Shop Truck Bed Wood - Cheap, Durable, Attractive

Nice job. Hope it was not all in vane. Besides being corrosive, no matter how dry you thought the boards were when you picked them out, the nature of the beast is that pressure treating is IMPREGNATING LIQUID into the wood. Tends to warp eventually. A good grade of kiln dried Yellow Pine would be a better choice. You would still get the same finish by burning, as PT is yellow Pine.One other factor is what kind of protective finish are you using?? You really need to use a coating that will breath and not seal the wood. (let the moisture release) Being you have all the hold down trim metal, you may luck out. Good luck.

 

thanks...was figgr'n on how to do it on the cheap...great info, looks great too

 

The thing you have to remember is that pressure treated lumber from 10-12 years ago is not the same as it is now. It is the new "good for the environment" pressure treating processes that cause the corrosion and the move to coated fasteners for use with it. If you are judging your plan on how 10-12 year old lumber reacted to metal you might be in for a big surprise as you are dealing with a totally different animal now.

Your bed does look great though! Nice job.

 

Great article, thanks for sharing it. I have a question on the dado work you did. I understand how it made the wide groove for the metal strip to fit into, but how did you undercut the narrow strip of wood next to the groove? Thanks!

 

Not to hi-jack a great tech article, just another alternative.

When I was putting together my 50 chev, I used a sheet of marine plywood, cut it into 3 pieces fit the bed (two sides and a middle) and made my own bed strips out of some leftover 1-1/2" wide plate 1/8" plate, drilled the holes using every other brace location.

At the time I was struggling money wise to get my truck back on the road.

 

Standard bed wood "wear strips" bought from Jim Carpenter

Same way, but set the blade to run on the far side.

 

I agree completely w/ flynbrian48 warning about (new) pressure treated wood - it is full of salt. I went thru a steep learing curve in '05/06 as I was doing some serious repair on an older house and garage using the then brand new style of PT wood. Now I am on the lookout for any old unused PT wood with the good old copper-****nic instead of salt - I hoard it for special projects.

BTW, I agree with the tech article and did the same on my '49 3100 CHevy about 20 years ago. I had access to a table saw but not a whole lot of cash. The metal pieces were without holes and I did not have a punch so I drilled and then filed square holes for each of the carriage bolts (there is a lot that I have forgotten about working on that truck but not filing all those round holes into square holes)! I used untreated pine and it held up good for the following 7 or 8 years that I owned the P/U and I used the vehicle as a P/U - shiney on teh outside and very s****ed up bed on the inside.

 

Rodster....that's a great solution to an expensive problem ...way to go!!!

 

Awesome Job. Looks fantastic.

 

Excellent post. Now I have no excuses to not fix up the bed on my C10. Just couldn't bring myself to cough up $400 for a kit. This looks much better. Thanks!

 

Thats thinkin, right there. Good job.

 

Thats thinkin, right there.

 

Would it be sacrelidge to put an epoxy coat on the wood?

 

I dig it. Looks really good, love the burned lighter grains. Good work!

 

Choice!!!

 

rich,you are da man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Asked and answered .... post #36.

 

fantastic

 

looks great another idea to "steal".

Thanks

 

Good thread and timely. I've stripped the old wood out of my '48 F1 and was thinking about a sheet of pressure treated plywood to replace the planks. I was thinking about using my router to cut out the recesses for the metal strips and a few coats of enamel on both side of the plywood before installation.

Frank

 

Frank,

Great minds think alike! I am going to use a sheet of marine ply,rebated, to allow the metal strips to sit in.

As I have the bed off I was thinking of taking the bulkhead panel off and then sliding the sheet in.

Would make is a pain to get take the wood out with the bed in place but I don't intend to do that very often....

Really nice post, bookmarked for reference.

P.

 

Very nice!!!

 

I've got a 4x8 sheet of ribbon grained Cepele marine ply, 3/4", on the floor of the Diamond T box, and polished stainless strips from Chevs of the 40's. The plywood was like 90 bucks. I'm just going to mount the on the surface, in order to give a little more protection for the (yet to be) varinished surface.

 

Ditto for the respirator

 

Further to the few warinings about using pressure treated wood, most wood experts agree that one should never apply any kind of stain or sealer for at least a year to let the wood cure.
Pressure treated wood also shrinks more than untreated wood, as untreated woods are usually kilned-dried.

 

Great Job! Looks great!

 

I agree with Brian Post #25 Pressured wood is very corrosive. When ****nic was banned as the preservative in wood the copper content was increased. The increase in copper makes the wood extremely corrosive. To prevent corrosion the wood should only be in contact with stainless steel, cooper or galvanized steel. I would rethink the use of pressure treated wood as a bed.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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http://woodworking.about.com/od/safetyfirst/p/SafeACQLumber.htm

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/PDF/Free/021160082.pdf

http://www.ussteel.com/corp/construction/bulletins/ACQ%20Pressure%20Treated%20Lumber%20Constructin%20Bulletin.pdf

 

I wonder if putting a rubber liner over the parts were would would tough metal would alleviate the salt problem... and using the SS wear strips instead of plain steel.

 

Every part that touches the wood, besides the wear strips, is epoxed coated (DP)

All the carriage bolts in the wear strips don't actually touch the wood.

For a show truck, there's no way I would use PT lumber.

For a shop truck, I truly believe it will be fine.

Every flatbed utility trailer sold today uses PT lumber bolted to a painted steel frame.

Rich

 

Now that is some great looking bed wood ! Was there a reason you didn't use polyurethane to protect the stained wood ?
Looks great and very very reasonable . . .