Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums
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.
Kevin Newest Project - 51 Chevy 3100 work truck. Photos [flickr.com] #2 - '29 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. First car '29 Ford Special Coupe Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Did the factory stain the beds with opaque black stain or were they painted black?
Last edited by Otto Skorzeny; Thu Dec 29 2022 03:19 PM.
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) 1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy) 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado (The Purple Knif) 1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe 1979 Ford F-100 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
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's '50 Chevy 3100 5 window, 235cu My truck [cmaynard.com] If I'm not working on my truck or VW camper, I'm fishing with the wife or smoking Salmon.
Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums
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.
Kevin Newest Project - 51 Chevy 3100 work truck. Photos [flickr.com] #2 - '29 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. First car '29 Ford Special Coupe Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
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
