Bed Wood
 

How many companys make Bed Wood for our Chevy Trucks ? I know of Bed Wood and Mar-K , any others ? Best place to buy from ? I need Bed Wood and stainless strips for my 70 short bed ,thought I had a deal on some but it didnt work out . I can buy direct from Mar-K for less than I can get it from Summit Racing . I imaging shipping will be a bit expensive too.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Heh, I just went through this. I was going to go with a Brothers Truck kit for my LWB SS, until the $300 shipping. I ended up ordering mine through Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts. The price on their web page said price included shipping, but the web page hasn't been updated to reflect the new higher shipping rates. As a compromise, I'm driving up to Abbeville, SC on Wednesday to pick it up. The kit include the bed wood, stainless strips, and the bolt kit, and is pre-drilled for the bed to frame counter-sunk washers, but not the angle strips.

I did consider Year One, but they were 3-4 weeks, and it wasn't completely clear if I could have them shipped to Year One in Braselton and pick it up without incurring shipping charges or not. I do know I would have had to pay sales tax on it, which would have added another $45 to $50.

I do know I'll have to seal the wood, I'm not sure how much finish sanding will be required. I'm hoping this turns out well.

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Are you picking it up from a business in South Carolina ? And I already have the bolt kits so I dont need that , actually have 2 bolt kits I believe . Which companys wood did you buy ?

Re: Bed Wood
 

Picking it up from Trucks USA, Abbeville, SC. I don't know if they sell direct or not. Not sure what you mean by "Which company's wood did you buy", if you mean other than Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts (http://www.classicheartbeat.com/)

Re: Bed Wood
 

Mar-K is one company that makes bed wood and Bed Wood is another and there may be more . I will look up Trucks USA ,Thanks for the info .

Re: Bed Wood
 

gmcpauls.com has the instructions to make your own. https://gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

Re: Bed Wood
 

Unfortunately I am not equipped to make my own wood but thanks for that info , lots of great info in that link .

Re: Bed Wood
 

I live in the cabinet capital of the US (Buford/Flowery Branch/Gainesville, GA), and talked to several woodworkers about having them do the lumber for me, and it's not economically viable. It's apparently somewhat difficult to find 97" inches of good straight hardwood lumber in 9" or better widths, and the wood is not cheap (assuming we're talking red oak, and not pine). The actual planing and dadoing of the wood is pretty straight forward if you have the equipment. Most of these cabinet shops stay pretty busy, and aren't interested in small jobs, and they're usually scheduled out a month or more in advance.

If you can avoid the shipping charges, it makes more sense to buy a kit.

It all depends on what quality bed you want, how much time you have, what equipment you have, etc. In my case, better to buy a kit.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Try to check out Horkey's Wood and Part. My buddy bought from them before.

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Wished you lived closer. I'm a cabinet maker and milling bed boards takes under and hour on a table saw with dado blades.
I'd call a few cabinet shops in your area and maybe you'll find a car guy willing to help ya out.
If you have any mill shops in the area they may sell you the materials and mill if for you also.
Worth a shot
Mark

Re: Bed Wood
 

I ordered from Mar-k about a month ago. I cringed at the shipping but ordered it anyway. It came packaged very well and the pieces were top notch.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Do you mind disclosing how much shipping was from Mar K , you can PM me if you prefer ?

Re: Bed Wood
 

It’s going to vary depending on exactly what you order and where you are. Go to their website, put in your cart what you want, then go to ‘Checkout’, and there’s a button to estimate shipping. Big difference between UPS and Fedex.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Board member GR8-68 makes and sells beautiful bed wood kits.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Have you tried to contact GR8-68 He's in NC near Winston Salem . He does beautiful bed wood Here's a picture of a Black Walnut set he made for his 68 and Two sets one Ash and another Black Walnut he made for my 67's . :metal:

Re: Bed Wood
 

Wow! That wood is beautiful stuff.

Re: Bed Wood
 

If you have a few tools to do it yourself you can always go to a sawmill and get some kiln dried white oak and buy your hardware separate. Not sure what kiln dried cost but i bought some air dried at about a dollar a board foot recently for a project i had going on.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Gr8-68 is no longer doing the wood beds , already asked him .

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Per PM here are some pics of the last 2 I did.....Both Oak, nice grain, NO splits or cracks.....

Re: Bed Wood
 

Is there any really good guides on how to assemble the bed? The Brothers booklet is pretty much useless. In my case, the box is already assembled, and it's sitting on the frame. I'm sure I can get it done, but there's probably 50 years worth of tricks and tips that would avoid putting it together and taking it apart multiple times :)

Re: Bed Wood
 

Wow black Walnut it is.

