The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Wood finish for new bed wood

What's the best method of finishing new oak for a truck bed?
This will be a driver, not a show queen so I want something durable that looks decent. I was thinking of something that penetrates like tung oil but wanted to find out what the experts say.

Read this thread on finishes
Oil wood work but it ain't the best. With oil the rule of the as far as the number of coats is: 1 coat a day for a week, 1 coat a week for a month, one coat a month for year and one coat a year for life....don't know about you but that's a lot of work. Varnish is the way to go!

Thanks for that. I did a search and got so much I couldn't find what I was looking for.

I went with POR-15 and Blackcoat top coat. It was expensive, but tough as nails and looks good. I found that White Oak has a lot of tiny pores, so you have to sand between multiple coats until those pores are filled. Also, the grain of the wood has all but disappeared on mine. I like the look of it though and I will probably never have to do anything to the bed in my lifetime!

...just be sure to stand the boards in a pan of whatever you use to seal the ends. Thats where a lot of problems start. A good overnight soaking will do the job.... Thanks to bolter SW Radial for that tip.

I believe the best wahy to prep the boards is to use Seasonite. Seasonite will a crystaline surface on all the pore walls. On oak it will work within a short period of time because of the porosity of the wood. You can soak the boards in the seasonite for a couple hours then let them dry. The best finish to put on top and bottom is clear marine epoxy finish if you want to see the wood. You must do top and bottom. Seasonite will work by itself but a top coating will give a lasting protection to the top.

i used marine stain , tough 4 coats , than a sealer 5 years ago , looks great today yet! remember BOATs are in water all the time! good luck mick