im looking at changing the wood in the bed of my truck. It is currently your standard oak wood clear finished Wondering how it would look if I went with a darkier wood similar color to what you will see in the attached pictures wood is just layed in for color sample purposes I'm also thinking of going with a black metal railing between the pieces. Thoughts?
Do something besides oak. I'm a trim carpenter by trade I see oak everywhere. There are so many different types of Kool wood. By the way very very nice truck.
I have a local hardwood supply store that carries quite a few different woods. This last winter I went to Phoenix to visit the inlaws my father in law took me to a hardwood store and ohhh man they had some hardwood. I would say you should have a store in your neck of the woods (pun intended)being from La Habra. I would go see what they have and trips your trigger.
Home Depot sells mahogany decking. It comes 5 1/2" wide by 1" thick so it may have to be machined to your dimensions. It's very dense, takes stain and finish beautifully and they build boats out of mahogany. Stay away from pieces that have whiteish streaks running through them. Whatever you end up using, here's a tip to make it last longer. Get some exterior carpenter's glue (the water-based stuff, not Gorilla glue) and paint the ends of your pieces, maybe twice , you'll be surprised how much gets absorbed from the first coat. Use a small paint brush to apply glue inside your pre-drilled bolt holes, too. The reason for this is that wood is nothing but a bunch of tubes bundled together and as such, absorbs water through the end grain. Don't get any glue on the face of the wood that will show because that will prevent the wood from absorbing stain and will look like shit. Also, there is a bacteria that lives inside oak that is activated by water that turns the wood black, we've all seen it. Oak would be my last choice. Also, I've been watching some boat-building/restoration threads on YT and in one it's mentioned that only one face of a board should be finished, in your case, the one facing up, in a boat's case, the one facing the water. Regardless of what attempts are made to seal water out, wood will ALWAYS find a way to absorb or expel a certain amount of moisture. It is the change in moisture content that causes a piece of wood to expand or contract and that's what causes the paint (or varnish) bond to break causing peeling. Leaving the bottom side of your boards bare or maybe just oiled would allow the wood some place to exchange moisture content with the air in a naturally gradual manner. Your end cuts mentioned above, if not sealed, permit rapid absorption of water causing rapid swelling and that does not occur in nature until you start cutting it into lengths. These boat guys probably have a better understanding of what does and does not work with wood better than anyone on the planet since they're sometimes working with wood hundreds of years old with a lifetime of exposure to water. Do it right, do it once seems to be their mantra. Oops, gotta add this- Home Depot does not sell Mahogany decking. I used to buy it a hardwood lumber yard, Delaware County Supply for those of you in that area. It's a fairly common item I think.
Beautiful truck. My vote is dark wood. It blends better with the color of the truck. On my 40 I used ebony stain with 4 coats of polyurethane. The theme is silver and black. Black wheels, black interior and black bed. Exterior is Mercedes silver.
I just picked up some black walnut for my '35, but it's white/cream colored. My general train of thought is light truck=dark wood. Dark truck = light wood. That said, the guy I picked this up from had some real nice hickory and a couple other lighter woods that I can't remember. Oak is great because it holds up, but there's definitely more interesting wood to look at... Mike
Home made out of $40 worth of 100 year old southern pine milled from reclaimed rafters, wood work by the honorable Harry Hedberg 98 years young... nail holes and all, clear spar varnish from one of them big box stores.
Used dark IPE on mine with stainless trim. My buddy used oak and black trim. I like his better, he likes mine better!
A friend that is a non-car guy but has a wood hobby did his 53 Chevy bed a bit different. He used a sheet of plywood with strip grooves routed in it and wood screws to hold the strips in place. Has held up well since 2015. Pics of top and underside of bed wood. Black items in corners are hold down "D" rings.
I restored mine stock, black painted rails, black painted wood. I haul a lot of stuff in it....Chevy made them that way for a reason.
im tighter than tite! used what thet said was exterior oak plywood . grt. till it rains . but cost $30.oo . same amount of work , coda had something that last
I’ve always wanted to do a bed with bois d’arc wood. It’s got a distinct yellow tone and is hard a rock.
Black bird's eye maple. Here's a thread from a few years back with some good photos. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/exotic-wood-for-truck-bed-any-photos.688444/
Go with what you like and what the budget allows. What wood I use for the bed in mine will probably be one of the last decisions I make on it. The hardwood store here charges exotic wood prices for most of what it sells because it's main customer base is high end custom cabinet makers.
Bleeding heart wood. Its natural colour is purple. I would be more likely to just apply linseed to the wood so as not to be concerned about scratches although I'm sure some of the finishes are tough as nails. I opted for metal floor and it gets scratched lots dragging treasure home. Easy fix with a brush and some satin paint. The Birds eye maple as suggested would stand out,,now thats different.
Beautiful truck! Walnut would look great and is reasonably priced, even with a clear oil it will look dark. That wood (sic) look great in that bed. Pat
Yup, I want to know what color the paint is too! I used red oak on my now-OT avatar truck with many coats of spar varnish (NOT polyurethane) on all six sides. There appear to be as many opinions about how many sides to coat as there are people..sheesh.
I used cherry, stained to match my English walnut dash. Shot with automotive clear coat in 2005. It's held up very well (25,000 miles) so far.
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