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Jul 21st, 2025 | | | | Joined: Feb 2022 Posts: 162 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Feb 2022 Posts: 162 | Hello, got some pine boards for 53 truck bed, what are other alternatives to use other than bed strips?
1953 with a 216
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2021 Posts: 5,684 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2021 Posts: 5,684 | Laminate it like a butcher block and install it in one piece?
1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy)
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1956 Cadillac Sixty Special Fleetwood (The Godfather) | 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)
| | | | | Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 2,249 Herder of Cats, Goats, and Sheep (moderator) | | Herder of Cats, Goats, and Sheep (moderator) Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 2,249 | I have been looking at these as a potential option: https://www.novausawood.com/hidden-deck-fasteners | | | | | Joined: May 2015 Posts: 9,830 Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums | | Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums Joined: May 2015 Posts: 9,830 | Laminate it like a butcher block and install it in one piece? Installing a single piece in a '53 bed would be a trick. You'd have to remove the front panel and slide the single piece in below the angle strips and then reinstall the front panel and cross sill. Expansion and contraction of the wood would be an issue. Those might work, but you wouldn't be able to carry any sand in the bed. Unless your objective would be to spread that sand along the road. It would leak thru the cracks.  Mar-K has different options for the bed strips, including hidden fasteners. If you're looking to eliminate the bed strips altogether, you could fasten them with wood screws through the cross-sills from below, but you'd need some provision to allow the wood to expand and contract. It would likely expand and buckle or contract and crack. GM had a pretty good design for the wood installation in the first place. Many wood beds have lasted 60+ years.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truckFollow this saga in Project JournalPhotos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) 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. | | | | | Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 2,249 Herder of Cats, Goats, and Sheep (moderator) | | Herder of Cats, Goats, and Sheep (moderator) Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 2,249 | When I haul sand, I generally throw a tarp down first to make it easier to clean out.
The bigger downside to the hidden fasteners (in my opinion) is that the bed strips give you something to slide pallets and such on without scraping up the wood. | | | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,262 Bubba - Curmudgeon | | Bubba - Curmudgeon Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,262 | When I haul sand, I generally throw a tarp down first to make it easier to clean out.
The bigger downside to the hidden fasteners (in my opinion) is that the bed strips give you something to slide pallets and such on without scraping up the wood. yes | | | | | Joined: Jun 2023 Posts: 18 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jun 2023 Posts: 18 | The reason for the split is to allow space for the wood to expand and contract. I built a kitchen counter out of old bowling lane one time .Like really old stuff, and I figured it was well sealed and seasoned. Anyhow, I had screwed it from the bottom and my feet told me one day that I had broken screw heads on my floor. I called bologna on the expansion theory until I marked the underside of the countertop and rechecked it on humid days versus dry days. Biiiggg difference there, like almost 1/2". I m not saying that your pine would buckle like a used car salesman will when he has a mechanic for a customer, but I believe that I would experiment with clamping them together for a couple of weeks and seeing what they tell you. | | | | | Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 2,696 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 2,696 | Ping Pong table plywood with the metal strips on top. Mine is 30+ years old and still running strong.
Craig My '50 Chevy 3100 5 window, '62-235cu, 3:55 rear My truck ....... Respect The Rust If I'm not working on my truck, '65 m00stang or VW camper, I'm fishing with the wife or smoking Salmon.
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