Hey, the wood in the bed of my truck is so rotten i don't know what it looked like originally. I was getting ready to get some new wood together, but i don't know if it originally had a lip cut into the edges, and if anyone has a pick i would be grateful.
Thanks

 

still have the original wood in my bed i'll get a picture sometime today unless someone beats me to it.

btw there are several suppliers of wood for your bed, precut and all that. kinda spendy but would pbly save some time and headaches.

 

The original wood was rabbeted for the bed stripes.

Carpenter has oak bed wood kits pre-rabbeted (but without any sort of finish) available. I bought a DC kit for a b/d present for a pal a mine who has a 1954 F100, it fit perfect.

The original wood was pine, came from forests of timber Ford owned in northern MI. At one time, Ford owned the forests, the sawmills and the ships to bring the wood to the factory.

Y'all know, of course...that originally, the wood and strips were painted the same color as the truck. Didn't take too long for the paint to "go away."

Today, most bed wood is stained, varnished, or coated with polyurathane, varathane...or whatever. Make sure that whatever finish you use, that you do it on both sides, more coats on the bottom side.

 

Take some pictures of your bed before and after. If you make your own planks, could you please measure for me? I have been planning my own wood floor in my bed but not to be the same as just regular old OE Oak. When I was doing hardwood flooring I couldn't find any planks wide enough available to run full length. I would have to special order.

 

My father in law is an exceptional woodworker, so i think we are going to give it a go.

 

Just some thought;
I'm going to place the composite decking in my current build. 1964 Styleside. This truck will be expose to all four seasons.

 

heres some pictures of my original floor, if they don't come thru i'll try it again. warped and all beat up but i'm going to keep the original boards anyway will pbly just soak them in linseed oil or something similar. my camera sucks but i'll take more if you need them. they are taken at the back of the bed and underneath.

 

Another option is to install a plywood bed like the one seen below. If you live around trees you might be able to source better quality individual hardwood boards of Oak or Ash for example. I'm in a good area. I found several different varieties of rough cut hardwood boards available. Getting a finished product was a little more expensive but doable. I was able to obtain Ash for mine. I helped cut and plane the boards to save some money. My wife and I will stain and varnish them soon and then I will install them. The end result is more work but cheaper than a kit.

 

All bed boards are 78"x5-3/4"x3/4". I don't know who to give credit for my reference but here it is anyway.

 

Thanks, I wonder if this will apply to a Bed that came with a steel floor as well. My steel floor has more rolls than a warped badly wood one, it looks like a steel tsunami back there. I'm going to cut that metal floor out and lay my own planks in. Make my own bed strips yada yada yada...

 

The bed wood diagram works for small flair-side short bed trucks like mine. Other bed styles certainly will not work without some fabrication. Anyway I'm doing mine this summer and I will post some more pictures then. It's a real nice upgrade if you are considering doing a custom job? Post a few pictures if you do.

 

Oh I will, I usually wait until im finished with my plans before even talking about them. but thought this was a good subject about wood bed floors.

 

I used the drawing dimensions that was supplied on this thread by a fellow enthusiast. I started with marine grade 3/4X8' AC plywood with an oak skin on both sides. I cut for length first at 78 inches for short bed flareside, 1948 and up. I then ripped all 8 boards on a table saw, (5 3/4" wide) and had just an inch or less left. Perfect! I then set up the Dado blade on the table saw and carefully cut the step on all the boards per drawing on this thread. Next I sealed the 'chosen' bottom side with 3 coats of Minwax brand polyurethane all weather clear, 1 coat per day. Next I did the top side with 4 coats red oak stain/sealer, (Minwax), also 1 per day. I wanted more red, so I did another coat of sedona red, and that popped hard! Then after another day of drying, I brushed on the first coat of the same clear I used on the bottom side. 4 days later, 4 coats, I had my boards done. It came out awesome! I bought the polished stainless strips on e-bay for 170 total, and the plywood was 45 bucks. Alot cheaper than buying the pre-made boards and paying the shipping. If you have the time and are patient you can easily save 400 bucks and it looks/functions just as well as any storebought! Thanks for the drawing!

 

I used the drawing dimensions that was supplied on this thread by a fellow enthusiast. I started with marine grade 3/4X8' AC plywood with an oak skin on both sides. I cut for length first at 78 inches for short bed flareside, 1948 and up. I then ripped all 8 boards on a table saw, (5 3/4" wide) and had just an inch or less left. Perfect! I then set up the Dado blade on the table saw and carefully cut the step on all the boards per drawing on this thread. Next I sealed the 'chosen' bottom side with 3 coats of Minwax brand polyurethane all weather clear, 1 coat per day. Next I did the top side with 4 coats red oak stain/sealer, (Minwax), also 1 per day. I wanted more red, so I did another coat of sedona red, and that popped hard! Then after another day of drying, I brushed on the first coat of the same clear I used on the bottom side. 4 days later, 4 coats, I had my boards done. It came out awesome! I bought the polished stainless strips on e-bay for 170 total, and the plywood was 45 bucks. Alot cheaper than buying the pre-made boards and paying the shipping. If you have the time and are patient you can easily save 400 bucks and it looks/functions just as well as any storebought! Thanks for the drawing!

 

I could not find this post
What did you use for finish?
I'm using varnish my bed is 8' so 54" wide
Was hard to find the wider boards(71/2" to91/2")
But got them in oak
Not installed yet