The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Got wood!

Yah, I know what your thinking! But no.
I finally got the oak and stainless steel strips in the bed of the 50.

Have a look at the yahoo link.
Wilbur

sweeeeeeeeeeet

Nice!!! What did you seal the wood with? I gotta re-do mine, and I'm looking for some opinions.

Mar-K has ongoing testing of several bed wood finishes. http://www.mar-k.com/wood_finish_testing_ii.html We coated test boards with ten different finishes and installed them in a test fixture outdoors with 24/7 exposure to the Oklahoma weather. In general, we have found that coatings need some kind of seal or primer coat for maximum durability. In the first series of tests, marine varnish by itself lasted only two or three months before defects appeared. The same varnish applied over epoxy lasted nearly a year.

I copied and pasted the reply above from an earlier post by Mar-K. This is good reading. I had a problem finding the marine primer I needed so I went ahead and used Spar Urethane. About 4 good coats on Oak wood. Looks great. I do keep my truck inside though. The frist time I did this it looked nice for about 3 years but it was exposed to the elements a lot. Read what Mar-K is doing and you will come up with the right answer for you.

I've actually been watching that test, so far everything I've considered using doesn't seem to have any durabilty to the elements. My truck is a daily driver, so it sits out in the sun, rain, etc. The only thing it doesn't see much of is snow. I just though I'd ask what others have had good results with before I taer mine apart to re-do it.

I used spar marine varnish. The truck won't see any harsh conditions as it's a fair weather truck.
The oak boards were cut and milled by my father-inlaw from a tree on his tree farm that fell. (30 foot tall tree).