pickup bed wood

L

larry harding

Senior Member
1...a friend who is in the sawmill and wood business got me some pretty walnut to do the bed floor and side rails. before doing the final planing, what is the proper thickness for the bed wood? i'm cleaning up at 7/8", but can easily go to 3/4" if that is the correct thickness.
2...what would you guys do to finish the wood, linseed oil, tongue oil, or some clear finish like polyurethane. i fear that a clear finish would be vulnerable to chips as things get banged around.
 
JMHO, but with the beauty of Walnut, I would go to an oil finish. Polyurethane bruises white and looks cheep when beat up. Frequent oil care will look more beautiful as it ages. What a great opportunity for you.
 
A couple weeks ago, I responded to a question like this. I said that White Oak is the preferred wood to use for pickup beds. I went on to say why.

Walnut is a very pretty lumber. I have designed and made many heirloom quality furniture pieces from air-dried Black Walnut. It is not an outdoor wood.

But if you still want to do it, the finish will be important. A good quality sealer, sanded well, followed with several coats of exterior grade Satin polyurethane.

To get the best possible looking finish, sand before the last coat and apply it with an old nylon stocking cut up into a pad. Dilute the final coat of poly about 50% with mineral spirits. Wipe the finish on with the pad; overlapping about 50%.

After drying a week, finish with a 0000 steel wool pad, dipped in Carnauba paste wax until smooth, then wipe dry.

You want it to look good, don't ya?
 
Chief used 1/4 sawn Oak in his Chev Pu, rubbed it with Ice Blue (body color) rubbed it with 000 steel wool & cleared it. Looked RICH & tied it in with the body color.
Bill Helper
 
You mention " beat up " issues. Might I suggest that Walnut is too nice to use as the bed material. I believe that FoMoCo nused either southern hard pine, oak or ash in the beds of pick ups. Once it is there you do not want to change it. If you are going to haul stuff use a wood you will not be worried about damaging.
 
Larry,

To answer your question, the bed wood should be 3/4 inches thick.

The edge grooves for the metal strips should be cut with a dado and measure 1/4 wide X 1/8 " deep and cut 1/4 " in from each side edge of the boards except the outermost boards. They only get the cut for the metal strips on the inside edge because the outside edge is hidden.

Mike
 
Last edited:
thanks for all the replies guys! the wood came from a young mexican guy who is a good friend and we often exchange goods services etc, so i don't really have anything but some labor a small amount of cash in what will be beautiful bed planks and side boards, hard to pass up. the lumber is kiln dried and planed to 7/8" today. i'm going to do some work on the planer for him and take the lumber down to 3/4" you have given me some good ideas on preserving the wood.
 
Before you cut to length, be sure to measure your bed … (don’t ask why I know!) :rolleyes:
The earliest bed wood (BOP-May’28) was 54” long; after that, 52-9/16” long.

Am attaching plans from “As Henry Built It”.
 

Attachments

  • pu bed wood plans.jpg
    pu bed wood plans.jpg
    57.9 KB · Views: 91
Larry,
Please note that according to the drawing provided by Mr. Charles Reese, the thickness of the bed planks should be 11/16 inch, not 3/4 inch.

Don't cut the planks to length until you are satisfied with the thickness. Most planers will leave a little transition mark, called "snipe", at the ends of the boards and that mark will be visible when they are finished.

Good luck.
 
Charles Reese's drawing shows the bed wood thickness as 13/16" (dimension in upper right corner). I have a bed wood set I bought a few years ago, I can check to see what its thick is. I hope it is correct.
Rusty Nelson
 
Rex Perry said:
Larry,
Please note that according to the drawing provided by Mr. Charles Reese, the thickness of the bed planks should be 11/16 inch, not 3/4 inch.

Don't cut the planks to length until you are satisfied with the thickness. Most planers will leave a little transition mark, called "snipe", at the ends of the boards and that mark will be visible when they are finished.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Rex is dead on, on both accounts! When you go to fit the outermost planks, you will find 3/4" to be too tight. 11/16" will work better. Also, I learned too late about the planner marks, and mine do stand out on all board ends.
Regarding the finish, there is some great information above on how to bring the most out of the walnut. I suggest you consider though, what you are going to do with the bed. Do you want a furniture finish, or a usable surface with character? IMHO, I think the latter will keep you happy in the long run, oil it. Also consider what finish to use for the metal strips, as to how that will wear and compliment the wood finish.
I also feel compelled to disagree with the above measurement for the width of the cuts to accommodate the metal strips. 1/4" is way to wide. 1/8" is plenty wide. JMHO for what its worth.

An edit on my part. I may have misinterpreted the 1/4" measurement. 1/8" wide, but 1/4" from the edge of the plank.
 
Depending on the type of look you want, you might consider Water Lox. It is a marine finish which contains tung oil. They offer several types. One of the nice features is when it comes time to refinish, it only needs to be cleaned, no sanding. I believe it has UV inhibitors, important for wood exposed to sunlight. It is supposed to remain flexible, unlike polyurethane, which gets brittle and will crack.
 
JMHO, but with the beauty of Walnut, I would go to an oil finish. Polyurethane bruises white and looks cheep when beat up. Frequent oil care will look more beautiful as it ages. What a great opportunity for you.
_________________x2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
I would cut a free carpet to fit the bed of the pickup to protect the new wood when you haul things.
Click to expand...


Good idea, although a rubber mat might be more in keeping with the character of a truck. Just be sure to take it out when not hauling - both carpet and rubber will hold moisture on the underside, not good for wood.
 
Original boards were painted body color - just sayin', doesn't mean you have to do it that way. And it would be a shame to cover up a beautiful wood like walnut.

You may already know but the metal rub strips are all one-piece. When we did our CCPU many years ago, we made the mistake of cutting sections out of the two that go over the cross-member plate so they butted against the plate - they're supposed to go OVER the plate.
 
I misread the drawing dimension for the thickness. It should be 13/16. A dimension of 11/16 is way too thin. Thanks to Rusty for pointing that out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top