The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Refinishing bed wood

I've been following the forums for a while but have not seen any reference to refinishing the old bed boards. I have a '49 3100 that is going into paint soon,(it's a frame off restoration) and I have been thinking about using the old yellow pine boards that came off of it. They are oil stained (previous owner stored engines in it) and cracked, but serviceable. I'm looking for ideas on finishing them. I'm leaning toward linseed oil with paraffin and maybe a little lamp black. I plan on using the truck for a daily driver and just want the boards to look decent and provide some water protection. Any experience or ideas would be welcome.

hey wis49er, Welcome to the site. You landed in the welcome center, we want you to feel at home here. Any technical questions should be posted in the appropriate forum, either general truck or paint and body. I do believe that the boards were painted black, if you are doing a restoration.

Leo

Welcome to the Bolter Wiser49er. You are at home now.

Leo is right on with his remarks. In fact there is a "BED" forum here for the what your looking for. Mar-K has done and continues to run test on different finishes and is very interesting reading. I think there is a link in the tech tips for it. Here is the link to the bed forum which is at the top of the page when you click on the Paint and Body forum.
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=27&page=1

You will enjoy reading these posts that I found by doing a search for Mar-K
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...p;Words=Mar-K&Search=true#Post699790

This should get you started

It will take a few days to learn your way around here in the different forums and the "going on's" but you will be just fine.
Now, how about a pic or two when you get it all figured out. We love pics.

Hi,
Once you've stained the wood w/ your linseed oil, let it dry and if you want you can put a coat of paste wax on top of it. Wax is a moisture barrier and will give you an added layer of protection.depending on the weather where you live you may want to do this 2x a year. Also, w/ each coat of wax , the wood will get shinier.You can buy a can of johnsons paste wax for about $6.00 @ home depot. If you don't want to go that route, you can stain the wood, let it dry, and apply a product called Cetol. It is made by Sikkens. it has great uv protection and you will probably need to apply a coat once a year. I use this on doors and thresholds. Hope this helps, Keenan

Thanks for all the suggestions and links. Yes, I knew as soon as I sent it I was in the wrong place. But I still got good feedback. I'll learn how to use the site eventually. And I will keep the bed site posted on how refinishing the original wood works. I'll try to post pictures as I make progress.

Good Luck and Welcome to Stovebolt!