Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Bed Wood Update!!!

Not certain if this is the right sub-forum to post but this is an updated picture of my bed floor. Several years ago we bought a bunch of rough cut cherry. I’ve planed it down got it to almost ready to put in.

Update****
Wood is straight. Photos make it appear crooked.

Very nice!! I guess we won’t be seeing you post on the “who uses their truck as a truck” thread. 🥴

Let’s just say the bed will be the nicest part of the truck. Less the new tailgate. It won’t look bad at 20 feet.

Looks great and very unique. The white Datsun gets an honorable mention.

👍👍👍👍

Since when do we talk Datsun cars? Greasy Spoon folks!

Moved the offending posts to the 'Spoon. Datsuns, Ineed.

Haha! No kidding.

Does anyone ever install pine and paint it black like the factory?

In judged shows, do restored trucks with stained oak and stainless steel dividers get points marked off?

I did. I used an oil based black stain that was recommended as deck stain that lasts well in Fairbanks.
I have not installed the wood yet. Had some issues getting it to dry, but it's going to have plenty of time to do that over the winter.

Good!

Kevin,

Were the issues you had with "getting it to dry" caused by cold temps, the product itself or some other factor(s)???

Also wondered about how much (if any) odor problem you had with this oil based stain???

Thanks!

I initially brushed the stain on and got it on a bit too heavy. I also flipped the boards over after it felt non-tacky, and where it was in contact with the saw horses I used, it couldn't evaporate. The air temps were generally above 60 when painting, and above 50 overnight, but I imagine warmer temps would have caused it to dry faster. I wound up sanding some of the soft spots off and then went to spraying instead of brushing. I needed to wait a couple days before doing the opposite side of the boards. I eventually put three coats on each side, one brushed, and two sprayed. While spraying, it made my eyes burn just a bit, so I made sure I had good ventilation. It wasn't bad while drying, but I had plenty of air leakage into the tent is was using.

I'm expecting it to last pretty well. Maybe hoping is a better word.

Thanks for the detailed reply Kevin.

The look is great IMO and hope it will be durable for you.

Thinking the oil base should help in extending the finish life as it penetrates the wood deeper than other products I think.

Did the factory stain the beds with opaque black stain or were they painted black?

I don't know about judging, my truck will never be show quality but I did use yellow pine and painted it black based on the MAR-K study. I did not have the same results they did. I had a lot of my boards rot within 3-4 years. They were exposed to the weather year round.

Has anyone used a sheet of pressure treated plywood for a bed and just added the steel strips on top or routed out the channels for the metal strips. I was wondering if the pressure treated plywood held up and better in the weather.

Dave,
Regular plywood (48"x96") will not fit, bed is 50" wide. Look for ping pong table plywood which is bigger. This is what I did to my truck many years ago and it's still going strong. Didn't bother to route for the metal strips. Just installed them on top.

Craig, what finish did you put on the plywood? Paint or some other sealer like poly, spar, ????

In case anyone wants to try it, this is what I used on my pine boards I got from Mar-K. It's pretty watery, so soaks in fairly well.

Unfortunately, it only comes in gallons, and I used around a pint from the can.

On pine boards, I have successfully used this bed-board painting technique from Mar-K:

Quoting Mar-K:

This coating has not failed.
Only slight dulling of the original gloss.
No other defects.

If a weather resistant finish is desired, this is the best system we have tested.

Oak boards [I have also used this on pine boards, TCL]:

Coat all six sides of boards with three brushed-coats of POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint, three hours apart.
then
Coat all six sides of boards with three brushed-coats of Behr best quality black [I used semi-gloss, TCL] exterior latex enamel, three hours apart

Original posting by Mar-K [mar-k.com]
POR-15 Black Rust Preventative Paint and BEHR Gloss Black exterior paint

A sealer which off hand I do not remember the brand but maybe I can find the can out in my shop.

Found it. I used Thompson water seal long ago, then again about 4 years ago...