[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by arcticman

Hello Mark,
I am also in the middle of rebuilding my bed floor (67 K15 swb wideside). Like you I decided to use white oak. I purchased 4/4 and and planed it down. and cut the channel for the slats. I purchased new slats and hardware from Classic heartbeat and had them powder coated flat black. Its my understanding the wood was originally black in color from the factory. what exactly they used is not clear. Most of what I have been able to read up on seems to be opinions and speculations. I believe GMC used Pine or Fur that was treated.

I wanted to keep the look as original as possible so I finished the wood with Minwax black stain and sealed it with Satin Helmsman Spar urethane (oil based).I sealed the bottom, sides, and end grain with 3 coats of thinly applied POR15 and 1 coat of POR15 flat black top coat. I also did my cross braces with the POR 15 and im very happy with the results It is a great product but needs to be applied per instruction (thin coats) and like everything else preperation is everything. Hopefully this will help with the stability of the wood.

If I had to do it over again I would not use White Oak for the following reasons.
1) very heavy wood, Its going to take 5 boys and a girl to lift this short bed.
2) The look Im going for really covers the beauty of the wood.
3) expensive wood althought you got yours at a great price.
4)Hard to work with compared to other wood. does not accept stains well. out gases. not very stable wood expands and contracts quite abit.I had my boards all cut to size sanded and ready to apply the finish. I left them to sit outside all winter.They were in a covered out building. Its very dry in the winter up here and all the boards cuped alot. When I brought them indoors this spring to refinish I left them to acclimate for a few weeks and they returned to original shape. Im hoping the POR15 on the endgrain will stop this from accuring.

anyway good luck hope it turns out to your liking Ive included a few pics. of my finished boards. I have not installed them because i can not decide if i want to refinish/ restore the truck to its original new condition or keep it original.

Don't think you have white oak. White oak is used extensively in outdoor furniture. It is highly resistant to moisture so it shouldn't cup. You may have pin oak not good for exterior exposure. Red is not good for moisture either. Could be your wood wasn't kiln dried?

Linky

https://www.wagnermeters.com/moistur...white-red-oak/