The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 1965 Bed Wood - help getting it sanded and stained

I just bought a Oak bedwood kit for my 65 C10. Can anyone recomend what grit sandpaper to finish it with before I stain the wood? Also does anybody have any recomendations on what kind of stain and sealer works?

I actually have not used oak for a bed before, so take my advice with a grain of salt because there may be an aspect I'm missing.

Since it is a kit, I assume it is at least rough finished. That being the case, I would use something around 220 grit sandpaper to do the final sanding. After sanding and staining, I recommend using mineral spirits to clean the wood of excess dust/stain

Last summer I built a redwood fence (using both rough cut and finely sanded tongue and groove) and used SuperDeck Semi-Transparent Stain and Sealer. It is a deep penetrating stain and sealer all in one. Works very well and I never needed to apply a second coat. I used the same stuff on a redwood gate, and I didn't refinish it for several years and it really didn't need it, I just did it because I was building the fence and wanted them to match. I live in a desert valley where the gate and fence get beat with 90-115 degrees for half of the year, dust, wind and around 30 degrees in the winter, so the stain holds up very well by any standard.

SuperDeck Products

Hope this helps.

- Daniel

I'm in the process of finishing my oak boards for my '63. I took the advice of Mar-K, and used 3 coats of Pelucid, followed by 3 coats of Helmsmen Minwax clear gloss. I did not stain my boards, left them a natural red oak color, with some amber tone due to the Minwax product. Check out their web site, they've done case studies on finishes and how they weather. Also, sand between each coat with 220, 320 between the 5th and 6th coats. No sanding after the 6th coat.