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I just installed my set from Mar-K, very happy with it. The easy part was putting it in. It just takes time to adjust everything to get the proper spacing. I’d measure your box corner to corner first and try to get it as square as possible before starting. I used ratchet straps to pull and hold mine square. The spacing specs they state were impossible for me to get 100% but the areas not spaced correctly are really only visible to me since I did it.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Other than appearance, are there any advantages to one kind of wood over another? I have a little HF sawmill and access to red oak, white oak, gum and pine. I even have an Ash blow down that's only about 50 yards from my mill. I know it'll be time consuming and I'll probably regret it before I get finished but I plan on trying to make my own bed wood when I get around to my '59. So far I've only cut up red oak for trim for my house but I have enough experience with it to know that you throw away a lot more than you keep out of a log.

Re: Bed Wood
 

My friends help was indispensable to get my bed disassembled and reassembled with my new wood. Ron here milled and finished all the oak boards I purchased at a local lumber seller. I picked it quarter-sawn for better stability.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Spectacular!

Re: Bed Wood
 

Take a look at the "Tips and Tricks" page on Mar-K's website. It's a great place to start.
http://www.mar-k.com/index.php?p=tips-and-tricks

They also sell a "Bed Parts Assembly Guide" (included if you purchase from them).
- Long Fleetside
http://www.mar-k.com/Catalog/index.aspx?LID=4762

- Long Stepside
http://www.mar-k.com/Catalog/index.aspx?LID=3321

- Short Fleetside
http://www.mar-k.com/Catalog/index.aspx?LID=4761

- Short Stepside
http://www.mar-k.com/Catalog/index.aspx?LID=3322

Re: Bed Wood
 

There is no trick it's pretty simple. I removed and installed my bed wood by myself. I did a one man job write up. Here's a link if you are interested.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=7657989


j

Re: Bed Wood
 

LMC's website/catalog has some good blow-up diagrams that may be useful.

I'm not sure that what I did was the best, but this was my 2nd wood bed assembly and it came together.

I hung the bedsides and loose assembled the "box". Checked it corner-to-corner for squareness.

Slid the cross-members in and started laying the wood and strips down. I think the best bet is trying to get all the fasteners in loose and then begin snugging them up while double checking square.

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Well I thought I had my Bed Wood ordered thru a member on here but I cant get him to respond to my PMs here . Dont know if there was a glitch when paying thru Credit Card or maybe the order went thru and is fine , I thought he would let me know one way or the other . My truck will be home soon and I really need that wood . I hope maybe he will see this and let me know what I need to do if anything .

Re: Bed Wood
 

I started cutting my boards today . I bought Beetle Kill Blue Stain Pine last fall and finally cut the outer two of the eight boards needed for my step side. Six more to go ,I hope it doesn't take another 6 months to get them cut.;)

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Now! Any body got any great ideas as to what I should use to seal it . And yes I want to use it like a truck. Oil or Clear of some sort?

Re: Bed Wood
 

I was going to keep this a secret, but I'm planning to try this..

friend at work uses it on outdoor furniture with great results..

I'm still researching for suitability for a working truck bed floor..

https://www.rustoleum.com/product-ca...od-accelerator

http://www.ana-white.com/2017/06/var...od-accelerator

http://www.ana-white.com/sites/defau...?itok=OvY5FB_d

Re: Bed Wood
 

We used 12 or 13 coats of this on my new wood bed a few years ago - nice stuff. I keep my truck garaged though.

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Wow, love the quarter sawn oak, and the finish is great!!
How old is the finish? I used a spar urethane, and already seeing a few cracks from sun damage on the clear. Truck is garaged most of the time too, so definitely interested in finding a more durable finish
Thanks,
Jim

Re: Bed Wood
 

It is about 3 years old. No issues at all with the finish. I purchased this product to avoid yellowing, since it is used on Kayaks and such. I did have two of the boards with a more straight grain crack slightly, but it did not affect the finish that I could see. The cut of the wood should help avoid any shift or warp. We are replacing the two boards in question when my buddy gets his wood shop set up again.

Re: Bed Wood
 

Three years is about the same age as mine, looks like the UV filter did it's job!
That's a key for anyone doing their own bed, is getting a durable finish on the wood, thanks for the tip!
Jim

Re: Bed Wood
 

I stained the white oak in my bed and then put four coats of automotive clear on it on all four sides. It's only been a year so far but there are no signs of any problems. Actuall wood urethane would be quite a bit cheaper though and probably would be fine.

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I dont want a clear on my wood and Im still researching what to use on it . There are a couple of products Im looking at .

Re: Bed Wood
 

That's what I was thinking , But What do we use?

Re: Bed Wood
 

ttt