Morning, I'm getting close to doing the wood in my bed. I'm building a daily driver and don't want to be married to varnished wood. I know it looks great but I will never stay up with it and before long it will look like you know what. I'm considering bed linering the wood, or the artificial wood they use on decking. I understand it can be purchase in sizes just like regular lumber. Has anybody got any feed back on this subject? Thanks
After much thought and thinking about all the same options that you have, I broke down and bought the pine bed wood from our host site, pre-cut and pre-drilled. Best decision I could have made. fit like a glove, no worries at all. Mine is a work truck, fun for the kids. thinned out oil-based exterior house paint was used for the black stain effect. Brushed it on and wiped it off. shows the grain nice. 5 or so coats of exterior marine grade varnish. Looked GREAT in the truck for all of 2 days until the kids and I loaded it up for our first trip to the dump. Now, when it's cleaned up and swept out, it still looks pretty darn good, even with the scars, and scratches. No worries. Buy the wood. It's what is made for the truck, easy install. Finish it proper. Just don't worry about getting it marked up. I use a piece of 3/8 plywood on top of the bedwood when hauling stuff. Keeps SOME of the scratches off it and makes for unlaoding at the dump easier. Andy
If you're handy with wood work , it's a fun thing to make your own bed wood but thw wood used is critical ~ it's HARD PINE not the $pendy soft pine crap your local lumber yard want to foist on you ! . Proper Hard Pine is a Southern wood . available but you have to look for it . Cut and rout the wood , assemble the bed then take it all apart again and use thinned out stain or black paint in many thin coats so it'll soak in , don't forget the ends . I've heard some folks using that plastic fauz wood stuff but I've never seen it . prolly really good for work trucks . I use a slab of exterior plywood treated with hardwood oil.... oh hell I forgot the name of the nut oil but it's here on this list along with comprehensive measurements for the planks should you go that route .
bed wood options After unsuccessfully reaching my desired color with stain on red oak, i primed and base/cleared over the marine poly. Hopefully the auto clear will help avoid deterioration. My uncle has done several of these and he always shoots clear over the finished marine polyurethane. So far his have held up great, of course it is stored in a garage....but his oldest "restoration" was at least 6-7 years ago. I've also seen somewhere, cant remember where, that carried metal flooring for these that are bent to the shape/ height of the original wood....and allowed for use of the strips between them. If anyone knows who has it, please post...i would have gone with that option if i hadnt already had the wood. barnes
You got it, Nate~ Also know as YELLOW pine. Stuff's so hard, you darn near have to drill holes to get your nails through it! (Helps to keep the wood from splitting iffin you're nailing close to the end of the board.)
Tungnut oil works very well and will stand up to high humidity. Linseed oil is great if you live in a dry climate and dont have trouble with milldew. Slow growth 1/4 sawn short leaf pine is best. Try to pick lumber with 16 to 18 growth rings per inch. It is very easy to mill the edges on a table saw.
Pine will rot quicker than hardwoods like oak. Now if you want a really long lasting wood use teak or 70 year old cypress.
I used a product called Veranda from our local Home Depot in my 54 truck. Comes in 8' lengths, is 5-1/4" wide and I used 10 boards. It's a composite plastic decking material and can easily be cut with a chop and table saw. Didn't bother to use the bed strips and just used galvanized 1/4" carriage bolts and drilled the cross members. The product comes in a grey color with a woodgrain pattern on one side and a non-slip surface on the other. The 2 side pieces were cut 3-3/4" wide and rabbetted to fit under the side angle strips and I left a 1/16" between the other 8 boards for expansion. It was exposed to the weather for almost a year before I added my tonneau cover with no sagging between the stock bed supports. The only down-side was that it can be gouged if you're planning on hauling stuff that slides around in back. Just tossed in a piece of rubber mat for heavy hauling. Cost-wise, it was a bit more than conventional wood but I had no worries about it getting wet or having to refinish it. I have a picture of the install on page 8 of my "Shoebox" album. Dave
Rotting Bed Wood Actually no ~ that's why the Southern Hard Pine , it takes decades to rot unlike regular pine which will begain softening up in a few years maximum . I too have been using the Tong Nut oil . it's cheap and goes on easily , even on old bed wood , the one thing they don't tell you is : WEAR GLOVES ! . it's a b*tch to get off youe hands of you don't
