The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Bedwood, pine or oak?

Well thats the question , pine or oak. What are the pros and cons. I'm thinking of going with a hard yellow pine, that was the original.

I used oak,because a local vender had a sale.I sure liked it once it was done.I'm happy with the choice

I think it all depends how historically accurate you want to be.
Personally I prefer the grain of oak, but that's just my opinion.

The original pine bedwood lasted many many years,bearing in mind they saw far more use than most of our trucks today will ever see.
It's your choice.

i just bought a oak from mark i it looks great in my 1946 chevy pickup .thanks

Oak seems to be the preferred wood but I am looking at some others that don't look like every other truck. I haven't found something to replace my oak yet but going to make that a winter project. Really wanted what was called pecky cypress but couldn't locate it yet

I don't garage my truck, and I intend to use it like a truck. I will be using pine. I don't want to worry about scratching or sun fadeing a nice oak bed.

I have cherry in both of my trucks,with about 5 coats of spar ureathane. They are in the shop all of the time and are done up more for looks.I would think any hardwood with a good finish would work out real well.There are two types of pine the hard southern yellow pine which should work out OK. Then there is the soft construction grade pine,which I would not reccomend.

Southern yellow pine was supposedly the original wood.

As far as what is the preferred wood: SYP is preferred by those who want an original style material; oak is preferred for its combination of cost/availability/appearance/endurance/stability, an exotic woods are preferred for their exoticness.

The truly preferred wood is whatever suits your tastes and pocketbook (do what suits you - if anyone disagrees, ignore them).

Most woods will look better than pine. However the pine with the resin in it should last longer and be lest prone to rot. IMO I am using oak but mine is more for show than grunt work and will be covered.

I decided to go with pine. I'll be painting it black, so I couldn't see any reason to go with nicely grained oak.
But... If I was building a custom truck.. I'd go with flamed maple stained with a nice aniline dye and sprayed with lacquer. Wait... I have a guitar like that! 8-)

I wonder, would that give the exhaust a deep mellow tone?

I'm hunting down some cypress I heard this guy has. It's been buried in the swamp fer quite a spell and he's had it sawn into lumber. It will last longer than the truck.

They claim cypress cut from a tree that is at least 70 years old will last forever.

Teak should hold up as well.

I wonder, would that give the exhaust a deep mellow tone? [/quote]

Depends on the Pick-up!

-Jeremy

Well I ordered the oak and it should be here pretty quick. They didn't specify if it was red oak or white. I'm not sure about what color to stain it (the truck is cardinal red and bombay ivory) and I'd like to have some UV protection.
Any suggestions???

PS no more musicians humor, hahaha

Lefty,
I would use Minwax, "Helmsman Spar Urethane" with the UV protectant on the NEW OAK, and just that no stain just clear....it will match well with your color combo.
Since you are done with Humor, heres a tip...buy onna them throw away aluminum roastin pans at Wally or whatever store ya frequent...add 1/4" of the urethane stand your new boards up in the pan leanin against a wall, wrap plastic wrap round the pan tight to keep as much air away as possible..an let that set as is over night an let that NEW OAK suck up as much of the Helmsman it can ...flip em over an repeat over night again ..now we are into DAY 3, remove from pan and set em all up on saw horses and let them cure over night.
DAY 4,now you will have a noticable build up that needs sanded smooth near the ends, time to sand that off on the face ..the back doesnt matter NO ONE GONNA SEE.
give all boards 5 coats front/back/sides...doing the back first then after 2 DAYS to cure do the face of your boards and follow the manufactures recomendation on sanding between coats, this will be a weeks long process BUT WORTH IT...AFTER all this you will have the best protected OAK boards you can get ...and HOPEFULLY you will never have any of those nasty BLACK STAINS bleeding up from the end grain show up in the future.
Take the advise or leave it ..just tryin to help
I've been a woodworker for 23 yrs...an have had MANY , MANY FAILURES ..of Red/White Oak projects that have been exposed to the weather ..an this process has been my best so far for Longevity.

Tim

Great advice Tim and one I will take.

Thanks Tim, very nicely layed out. I'm going to use this method word for word, no stain just the Minwax. I'm happy to use your 20 plus years of experience for my benefit and I hope the benefit of others who search this in the future.
Thanks again,
Jeff

The only con to white oak is the pores in the wood, it takes a lot of work to get them smooth. If you just slap some varnish on you will end up with bubbles and pits. Use a good pore filler first... ask me how I know.

I was just in Reno for Hot August Nights and saw some beautiful wood beds. One looked liked burled Walnut and another looked like quarter sawn cherry which had gorgeous waves in it.

Anyone use birds-eye maple?

BigChevy, I have used it in some quilt racks ect for the family but I think it would look really good in a stovebolt. If you use it please post a before and after pic. I'm curious.

I had an old maid aunt that had an entire living room room full of it, every piece of furniture. I haven't seen any since. I wish these beds would be constructed so we could swap out bedwood like our wives change shoes.

I am planning on using Mahogany. Does anyone know the dimensions of the original wood? I have a wood shop and will re-saw my wood to size, as it comes straight from the lumbar company.

My wood (8) has been sanded and is ready to be fitted to the bed as I assemble it. Those pieces are back in the box they came in and won't come out until ready for assembly sometime in late November or December. I will be happy to measure for you if someone doesn't give you the information before then.

If you use oak you might consider white oak vs. red. The white is not as porus (thus made into whiskey barrels) and will not bleed water through as fast as red (if water gets under the finish). Quarter sawn is nice with the ray flake pattern and that wood shrinks by its thickness rather than its width like the plain sawn.

Here are the dimensions you requested. Lots of good information here.
http://www.speedprint.com/deves50/bedwood.php

Yes Brad's link has some good information. However when it comes to finishing the wood I would go to Mar-K's site where you can see how they have for years tested the different methods of preserving the wood. Also a Bolter posted here the other day (I don't remember his name) a great way to prevent the ends of the wood from rotting too quickly. He said to stand your wood ends in a pan of whatever you are using to coat the strips and let it take up the chemical. I thought that was excellent advice.