Is it worth trying to make your own wood bed rather then buy a kit from a parts place? The unfinished wood is rather expensive and I hate to spend that kind of money when I will be using my truck for runs to home depot etc. Doe's anyone know where I can get the mesurments for the wood? I found this on the internet years ago and can't remember where. Thanks guys, Scottys54 ps. I finally got my truck running pretty good after almost 2 years of having the front end off and the engine out. I now have it at a local garage that specializes on older cars and trucks and I am makeing sure I did everything right and making sure it will be dependable. Thanks for the help that I have gotten from you guys!!!!!!
Scotty, I went through the same problem when trying to find wood for my '55.1 bed. I too am building a work truck with my kids. I could not find southern yellow (hard) pine as original anywhere near me. I wanted to build my own bed wood with the kids as well. I wanted to keep it original looking with the bed strips, etc but save on costs as the bed wood kits are a little $pendy. After much searching, the only hard wood I could find was poplar which is indeed pretty cheap, but still would have cost much more for the wood than the bed wood kits from the suppliers would have cost. I finally bit the bullet and bought a bed wood kit from our host site. I was going to use pressure treated wood as it is very inexpensive, but then realized that it is now called ACQ. All ACQ pressure treated wood must be fastened with stainless hardware because the chemical used to treat it rots out conventional and even galvanized fasteners. I figured that if the leaching of these chemicals rot out the fasteners, those same chemicals would probably also rot out the steel of my truck. So, the bed is going to be the prettiest part of my truck. I finished the wood by thinning out some black oil based house paint with mineral spirits and painting it onto the wood and immediately wiping it off with paper towels. It made it look like black stain which was the original "look" on the beds of these trucks. Then coated with 2 coats of McCloskey's Man O' War marine varnish (available at better paint stores). That varnish is a great exterior grade stuff. After 2 coats a light sanding to cut down the grain that the varnish raised up and then 3 or 4 more coats of varnish. Use a foam brush. It lays down the varnish nice and smooth with no brush marks. The wood looks unbelievable and I will be a little ashamed driving such a "beater" work truck with such a nice looking wood bed. I'll probably wind up using one of those thick rubber bed mats when hauling stuff cuz it just looks too good now. Andy
Scotty, here's another site that might be helpful. www.chevytrucks.org/jeff/ Click on the triangle next to technical articles and look at the bedwood article.
Way 2 Go Andy ! I'm useless with wood (Router etc.) so I'll prolly eventually buy a bed wood kit . I like the sound of your bed Andy , the labor you put into finishing the wood will ensure it lasts a long time .
Easy to do! I made my own bed boards out of kiln-dried white oak that I got from a sawmill that supplied hardwood flooring. I have a planer and jointer so I machined the rough wood down to the correct dimensions myself, but any decent woodworking shop (or buddy with the tools) should be able to do this for you. The grooves can be cut on a table saw. I used an adjustable dado blade but several passes with a standard blade would have done it too, just have to move the guide fence a little between passes. I've got about $50 in wood, and will probably replace a couple of the boards this spring to get a more consistent color (see photo). If you go to Lowe's or Home Depot to buy wood, you will pay out the wazoo for it. Go to a woodworking supplier, the prices are much better, but be sure it's kiln-dried so it doesn't warp or split on you. Good luck!
My truck is a daily driver and still goes to the shows a couple times a week. Earlier, I watched the guys with the Cherry, Walnut and oak beds get all panicky when a rain cloud blew over and decided to take a different route. I'm sure the "purists" will be sucking air at my suggestion, but I went with a synthetic deck board from Home Depot (Veranda), shelved my beat-up bed strips and came up with a bed that is waterproof, easy to install and looks as good as the day I put it in. The product can be scratched if you don't use a bed mat. It has been in the truck for nearly 2 years, hasn't sagged or shone any sign of wear. It's gray in color and has a wood grain pattern on one side, fastened in with galvanized bolts and the cost wasn't that much more than the bed kits. I have a picture of the install in my Webshots album and even with a 1/8" spacing between boards it stay completely dry now that I have installed a bed cover. If you're looking for a maintenance-free product it might be an option. Dave
Pix WHERE ? O.K. , I just chugged through 15 pages of pictures (BTW: NICE TRUCK, lotsa hard work there !) and not ONE picture of the bed , of it's wood..... Synthetic bed wood sounds like a good idea for us working class truckers , I'd like to see how it looks .
