I would highly recommend NOT using oak (red or white) ash, or any softwood like pine, cedar for the bed if you are planning a clear finish. Maple, Cherry, Mahogany, Walnut, or most of the dense fine grained tropical hardwoods are suitable if you do decide on one of the exotics, PM me before buying and I can tell you if it would be suitable. Do an advanced search on my user name and bed wood or wood finishing with pure tung oil, I have posted a number of times about wood beds and the only clear finish that will stand up and how to apply it. If you can't find any or don't know how to use the advanced search, again PM me.

 

Re: Smokey Road Rod Shop...
Stuff like that can easily lead me to the darkside...

 

How much higher are the skid strip edges than the wood? My skid strips are about 1/4" high so if I rabbet the edge down 1/8" the strip edges will be about 1/8" higher than the wood. Does that seem correct?

 

See diagram in post #3 in this thread.

 

I saw the diagram but since I am working on a F2 Express bed, there are differences between the thread #3 F1 bed diagram and my bed. Just trying to verify everything so I can measure twice and cut once.

 

I would think that there would be no difference in the bed strips, and since you already have one in hand you can feel pretty certain that your earlier bed would have the same depth lip as the F100s.