Black walnut with a tung oil finish could boggle the mind.

 

Do I also use varnish or just the tung oil. If just the oil do I redo every so often or would it be best to varnish the underside, ends and sides that are covered Dave s

 

Thanks guys for the replys.I just ordered the 1/4 sawen oak.All I have to do to it is cut the notices on the sides and drill the holes.Pros Picks wants $410 for white oak.

 

Quater sawn white oak will be ideal . With a natural clear finish the flecks and stripes will be beautifully enhanced . Great choice !! We will need pics when completed .

Cedar - way too soft .

Black walnut would be awesome with a natural finish also .

Used white ash on the 1ST-RIDE bed . See pics in albums .

 

It is best for any wood to keep the same finish on all sides. If you varnish one side and oil the other each side will take on moisture at a different rate and warping will eventually be the result. If you really want to keep it perfect oil is the way to go but when you re-oil it would be best to do both sides. I know it would be a bitch to take it all apart again though to do it, but that would be best for the wood. Even if you get underneath and apply the oil it would be better than just doing the exposed side. And make sure you really oil the end grain on each board a lot, the end grain will soak up moisture like a straw if it isn't sealed well. And, in my opinion oil is the best way to go. Varnish becomes a hard surface that will scratch and allow moisture into the grain. Not good on the bed of a truck.

 

Thanks to Sparky, Horvats, Topmoo and especially reg1952 (did not mean to hijack your wood question)and anyone else that answered for being so knowledgeable in both trucks & wood (must be nice). You saved me $$ and possibly having to redo the bed in a few years- it may be work to do it right but that is what it is all about. Thanks again. Dave S

 

I recently replaced my bed with reclaimed longleaf southern yellow pine and used two products made by Waterlox as a sealer and finish. For the end grain I used Anchorseal.
Waterlox is a tung-oil based sealer/finish system and I used a semi-gloss finish. So far, I am very happy with Waterlox.
I had the boards milled to 7/8" thick and did the remainder of the milling using a tapered rabbet on the edges.
Additional photos of the bed replacement are up in one of my albums.
My lesson was this replacement took a while to do correctly and can not be rushed. Good luck!

 

A wood oil finish is the only way to go , but a word of caution , leave plenty of time betwen coats , especialy in high humidity areas or you can end up with a sticky mess . It's easy to get in too big of a hurry . Rub down with 0000 steel wool between coats . Walnut is a very porus wood , might take six or more coats to get a really great finish .

 

Thanks JohnS49 -- seeing I have more time (I hope ) than money taking my time should not be a problem. I've had this F3 for 15 years and it has really just been the last 2 I've done anything with it. Does anyone think I,m nuts to use Black Walnut for any reason?? Dave S

 

If you've got it , flaunt it !

 

1954_NJ, Longleaf Yellow Pine was a favorite of old time boatbuilders for planking material...Stable, rot resistant, and easily bent. Do you have any more??? I need 100, 2"X8"X 20'.
I agree with an oil finish...The amount of effort is commensurate, as it always is, with the results. The rule of thumb for a furniture grade finish is: " Oil applied once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year there-after (Like forever!).
I think that the best of the marine finishes would be ideal for bed work. My personal favorite marine finish is Sikkens, "Cetol Marine". It has the highest amount of U/V inhibitors available. It is available in a high gloss formula if that's your bag. The front door to my house is finished with "Cetol Marine", and I re-finish it maybe once every three years (and it has a Western exposure). Re-finish is straight-forward and simple. 1) "Sand with a "gray" Scotch Brite pad. Apply "Cetol Marine" (Use a natural bristle brush...this is an oil based product, and you will use Mineral Spirits (Paint Thinner) for clean-up).
John, I used to use steel wool between coats, but found that it left steel remnants in the finish. The specks would rust through the finish over time. We used to go over everything with a strong magnet before finshing, but that never really worked.
I now use "Scotch Brite" (I don't know what they're really called) abrasive pads for the majority of final finish work. The Green pad is the most aggressive and white is finest that I use. There is Red and Gray in between.

Sorry to go on and on and on,

 

Sparky. I for one thank you for going on and on. As a guy who does not know much about wood finishes I think all the info you can give is great and appreciated don't stop or I'm in trouble. Thanks. Dave s

 

Sparky , you are definatly correct about the metal residue from steel wool . Care must be taken to clean up every speck up after useing . It's not so critical with dark woods like walnut but critical with light colored wood like oak . I have also used 600 grit emery cloth with good results . The saying about oiling once a day day a week and (ect ) , is something gunsmiths have said about walnut gun stocks for years .Again caution about drying times between coats , depending on humitidy levels .

 

Here's a pic of a quarter sawn log. Every piece will have straight grain with even spacing...it will be very strong and have less of a tendency to split along the grain.



Here's a pic of flat sawn...what the lumber yards usually do to get the max number of boards out of a log. Some of the flat sawn boards will technically be like the quarter sawn...but the rest will have lousy grain direction and grain count....this makes lumber that you really don't want anywhere structural.



If you can get quarter sawn oak for $200 you're doing pretty good!!

Dan

 

Nice photo Dan...a picture is ,indeed, more eloquent than 1,000 words.

I'm with you JohnS49. An oil finish can turn into a gloppy mess easily. Heat can also be an issue with outdoor projects finished in oil. The Sun can get the oil flowing pretty good.

"Cetol Marine" is a soft finish...Meaning that, like any good bottom paint it protects by wearing away. It offers itself up to protect the wood beneath. This "sanding down" I referred to previously is only to rough up the finish and to take off any loose material. If you need to make any repairs, make them NOW. Then just apply fresh coats with a light rough up between...maybe 3 coats on raw wood, 2 coats to refinish.

Dave, the question now is what kind of shape is the wood in? How has it been stored? How dry is it? These things are important because wood is a live material. By that I mean it is constantly in motion. Wood, even finished wood, absorbs and gives off moisture in it's attempt to be in equilibrium with it's local environment's moisture level throughout it's life (Like forever). This results in wood expanding and contacting, across the grain, throughout the year...Every year.

Let's see if I can, somehow, make this thread relative. When you're ready to re-do the bed wood you want to be aware of what time of year it is and what the outside environment is like now. I believe that the best time of year to build outdoor projects (and this is really an outside project) is in the the Spring and Fall months. At these times wood that has been stickered and seasoned outdoors should be at a medial moisture content, and expand and contract a more equal amount from here. So, allow for expansion and contraction in the amount of gap you leave between boards under the bed strips. No matter what finish you use (short of fiberglass encapsulation) your bed wood is going to move around a bit. Note how the bed wood is held down in your truck with the above in mind and you will see that this bed system takes the movement of wood into consideration. Also note that the F2 and F3 beds have wooden cross members that have to be considered. Someone on this forum published measurements of each crossmember, as they are each a different shape. I will look an see if I can find it. When I get to re-doing "Piglet's" bed, I will make some drawings of those crossmembers.

Once again I apologize for being so long winded.