Bed Wood - How do I get this finish?

I saw this in Kirk's covershot thread, and really dug the finish.

How would you do this?

Oak with a black stain? Varnish, Poly?

Anybody know for sure?

 

Use the dark oak from Sikkens. I've had good success with the Cetol products on swim platfroms and other outdoor wood. Three coats of number 1 and three coats of number 2.

It is pricey, but will hold up better than poly or marine varnish. Good luck

http://www.loghelp.com/finishes/finishes3a.html

 

I've actually used thinned automotive paints, to stain the bed by wiping it on with a rag, let set for a few minutes, then wipe off out of the high spots in the wood, so this will "grain" the wood to a color to match your truck, then I put up to 10-15 coats of automotive urethane clear on it, sanding between each coat, then buff the final coat. Works great evertime and really catches the eye!

 

By the way Rodster, I attended the cruise-in around the square last month. Good times

 

Bring your boards down here, Rich, and I'll do 'em for you. I play with old oak furniture for fun sometimes and that particular color/finish is easy to do---about like what Rusty(trailerEd) said--just thinned paint....ya just gotta know what color

 

The look you're going for could easily be done with any dark stain, If your using oak sand the wood smooth with 120 grit, Use Black walnut stain, the open grain will absorb more stain the the closed grain will, giving you the darker areas, then use a quality varnish or as the other post... what ever that clear finish he said.

 

Looks to me to be a bit more trick than just stain.
Flat your boards down as normal. Then pass a torch over them real fast. Keep the torch moving. The grain will start to separate in color, but its temperature dependent. Go easy and build it up. When you are happy with it, stop. You can build it up, but you can't build it down!
When you're done, remember you owe me a cold one.

 

I saw a 34 Ford PU in Cartersville last month and it was a light blue and the bed had light blue grains in it, I was wanting to know how they did that. Thanks.

 

When Kemp did my 32 delivery conversion he used a dark tongue oil to get that look, but I don't know how it would hold up outdoors.

 

I was gonna suggest the traditional used motor oil wood preservative and color enhancer. For a darker color use used Diesel oil. Are we too high tech for this now?

 

It's called "pickling".

Nice tag line, btw.

 

You can get hundreds , possibly thousands of finish's on oak. You can also use colored fillers, ect. designed for wood. A nice '' effect'' is quartersawn, which has to do with the way wood is cut. Pricey though. Check some of the furniture mags, '' Fine Furniture''ect. for more ideas.

 

[QUOTEI was gonna suggest the traditional used motor oil wood preservative and color enhancer. For a darker color use used Diesel oil. Are we too high tech for this now?[/QUOTE]

You gotta be kidding! No one would ever be able to put a proper finish on the boards again. There's traditional, and then there's stupid. Your way is stupid.

 

You gotta be kidding! No one would ever be able to put a proper finish on the boards again. There's traditional, and then there's stupid. Your way is stupid.[/QUOTE]

Man, that's a little harsh, dontchathink? I got a customer that builds big money early GMCs and does just that---oils the bed wood. True, you won't ever be able to varnish/urethane 'em, but hell, they're truck bed floors for Pete's sake. Oil waterproofs AND patinas in one step.

 

You gotta be kidding! No one would ever be able to put a proper finish on the boards again. There's traditional, and then there's stupid. Your way is stupid.[/QUOTE]

Lot's of people oil wooden finishes of all sorts. I wouldn't use USED motor oil, but hey... It WOULD make it darker. It's alot more common than you may think.

So slippery in the rain though

 

Mike,

I may need some pointers when I get ready to do mine.

Jim

 

I'm with ES on this. The finish [effect] that started this thread most likely is not going to be used as a truck bed. Most oils, motor or otherwise take to long to dry, attract dirt ect. Also if they get water on them they are slick.

 

Don't laugh. A buddy of mine achieved a similar look by wiping used (black) motor oil on the boards. Let it sit and soak for a couple of minutes before wiping with a cloth to remove the excess. Repeat as needed until you get the desired darkness.

