheer volume of "information" on staining and finishing bed wood to be overwhelming with no simple answers. I need simple. My goal is to go with the "black wood" and I'd like to use something on the order of tung oil or maybe linseed oil tinted with whatever is required to get that dull black finish. Having to recoat with an oil/ coating every year or so isn't an issue for me. What advice can someone provide ? All help appreciated.

Mar-K did extensive tests :

"Oak boards, coated with three brushed coats of POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint three hours apart, then three coats brushed Behr best quality black exterior latex enamel, three hours apart."

I have done this on pine boards with excellent results : semi-gloss black paints

Southern Yellow Pine was supposedly used for bed wood on Stovebolt trucks.

Thanks Tim, appreciate the information.

Check out this technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUixj8egCNM

I used on rough sawn red oak. I am happy with result. Recoated with oil at the 18 month mark and it went on easy and really freshened things up. Easy and if it a look you like, I recommend.

Hambone , thank you for the information. This got me to thinking that if Chip used acetone and black automotive paint to make his "ebony stain" , I wonder if I could use the body color ocean green paint and acetone to make a "green stain". I'll do some experimentation. Foose said he used teak oil to finish it and explained his reasoning. What he didn't make clear was what type of teak oil ? My research comes up with a bunch of different "colors", clear, matte, greystone, etc...
What type of teak oil did you use?

Good question I don't know the answer to. The can that Lowes sells. Did not even pay attention to the finish tone.
I expect you could use any color paint and most types of paint. Also it is real easy to play with and test mixture ratio to get the color you want.

One thing that has not been mentioned here, where will the truck/bed live? Garage queen, always outdoors, hauling things, etc. It matters. If the truck will spend most of its life indoors and only sees sunlight or car wash occasionally, use any finish that gets the appearance that you want. If always outdoors, then your choices become much more limited for a long term durable finish. I visited Mar-K recently and looked at the wood finish tests which are still ongoing. The black painted Behr over POR is showing some weathering but still appears to be a solid finish in the test. These have been continuously outdoors in the Oklahoma weather since about 2005. I don't remember that any other finish in the test lasted more than a year outdoors, most were failed within six months. I know the Mar-K tests were limited and that there have likely been technological advances in finishes and techniques since 2005. If there is another finish that has shown good outdoors results, this would be good information to know. Hambone, I would be particularly interested in the success of your teak oil finish.

Mark

Hambone - I think I had a senior moment , if I'm going to use a "paint" color, I'd likely want to use a clear teak oil. You are correct, testing will be the answer.

59Fleet - After thinking about your question I'm going to go with Garaged, but driven and used. So I think the stain and oil might work well for me.

Thanks for everyone's input, much appreciated. Now if I could just get the weather to cooperate.

I will get some more and better pictures of my bed(s). I did my 62 C10 with the POR and Behr treatment per Mar-K in the 2008 timeframe. Holding up as advertised. The bed pictured above (66 K10) used leftover Behr black from the 62 project. Both trucks live in the garage but are not shy about getting out and about in the wx.