The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Making your own wood bed strips or buying a kit?

I see how much the pre-made wood bed kits are and I am seriously considering making my own wood bed strips. Maybe I am being naive, but they do not really seem that hard to fabricate if one has the tools.

Has anyone ever made their own? How did they turn out. Thanks for all the advice

I plan on buying the steel strips, but making my own wood pieces of rough-sawn white oak for a non-skid surface. Probably use some kind of penetrating sealer top & bottom after milling the edges like the originals. I don't want the high-gloss, living room floor look, like everybody else has.

cm

If you're handy with a table saw they are not hard to make. Just make sure your dimensions and the cuts for the metal strips are and mounting holes for the outside planks are correct. Mar-K has the dimensions on their web site.

When you say bed strips, I think of the metal pieces that the cargo slides on, that are bolted down between the wood PLANKS or pieces. So if you want to make wood stuff, yup, pretty easy. All you need are the correct dimensions and it's pretty much a piece of cake. But, if you want to make metal bed strips, well, then you need to go into business. Because if you have all the tools to make those, then you are way ahead of us mere hobbyists.:)
(Also, you said "fabricate", which in this hobby, usually pertains to metal, not wood)

I made some recently out of Grade A cypress which will outlive me.I chose Cypress for it's resemblance to the original pine. I was able to score the boards on craigslist really cheap. About 4 hours later (planing, cutting, and sanding) and I had a bed kit. It is helpful to have a guy on the other end.I plan on buying the polished strips from one of the vendors, probably Mark-K due to their help in keeping this board up and running although they show up on e-bay occasionally cheaper. I have the original ones intact just don't feel like prepping them.

I just finished installing my bed wood yesterday, I found #2 pine locally and painted it black according to Mar K testing,
Here is a link to what I learned:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=475366

there are pictures in this link also. Good Luck....Kieth

Been there - done that

You need to know your wood source. It's nice to have a table saw, router, and drill press to do the job. You will need time, tool set up (building jigs and measuring your cutters), and clean up. You will get the satisfaction of saying "I built my own bed wood." But in the long run you won't save much money and they won't have the professional look. But that is OK if you plan to use your truck for work (i.e., no rubber mat in the back when you haul things).

Many years ago with my first c-10, I milled my own boards from mahogany, and refinished the metal strips in black, and it looked KILLER. I've never seen another like it before or since. I'd say it was fairly easy on the difficulty scale, but I was/am a professional cabinetmaker and had all the tools. (sure wish I could find an old photo).
My advice for the average guy that does not have a shop/tools/skills and wants an OAK bed.. Just buy it pre-made. WAY less headache and not that much more money. It'll fit right, look great, and take far less time.
Now if you want something unique or exotic, you may not have a choice but to do it yourself.

At all the shows we attend I always hear “ I did the bed myself” and never “Oh I assembled it from a kit” even though just about everyone buys kits – so I don’t see the upside to cutting the boards yourself. When I was younger my time didn’t have a value, now as I grow older I realize it does.

I've used several kits from Mar-K, the time saved & the ruined mis-cut lumber I would have piled up is worth it, IMO. I can build structure, but I'm no trim carpenter at all.

EnGnR70, it's like the comparison between marrying a beautiful woman and paying a beautiful woman to be your "escort".

On a practical level, I made the bed wood for my '36 Chevy pickup back in the 1960s when I was a 20-something college kid. The only tools required were a table saw and a drill. No fancy skills nor tools were required. The vertical grained fir still looks very presentable 40+ years later.