I'm starting to prepare the wood for the bed of my truck. It's the typical light oak wood. I'd like to stain it darker so it doesn't stand out (my truck is dark anyways). Any recommendations on how to stain it and what to use to seal it?

 

imlowr2-
There was a pretty lengthy discussion on this subject a while back but I don't remember all the details. I ended up using Minwax Helmsman over the unstained oak. Minwax makes good stains so you can probably find what you like in one of their stains. Be sure to do all sides and ends to seal it good. As I recall in the previous discussion the recommended coats were 7. However, mine looked great after 5 so I quite while I was ahead. Only been on a couple of months but seems to be doing fine so far. The Mar-K (the bed people, but not sure that is the correct spelling) website has information and test results of various brands they tested.

 

Did not stain mine, used clear Marine Urithane Varnish. Actually did this about 20 years ago and just got around to installing the boards last year. They still looked perfect.
Fred

 

Wonder if anyone has tried the stuff POR 15 has? Supposedly a uv resistant clear topcoat made to seal against weather. Heard a fellow talking about using it on wood shutters on his house. Said he had to re-stain yearly untill using this stuff. Sounded interesting.

 

imlowr you might want to talk to hotrod48 or look at his gallery because he did a really nice flame stain in the bed of his 48 and i am sure he would love to help you out.

 

Hope you have some test pieces to work with. Is it red or white oak? try wiping it with a wet rag to see what it would look like with just a clear finish, red oak would come out a very nice honey color with darker figure without stain, which would be my first choice. Staining wood makes it near impossible to refinish/touch up later. If you really want a dark color you could use the arts and crafts period method of Stickley and the other mission style "tiger" oak furniture makers of fuming the oak dark. Sand the wood completely ready for finish (to 320-400 grit) wipe it with a fairly damp rag to raise the grain. let it dry completely then sand it again. Do not handle it with bare hands during/after this sanding. Vaccuum all the dust out of the grain. Now place the wood on thin supports so they are not touching each other or any metal and are ~ a foot off the ground. Put 4-6 stakes in the ground around the pile so the ends are ~ a foot above the wood and about the same distance from the sides. place 2-3 shallow pans under the wood and fill ~ 1" with household ammonia (NOT ammonia containing cleaner, make sure the only ingredients on the lable are ammonia and water) and cover the whole thing with sheet plastic "tent", laying something on the edges where the plastic touches the ground to make as airtight as possible. Open the tent every hour or two depending on temp and flip/rotate the boards to even the exposure to the ammonia fumes. Check the color by wetting a small spot to see what it will look like with finish on it. If left long enough and/or you use industrial strength ammonia from a chemical or industrial supply house it will get nearly black, so be sure to keep checking on on it.

 

Lower

Do some searchs too. There have been some mega threads on this subject in the past. There are probably at least a half dozen different products/methods that forum members have had good luck with.

 

I found a few good articles in Custom Classic Trucks. It seems that most of them are recommending going with Minwax hemsley finish. I saw a truck last weekend where the guy whitewashed the boards, actually looked pretty nice against the stainless strips. Thanks guys.
AX- I'm not sure what type of oak I have. The planks are still in the carton and I ordered them from ebay a while back. I still haven't opened the bag of stainless hardware I got from Fatfenders yet either. Should probably start buffing those. I have looked at the stainless strips. I'm in the process of removing the old boards and cleaning the bed and everything else.

 

Look into tung oil products. I think Behr makes something with tung oil. I also think a company by the name of Jamestown in Rhode Island (?) sells a tung oil used on boats that is UV resistant. I would finish sanding with 100 to 120. You can wet sand the tung oil in,maybe thin the first coat with paint thinner (I think its been awhil since I've used it). You should try and use something that is easily repaired and tung oil may be a good choice. Wet the wood a little to check and see all the scratches and ripples from the planer are out of it. A company in New York by the name of Mowhawk Finisihing supplies sells several styles of stains (water base,alcohol,oil and a gel style). You can buy a stain with a corresponding magic marker to also help on scratches (I would get several colors oak will not be the same color throughout). Good luck and let me know how it comes out. I have not gotten that far yet.

 

Depending on what you are going to do I treated fencing by soaking it in stain. I did that by creating a tub out of platic and letting it soak.

 

With hardwoods you need to sand very thoroughly with v. fine sandpaper or better yet use a cabinet scraper to get a fine finish (my undergrad minor was design in wood) If sanding I like to apply tung oil finishes by scrubbing in with a green scotchbrite pad. Keep applying to any drying spots for ~ 10min, then scrub off any finish left on the surface with a course material rag until all excess is gone off the surface, preferably use burlap but the red shop rags can be used. Allow to dry overnite, sand lightly with 400 wet or dry, wipe clean and apply a second coat of finish same as the first. repeat as many times as necessary to get a smooth finish. Never let tung oil dry on the surface, it will become a sticky mess. I prefer the Parks or Watco brand Tung Oil. I finished the jewelry cases I made out of clear fir for our store that way, and they still look good 24 years later. Tung oil does not leave a surface film, but polymerizes in the wood pores to leave a soft finish that doesn't chip or scratch through and can be touched up at any time by applying another coat of tung oil the same way. Unlike film finishes, tung oil finished wood will continue to age color to a very rich luminous color all by itself. If it were my truck I'd definitely would use a tung oil finish, I really dislike stains or film finishes that are best left for bowling alleys.

 

______________________________
Lower....you want it dark and durable eh....do like me and use the roll on bed liner. LOL.... Like you said, its getting late.
__________________
XFM

 

I saw a blue 56 the other day with bed wood that had a blue tint to it! Very cool! I wonder how one could put some color like that to the wood so that it matched the paint? What ever you decide, I would first experiement on the bottom of the boards to get the color/tint you like best. I put 7 coats of spar varnish on my red oak planks. It does give them a very nice dark appearance. Good luck, Jag

 

Actually it's pretty easy. If using an oil based finish such as tung oil or varnish, cut a batch (enough to coat all the wood) of the finish with equal part recommended thinner, usually mineral spirits. From art supply store pick out a tube of whatever color artists oil paint you want the tint to be and add some to the thinned finish and mix thoroughly. Use a clean rag to wipe some of the tint onto a test spot on the wood, immediately wiping off the excess. Let dry then wipe with a damp rag to see the color. Adjust the mix stronger (add more color, but don't make it too strong or you'll have trouble with laps showing, you can always go over it with a second coat) or weaker (add more finish and thinner) and test again until you have as much color as you'd like, then do all the boards being sure to not let it dry before wiping and working from one end to the other. This is the same technique ised to make a "pickled" wood finish except then you use white rather than color. You can also get interesting effects by applying two colors, the second applied quickly and somewhat randomly after the first has dried. Yellow ochre with green, brick red with blue, etc.

 

Very cool Ax. And I like your new avatar also. Jag