put a small screw into the centre of each end and hang with bail wire roll them with a roller then l would use epoxy two part resin clear coat coat after coat have fun
i used liquid granite expensive but good

 

Oh come on, that's just an extra coating. I also live in a rural area but it's getting developed. We're about the only real farm left for about five mile area. Until a few years ago the farmer across the road, now retired, used a spreader with a bad end gate and liked to put down a good layer of "fertilizer" down the road. I'm sure I had some of it under the F-2.

 

Sam, just curious...what finish did you choose...and how much (quantity,2-3 qts.?)

I know your the kinda guy who will fiqure out the square ft.,then read the coverage label on the can...might save me some "time"! .. thank's in advance! LoL!
I'm still along way from this chore, but it is on the list of things to do this summer.

I need to keep my eye's open for the right stuff,and grab it when I can,wouldn't want to run out of material. Keep at it , your trucks coming together nicely!

 

I like clean undies!

 

Seriously, if you care about the top surface, you need to do the bottoms and sides. The u-joints and pinion are bound to sling grease and oil up onto the boards, including the exposed sides, and it can wick under the top surface coating. Of course, that assumes you drive the truck.

Edz, are your shocks really laid out as flat as they appear? It looks like the driver's side would hit the exhaust.

 

I used a 17mm wide angle lens so there is some distortion in the picture. No problems with the shocks hitting the exhaust.

 

VERY Nice!!..

Sam

 

I did a Cabot Colonial Maple stain, followed by Gloss Spar Urethane. The natural Red oak was just too pale next to the green.. so a little Maple stain (2 coats) gives me the color I was looking for.

A quart says 100-150sq ft. the bed is 4x7 or 28sqft, times 4. = 112.. so 1 quart should get both sides 2 coats.. plus 1 more.. top 3 bottom 2. altho it appears I'm not getting as much absorption as I expected..
I am 2 coats top, with 1/3 used. (probably the 2 coats stain).

top will dry for the next 3 days while I'm gone to my Mom's 95th Bd party.
and we'll see how it looks then..
I picked up 2 quarts of Urethane, 1 quart of stain.

Sam

 

I always cover all sides, but whether it matters depends a great deal on what kind of grain the wood has, and the climate where you live. Red oak for example, will wick up stain, (or water) through the ends of the boards like a straw. I also do a little woodworkng, and wood seems to stay more dimensionally stable through the seasons if sealed on all sides. At least in the humid midwest it seems to matter.

 

I did mine by coating the ends sides and the bottom of each board the turning them right side up and place them on a board which had 4 8d nails driven thru it from the bottom so that the bed board was supported by 4 nails points only until it dries. Each recoat the board was move slightly so those nails points were in diferent places( it would be hard to get htem back in the same place anyway) worked like a charm.

 

Showoff!

 

I'm suprised more poeple don't make their own boards. It can't be that hard. Although I haven't seen them befor it was installed. Do they have to have mulitple grooves and recesses?

 

I used wooden saw horses on mine. I took the heads off of some rivets and drove them into the saw horse top making little spikes to set each board on. Sets em up high enough to do top and edges,let it dry turn em over and do the other sides. Be careful you dont scatch em when you take em off, lift straight up with em. You only have a few point marks to touch up if your careful. Start on the bottoms of the boards first then flip over for the tops is the better process.

 

They have routed edges on the sides & bottom. The outside boards edge cut is smaller than the inside edge
Sam

 

I did mine like edzackory, slow process but they turned out nice top and bottom. If I were to do another truck, no wood for me. Metal floor with bedliner would be on my agenda. In fact I recently saw an effie with a treadplate [no I don't know if it was aluminum] floor with bedliner on it and the sides. Very attractive to me. Joe