Thank You ! Dang , I hate being a compoter dummy So this is plastic ? looks pretty good to me ! I'd like it even better if the bed strips were retained .
There is a question regarding the strength if you use these "plastic" boards-- long discussion on the Stovebolt site-- should be OK if you used a plywood cover on the floor when hauling.Perhaps an extra crossbrace under the floor would work-- but check it out before you buy the planks.
Load Capacity I see . Having fallen through the floor of my bed allready , I know how much NOT fun this can be ~ . I generally use it four hauling misc. automotive junk these days , that and towing .
Guy's, your truck will give you the bed wood sizes needed. On the row of holes across the rear cross member measure between the holes, not center to center, and this is the WIDTH of boards needed. Now measure from the flange on the front bed panel to the back of the board step in the rear cross member, this is the LENGTH needed but cut about 3/16 shorter to allow for flex without squeaking or binding. Now to grooving; first set your table saw blade 5/8" above table and the fence so it's almost against the blade. Run all the boards through (on edge) but remember the two outer boards only need grooved on one side. A guide board clamped on the table 3/4" from the fence will keep the groove even the length of the board. Now set your blade 1/8" above table and your fence 5/8" from the blade and run boards through again. Your done. Here is the math: 5/8 + 5/8 + 1/4(for the bed bolt) ='s 1 1/2", the width of a bed strip. I shave the outer edge of the side boards to adjust for clearance needed. You can do this in about half an hour but the finishing and coating is a long process. Be sure to seal all six sides of the board and double or triple seal the ends.
Jeez Evan!!! Where was this post when I was trying to figure out what to do with my bed. sure makes things very simple. Leave it to you to come up with the simple way to make the most of any situation. gotta love your experience and know-how. Too bad I'm already into the finishing of my CP bed wood. You KNOW that I will be using this post on future trucks. Andy
Thanks guys!!!!!!!! You guys have all the answers. These are a bunch of great ideas. I am excited about getting to my bed project now. I thought I had asked a dumb question but it seems that alot of people have run into this issue already with what to do with there beds. Scottys54
Hey Scotty : There are NO ' dumb questions ' ! . If you don't know if it's O.K. to lock the passenger side door by locking the inside handle when it's open then slamming it (BAD) , ask ! that's why we're here . I ask impossibly stupid questions all the time and someone here always knows the correct answer , or goes and finds out then reports back here . This is a freindly group so c'mon in ~ that water's fine
It all depends on what you want and your carpentry skill. The wood can be a lowly as salveged from condemmed houses or even plywood with dados cut for thr metal strips. A tablesaw is nice but a router or a skill saw will work just as well. We used to have a railroad cross tie treating plant and planks from the cross ties was cheep and any type hardwood you could imagine. The wood does not have to go to a dry kiln. It can be stacked with strips between layers and latter moved inside your air conditioned house and stacked under the bed for a month. Thats as dry as it will ever get. Oak wood may smell like the dog marked his territory.
I was thinking of using expanded metal. That way, all the nails and screws from the crap I'll haul can just fall straight out as I'm going down the road.
Sure, it all depends on what you want. You can use any wood, treated any way you want, spend as much or as little time as you like to get a bed in your truck. If you just want something for a hauler, go for the plywood. Saves you time and money. However, if you want a bed that is pretty as well as strong, get good quality wood and spend the time it takes to protect and beautify it. While green or wet, untreated oak (especially red oak) can smell like the "dog marked his territory", dry oak with 3-4 coats of polyurethane (or any other good sealing finish) has no smell, except for the finish maybe. While kiln-dried wood is not absolutely necessary, it's the best way to get wood that is dried consistently, and is less likely to split, warp, or bow. Furniture makers and flooring folks shoot for about 9% moisture content in their wood. Sure, you can air dry it (I have about 7000 bd/ft of walnut sticked/stacked in my barn) but it does not dry as evenly and consistently as it does in a kiln. And "dry as it can be" may not be what you want. Too dry and it will swell when the humidity goes up. Not dry enough, and it may twist or crack when the humidity drops. The grooves in the bed of our trucks allow for the expansion and contraction. Me, I prefer to minimize any of that. And given a choice, most furniture makers and woodworkers will opt for kiln-dried lumber over air dried, but what the heck, it's just a truck bed.
