The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed MAR-K

I have two questions as I am pndering my order for my 53. First, is the pine bed wood the southern yellow pine? Second, does anyone have an opinion on the black powder coated bed strips vs. the steel and painting them? Thanks, Mike

powder coat is by far more durable.

65panel:
Our pine is southern yellow pine, cut from forrests in Arkansas.

Powder coat is definitely more durable. A down side of Powder coat is that it is harder to repair if it gets scratched or damaged. Be sure you don't have to do any custom cutting or holes after the parts are coated. Also, color matching is more difficult and you may be limited by what colors are available at the coater.

We are not making powder coated strips any more but we have inventory of most years. We try to keep the website current, if it shows the part is available for your truck, it should be in stock. If you order powder coated strips from Mar-K, be sure to ask that someone verify stock when you place your order.

Mar-Ktech

Thanks Mar-Ktech.

Are the bed boards quarter sawed of flat cut, and can I request quarter sawed when I order. The site says ready to finish, but an earlier post talked about planer cutter marks, should I expect to be sanding these out? I am just want to know what to expect. I will be going black with the boards as original. Also, if I have to verify stock does that mean it is not an online order with the free shipping? I have a $900 order working and free shipping helps a lot.
Thanks,
Mike

Mike:
These pine boards are all planed but not sanded. The planer leaves the characteristic marks, and should be sanded before finishing.

We buy pine that comes from an excellent mill in Arkansas and the end grain indicates it is probably flat sawn. Your 53 needs 4 1X8's and 4 1X6's. I don't think there are many pine trees being cut that are large enough to be quarter sawn into 1X8's. Many of the 1X6's in our stock have the end grain similar to quarter sawn, but none of the 1X8's have that characteristic. As you know, quarter sawn boards require a somewhat larger log than flat sawn boards.

Regarding the on-line order, just place it through the on-line catalog. If the part is not available, you will be notified. You can also call ahead of time and let them know your intention to order on line and someone can check it and call or email you back before you order.

Mar-Ktech

Thank you!

I bought the plain steel strips & had them powdercoated locally,,Brian

Had a wonderful customer service experience with MAR-K this morning. All parts were checked for their availability, the customer service person offered to take the order over the phone and still gave the free shipping and said we should see things in 10 days or so. If the part quality is as good as the customer service I will be one happy camper!
Mike

I too had a good experience with MAR-K and "Mar-Ktech" was quick to answer the email question I sent him.

[img]http://www.laroke.com/larryk4674/2007/bb010107ct.jpg[/img]

The BIG picture

I got my yellow pine from MarK and let me tell you I'm just sick over them. One looks like wormwood or some thing hundreds of fairly deep pin holes most just look like a washboard.I have three in decent shape after 8hrs of blocking. Mon. I'll try to pin down a cabnet maker,60mi. away and see if these can be leveled up.Looks like another lemon I can't suck

Popa,,Dont let them burn you. Send it back!!!

I agree, send it back. It's called quality control.

I think Mar-K will do right by you. Contact them!

Peggy

Popa:
We are very interested in learning more when a customer lets us know of a quality problem with Mar-K products. Please send pictures or more information about your problem. PM or send your invoice number and date of purchase so we can follow up.

Mar-Ktech

My order from Mar-K arrived yesterday. It was well packaged and all cartons arrived in good shape. Last night I went through all the metal parts and everything looked very well made. I ordered a front bed panel, front, rear and 3 center cross sills, along with a pine bedwood kit and bed strips and bolts. The front bed panel will take a little more work than I thought to fill the spot welds from where ti was rolled over and fastened to the flat panel, all else looked good, I am not sure yet what will be used to fill the weld dimples.
I will get back when I go through the bed boards and let everyone know how they are.
Mike

I got my 46 bed kit from Mar-k last week. Looked great, well packaged and marked. I can't wait to start putting it all together. The metal work was fantastic and wood (oak) just beautiful. Really happy with the way everything looks. I will let you know about the fit.

Frank

What flavor is the oak, red or white?
Denny G

Mar-K sells red oak.

Now there ya go Bill, the guy at the Hardwood store claims that white oak stands up to the weather better than the red oak or yellow pine. Anybody have any first hand experience with either?
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I have not tried the others but I have had white oak in my bed since 2000 and it is holding up good. The color will change due to UV light unless you use good primer/sealer/etc.

OK Now..Laroke..did you paint your boards? Or is that a Jacobean stain?..Popa..you should just contact a vendor when you not happy before you trash him on semi live TV.....ha ha ha ...

White oak is a lot denser grain than red oak ...it has its grayish/blue color due to that ..if i was gonna use oak in a bed floor I would go with White Oak it may no be as pretty as Red Oak ...but it will hold up better over the yrs .
Now the down side of White Oak ...If not properly dried it will surface crack or (Craze) an you will have to make sure too seal it properly if you cant mill or sand it out if it is deep.
Remember when usin Red Oak it is very pourous an will suck up water at any place it can ...a scratch will let water in so apply many coats ..an the end grain is especially a prob area ...nothin worse than makin your bed look like a million bucks ...an one or two rain storms a drivin an you start seein it all turn black an goin too poop on the ends .
an it will creep ..trust me .
I was at the Atlanta show last yr ..an there was a demonstration , they put a vacume pump on a pc of Red Oak an stuck it in dyed water you could watch the oak draw up the water like a straw ...it was neat ..but that showed me for the last time ...I would not recomend Red Oak for a bed at all unless you are gonna be a weekend only out in the sun or trailor queen ...for a daily driver you wont get more than a yr or two without it all goin down hill & startin to creep up at ya an all your hard work will be poop in a yr maybe 2 at most an all you will have is an ugly stained an blackened bed floor with the finish liftin off.
I recomend the pine ...or Hickory ...for stabilty

update ...just a thought ..Hard Maple is also a good selection for outdoors due to too its density and durabilty ..it wont draw of its end grain near as much as Oak ...

just one more tip if ya decide to use Oak ...take a pan an add your finish bought 1/2" an stand your boards uprite in it over nite to let the end grain draw as much as it can up into the poures as possible...just wrap some reynolds wrap around the pan an your boards so it doesnt dry out ...that will give ya more time before it goes poop on ya .

Good tip radial!! I did that with my cherry and purpleheart bed. I used Watco Teak Oil and soaked the ends for 8 hours. The Watco started to gel up or I would have done it overnight. The Cherry sucked up more than the Purpleheart. Those black spots from water on red Oak are almost impossible to get out without dishing the board.

OAK of any kind is great for trailor queens an show trucks that dont see weather ....but for a driver go with the factory ..pine dents easily an will get torn up if ya use it ...but will hold up to the weather ..It is a choice for the owner to make ..I am just givin ya the reality of the future ....OAK an water DO NOT MIX...just the nature of the beast .

Mike,

All the boards got two coats of POR-15 (I know it's a metal paint) followed by two coats of black water-based enamel.

I like that look...Its different, do you think it will stand up? How long has it been on.

Only time will tell, Mike. The bed was put in on New Year's Day so it's only six months old. My finish is based on one of the Mar-K site test samples. They use 3 coats of POR-15 followed by 3 coats of Behr's outdoor enamel and after two years out in the weather, it is doing better than any of their other samples.