The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Bed board finish

This is not another thread about what coating to use. I did have a question about the sheen. Are you guys using a full gloss or a satin finish on your clear coats. FYI - I will be using a product a guy at a wood shop told me he uses on everything exposed to the weather and it works great. TotalBoat Marine Varnish.

I used the gloss marine varnish on my bed. Held up well so far.

Is that yellow pine?

Satin finish on maple. Lots of compliments.

I used a deck stain tinted black for an original look. The guy at the paint store said people in Fairbanks are using it on decks with good results. It's an oil based stain. The only issue is drying time. I had to spray it in order to get it to dry. If I brushed it on it took forever to dry.

Sure is. Long leaf yellow pine. Some I salvaged from the depths.
This one is axe cut.

The Mar-K company that makes the bed parts, has quite a detailed article about the research they did on bed finishes. It's really good. You can find it on their website.

If you want the bed-wood painted black:

Mar-K:

POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint with Behr black glossy enamel:
(paint all 6 sides of each board)

Three coats of POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint applied 3 hours apart and the first coat of Behr applied 3 hours after the last coat of POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint.

Two more coats of Behr applied the next day.

o This appears to be a durable black paint system.
o Possible slight reduction of gloss since the initial application in July.
o You can see the grain pattern of the wood but the boards are fully sealed
and there are no flaws in the coating.

I have used this technique on two pine-wood beds:
- 1954/55 GMC 25' COE bed
- 1954 3100 Chevrolet 1/2 ton bed

I read the Mar-K study 6 years ago and did the black paint. I have mixed feelings about the results. It was on yellow pine. This time I am going with ash (just as hard and straight grained as white oak but half the price). I am going with a medium color stain and multiple coats of marine spar varnish. Just trying to decide gloss or satin.

Yep, The POR -15 for black is good. Top coat with
Rustoleum. I did the plywood bottom and top with
that on my panel. The clear marine varnish was brushed on 8 coats. One a day.

I did mine with cypress wood, minwax ebony stain and 3 coats of urethane gloss finish on both sides

Cypress would be my next choice. Nice!

Gloss for me.

Skooter,

Nice look especially the black contrast against the red and the light stain👍

Gloss on mine. Hickory wood.

Free OSB from somebody on Nextdoor / random leftover paint.