Bed Wood finish ?
 

Has anybody used this product called Waterlox for sealing wood bed.. If so how did you like it. Tried to post link but didn't work.
Waterlox.com

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Looks interesting...I have used tung oil for years on interior furniture but hadn't considered it for external use. These folks look like they have found a way to add some resins and other ingredients to make the tung oil finish more durable. I am ready to finish the bed wood in my 56, I may have to give this product a try. Thanks for the link.

It looks like they have different sheens and there is no sanding between coats.

Tung oil is a great thing to use on bed boards, but unless it's specifically made as an exterior stand alone product, you will need to top coat it with some type of Spar Varnish or the like.

One brand of "Tung oil" I have used is called WATCO. Most of there products are interior type but a couple - one made for gun stocks and the other for teak decks on boats will do fairly well out side. Nice thing about oil is when it weathers, you can just wet sand in another application - unlike varnsh which should be sanded down to bare wood.

I will probably soak my planks in watco so it can soak in then top coat with thinned spar varnish.

Alot of it depends on what type of wood you use too. Oak should be filled because if the pours get wet, they turn black.

Remember it's not so much the water or snow that kills your finish - it's those darned UVs from the sun - it just disintegrates anything "Poly."

The Mar-K site has some great tips on oak finishing.

Here's the link:

MAR-K Classic Truck Parts made in Oklahoma City, USA

Good Luck,

Julie

Oak or for that matter almost any wood finished bright that is not protected (garaged) will degrade as a direct function of the amout of UV as Julie stated. If your truck is going to be outside predominently and you want it finished bright, you are into an annual light sanding and recoating-2 coats/year. You are dealing with what I call on my wooden boat "horizontal varnish" which is the most difficult to hold finish on. I would recommend a minimum of 6 coats (I use 8-10) of good spar varnish or a product sold for marine use called Cetol.

From the manufacture. (Specially made for boat decks, bright work, and spars and for other heavy-duty exterior applications, such as exterior doors and garage doors.
Use as a finish coat for an exterior, high gloss finish over 1-2 coats of Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish.
Not recommended for use on pressure-treated woods, or exterior horizontal surfaces in direct sunlight, such as decks. ) Truck will be parked inside. Iam trying to avoid the cracking, peeling and recoating of a clear sealer applied over stained wood.

FWIW, my son is a bodyman. His boss says he uses a standard oak stain to get the color he wants, then sprays standard auto clear coat over the stained wood. I have no personal experience with it, but he swears by it.

My son, hot rod shop says the same..(all my samples are clear coated)

I have been looking at Mohawk stains which are acrylic, instead of oil based..

Sam

Not to steal the post but I need to do the same thing something in the $$$ future, how about Thompson Water Seal for decks? They show the commercial that it holds up at Niagara falls, surely in the bed of a pickup with the occasional rain storm can't be as bad as the falls? I also wonder how a product like Trex would look in a truck bed?

Oh well great post, back to regular programming.

The Thompsons Water Seal is generally made for decks made of Fir or Redwood - gennerally closed grained soft woods with high natural oil contents. It also is VERY high in Parafins (wax). So, I'm not sure it would be of much help with the oak. Keeping water out of those deep oak pours is important. That's why I oil first, then topcoat to protect that oil. I even go one step further and apply a coat of Trewax (which was originally made as a stand alone finish for Oak hardwood floors - tough stuff - lots of Carnuba in it). It tends to help fill those pours and repels water like crazy. That UV thing is the kicker and maybe the new acrylics will help solve that as Sam mentioned.

Good Luck,
Julie

Try these links:
Wood finishing suggestions
Wood Finish Testing - Testing of different wood finish products
Wood Finish Testing - Testing of different wood finish products

Hope these help!

Thanks MAR-Ktech person! You folks are GREAT!Julie

I just finished doing the Pelucid/ Spar Urethane routine (see Mar-Ktek links above)on my new bed wood. I put on three coats of each. It took two quarts of Pelucid(best deal was on E-Bay), and a little over a quart of the Spar Urethane. I'm quite happy with the looks of it. However, as I'm at least 7 months from driving the truck, only time will tell if this is the way to go.

Thanks for the info,It just so happens that I'm in the process of finishing my oak boards and every one landed here at the perfect time.
Great tread,and MAR-Ktek, exactly the info that I needed.

Thanks again
:-drink RICH

As original, Ford painted the wood beds the same color as the body.

The metal strips were also painted.

This was also the case for the wood floors used in panel trucks.