Jim

 

Pretty safe to say it is a dark walnut stain with a satin marine finish.

1. sand wood
2. rub on stain and let soak in before you wipe of excess.
3. a day or so later spray or use a QUALITY brush and apply the satin oil-based finish.
4. let dry and use a steel wool to smooth out finish then recoat.
5. repeat step 4 until you get the desired finish you want.

note. Burning wood will darken it, but it will also leave the less dense areas softer. Basically it will raise the grain. The color will also eventually gray out. I use this process to make wood looked old and ancient.

 

Tony nailed it...this effect cannot be created with just stain. My buddy does high-end flooring finishing and this is exactly what he does. Torch the grain until the soft wood burns down and then sand the raised grain to remove/lighten the blackened areas and bring out the darker grain. The finish after the torch treatment is up to you, it all depends on how much weather the bed will see as to what topcoat you should apply. The bed wood that I am currently finishing will have a topcoat of POR-15 Glisten PC...it comes in satin and gloss and is a catalyzed urethane so it should be fairly durable.

 

I've done similar looking things with a dark walnut stain and matte SPAR varnish. The torch trick for sure gives a cool look - pratice on a few scraps first.

 

all of the ways mentioned here will work.

You need to try a few sample pieces first to decide on the color.

the "traditional" way that someone mentioned is more of a jury rigging type of a deal, no way to be consistant from piece to piece and no way to keep the finish looking good for more than a few days.
(the oil attracts dirt and will show every mark you ever put on it. and it would be a bear to touch up.)

I finish a good amount of exterior pieces, some in Oak, but most are Fir or Cedar. What we use is a mix of equal parts of turpentine & boiled linseed oil. If you want a color just add a little stain to the mix until you like the results.
If you want it to be more weather resistant add an equal part of a solvent based wood preservative.

this is a real "traditional" way to do it, it's what farmers have been using on their wagons for over a hundred years.



Old cars are my hobby, I make a living working with wood.


http://www.wirtzswoodworks.com/

 

The burned torch look works great, my grandfather told me they used to use a mix of linseed oil and kerosene in the old store to wipe down the floors

 

Glisten PC, that makes sense, DURABLE!

They sell that stuff as part of aluminum wheel refinishing kits, I did the wheels on my daily years ago with it, still looks great.

My bed will see some some abuse and weather, so whatever I do, I want it to hold up.

I wouldn't be opposed to the motor oil finish, what I DON'T want, is to have the look of cracked, hazy, varnish after a few years.

Rich

 

I have a picnic table in my backyard I coated with a product called Zar 18 years ago. Still has the gloss as the day i did it. Zar is available in gloss or satin. I recently added a second handrail on my interior stairway and coated it with the gloss Zar. It matches the original handrails coated 32 years ago.

Jim

 

this potassium bichromate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_dichromate
not quite what you are looking for but different
I have in my 58gmc just to be different. It is on Red Oak with spar varnish top coat


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In my youth I worked in a cabinet shop. Those boards remind me of "EBONY on White Oak" We used an ebony stain which was put on and rubbed off quickly. If it was not dark enough we laid on a second layer of ebony. Don't use RED OAK you need WHITE oak to get that look. After we sprayed on the top gloss or satin coat the oak brightens highlighting the ebony stain.

Nick

 

You're right, I have Sikkens Cetol on my cabin, that stuff looks good and lasts forever.

 

I've been butcherin' wood for 35 years and that's what I was thinking. The amout of stain absorbed by the wood is also affected by the grit of sandpaper used before staining. The finer the grit, the less the 'hard' parts of the grain will absorb.

If you're going to use the truck bed as a truck bed I wouldn't use a hardened finish like urethene, laquer or varnish. It won't hold up. I'd stain it then use a few coats of thinned linseed oil. If it does get scratched, it's easy to repair.

 

Some really good durability testing with pics here.....

http://www.mar-k.com/final_summary.html

Rich