The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Wood bed refinishing ...

Hello everyone - I just joined here and am happy to say I bought my first Chevy pickup (1952) this week!! Anyway, I couldn't find the exact info I was looking for so I thought I'd post a question:

The bed on my truck was new about 10 years ago. The (oak) wood is in very good shape, stainless steel strips, but I want to refinish it. Any advice before I just jump in and start? I see different suggestions for polyurethane, etc so I would love some advice before I start. I saw a few suggestions on here and I imagine that there is more than one way to skin this cat.

Thanks so much and looking forward to being an active participant.

Welcome Dan,
Chack out my site on cardomain (follow my sig link).
I used Helmsman Spar Urethane on the bed I just installed last month. Great Stuff.
Plus I'm sure more people will be around the chime in.

HC

Dan:
what kind of wood ya got there? PS I spent a summer at Vandy doing some research, love Nashville...

Dan,
the fact you are in TN should mean that there is a woodworkin plant someweres near ya ...if you can locate one ...take your boards an see if you can get them to run em through there wide belt sander to remove .020 to .030 grand of there face ..you will be startin with fresh new lumber and will be happy with the results ..they will prob. charge ya a fee for sure ..but YOU WILL BE AHEAD OF THE GAME ...after that.
now you are dealin with OAK ..soo dip the ends of your bed boards in a the same thing you are gonna use for finishin the Face side ..to try an get some capilary action of the OAK ...to seal the ends real good !
after that use a GOOD sealer dependin on how you will use this bed .Show ?... Hauler ?
if you dont care abought the looks of the bed 6 months or a yr. down the road ...any over the shelf varnish or urethane will do ...you are gonna make a mess haulin anyway.
Now if ya gona show this truck you may want to spend some xtra .Pick your Stain.an get the best Urethane clear you can get your hands on ...several coats an a sandin between will be the thing to do ..you can bring the grain of that Oak to a SHOW STOPPER !~
You need to decide how far ya wanna go ..eventually if your Ride isnt a trailor queen ...the inevitable BLACK s&*t will show its ugly face it is the nature of the beast ...(OAK).an OUTDOORS do not mix ...humidity and your place of origin will make your efforts fall apart ..in 1 to 2 yrs ...you will have the mildew an BLACK...if ya store outside or drive daily ...these are the drawbacks of an Oak bed .
Tim

Wow thanks, Tim for the info.

No, it will not really haul anything and will be garage kept. My feeling is that if I'm going to do something, I want to do it as well as I can. I don't mind paying a little more for that. Especially since a great wood bed is SOOOOOOOOO beautiful!

Will it be fairly easy to disassemble the wood bed?

Thanks again!

Dan

I recently finished my bed wood (Oak) and used spar varnish sanded between coats and I put 6 coats on all sides, especially the ends. If you seal all surfaces it will stand up much better and will not wick water into the boards. With the 6 coat spar varnish job my bed wood looks like furniture. It's a lot of work but worth it.

Mar-K has been doing some testing over time and the results should be out. Its good reading. Some recommend the sealer from a marine place. I think Mar-K mentions this in their write up. What ever you buy make sure it has "Spar" in it. The spar is what is suppose to shrink or expand with the wood to some degree which keeps the finish from cracking and letting in moisture and then, as Raidal says, the black stuff taketh over! And as mentioned, mulitple coats and plenty on the ends. Mine has held up well but it stays inside most of the time. One caution is if you do not use GOOD stuff then it will "yellow" or turn some color, depending on type of wood. Some is just more UV resistant than others. Be sure to post us a picture and good luck.

Hi again everybody and thanks for all the good advice. I will definitely post pics when I get going... and I'm looking forward to learning from those who have 'been there'....

Dan B

Mar-K has finished their 2 year test of bed wood finishes and the results cab be found here:

http://www.mar-k.com/final_summary.html

I have used the POR-15 product called "Plecid" and it can be easily applied with a foam brush. It cures with moisture so it will actually curefaster on a humid day. After applying 3 coats it looks like the wood has water pooled on the surface. It should be top coated with Helmsman's Spar Urethane for it's UV protection. I have even seen a POR-15 distributors home after he used this stuff on his Oak staircase and the gloss look is unbelievable.

I did my bed boards just last year I stained them Mahogony...First I sripped them, then sanded, stained, and use a good spar varnish on them. Thats the easy part getting the boards out and in is fun if you don't have a hoist raise your truck off the ground this helps you slide in and out from underneath the truck. To get the bolts out I think they are 80 of them you need to get something to pound them out with some are tight. I bought new galvanised bolts and nuts the stainless steal bolts were to much money. You will need to improvise sometimes to get all the boards back right so don't tighten any thing down... Any way have fun I think one of my pics shows the results.. Peter ....any problems just ask....

Wowzers, are we related?! Welcome to the bolt DanB, it's a great place to find help!
Dano