My neighbor (a master of furniture building) and I, just finished cutting new oak for my 1951 ford truck. It came out perfect and was fun. We have thought about making a couple more to sell since we have the router and saw set up to do it. We will go to the lumber yard and hand pick the wood for each person who is interested. I've done a little research and these beds run around $300 to $400 in parts catalogs. I would like to make some to sell so I can turn the profit around and buy more things for my truck.

Also willing to trade or barter...I could use engine work, muffler work, paint, body work, spare tire, and bumpers

We will sell the beds for $220 plus shipping and handling from southern California. Let me know if your interested. The bed can be varnished (4 coats) for an extra charge. If not the wood comes semi finished.

Details
Set of 8 Red Oak Boards, planed to correct thickness, width, and Length. Edges will be routered and ready to accept skid strips. The boards are 78" X 5 3/4" X 3/4". These boards were made 5 3/4" wide to fit correctly. If you go to Home depot and buy 1 X 6 oak it will only be 5 1/2" wide and will not work for your bed. This wood kit is used in Ford Stepside shortbed trucks: F-1s, 1951-52 and F-100s 1953-72.


Any questions or comments are welcome. If I'm not supposed to sell things on this post, This posting can and should be removed from the administrator. I'm just trying to find alternate ways of fixing up my truck without starving the family. Although, I did think of that.

reply to this post with an e-mail I can contact you on.

 

I am interested. The forum will not allow me to email yet. Some rule to weed out spammers. How much to ship to Albuquerque NM? Forum also will not allow me to put my email in a message. I need a few more posts to meet the minimum so I can email you.

 

Click on "Dlarson" and "send user an e-mail". I just opened it for all to send. Please put "Wood Bed" in E-mail title so I don't automaticly delete it.

thanks

 

How different would your costs/price be for a 56 with a long bed? (8ft)

 

tag - for future reference.

 

I wish this had been posted two months ago, I paid $185.00 for a pine bed.

 

Don't forget the F3 owners out there. They might be interested in doing business with you. The dimensions of that wood isn't all that different compared to what you have done already. Slowly restoring a 1951 F3. Thanks!

 

id also be very interested in wood for my bed. also interested in shipping to albuquerque n.m.. area.

 

Hey Fish, I wonder if you might be able to slip into " Mild to Wild" since it is in Alb and check out the oak kit they have in stock. I don't know where they are located. If you do visit, maybe you can post the 411 on this kit ???
Thanks........

 

Heck, I'm in Denver and intrested in re-doing my bed - and, and, and,..............

 

I am intrested I am in so. calif. Where abouts in so cal are you. I have a 50 F1. not sure what is the best way to contact me with out the email. use private message and will give phone number. Ed ke6bnl

 

Have any of you guys heard back from Larson or been contacted yet regarding your interest ??? I hope we did not overwhelm him. It kinda appears we may all be willing to save $80.00 on wood. I for one am waiting to learn what the expected lead time time is going to be as my new bed is enroute to me .

 

What are people's thoughts on type of bed wood? I noticed most people are using red oak as opposed to white oak. The red oak is prettier, granted, but has open pores that will let water in as opposed to white oak which has closed pores (open vs. closed tyloses.) That's why all barrels are made from white oak, not red.
Does finishing the wood with oils or varnishes (not done with barrels) sufficiently close the pores to reduce dry rot?

Also, does kiln dried vs. air dried make much difference. I've always thought that air dried wood is harder and more durable. The wood will move to the humidity of the environment eventually anyway. If the wood is properly air dried with stickers in a stack, it shouldn't move much, especially being held in place in the bed.

-Scott

 

I used white oak for just those reasons Scott. My truck is a daily driver and sits outside. Oak was air dried. I used high grade stain and spar varnish on all edges. Looked great the first 2 years, but by the end of the third winter it had mostly disappeared.

So this summer I grabbed a high quality porch and deck stain, scrubbed the remaining shreds of spar varnish off and soaked it. So far so good - jury's still out. But the carpenter in me feels the stain will do better for a truck that sits out in weather. Easier to re-apply touchups too.

 

I agree, an easily patchable oil-based finish that you can spot sand and re-oil might be easier to maintain. Air-dried white oak isn't expensive, but if it's not properly stickered and stacked with the ends sealed, it can warp badly and have reactive stresses that only show up when you thickness plane and rip the stock, removing the case hardened outer layers. Yes, you can have case hardened (surface hardened) wood. Don't ask me how I know...

It also makes me glad that you don't install a bed with nails. For those to whom wordworking is new, try driving a 10 penny nail through a 2 inch piece of air-dried white oak sometime. And you thought iron was stronger than wood... Gives you a lot of respect for the organic product. Air dried white oak is VERY difficult to work with hand tools, but not too bad with sharp power tools.

-Scott