recessed bed strips

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by lowrodderchev

wait wait and WAIT LOL let me rephrase that it wont be driven in the rain to much is what I meant

sort of figured that and my post was harsh, i am an ogre

i still don't like the idea of plywood; arid climate or not
furniture grade plywood will delaminate sitting inside my barn here in muggy michigan
with all the effort we put in our trucks it is worth putting bed wood in them
i'm not even a fan of poly finish as i have never seen a bed last more than a few years without bubbling at the edges
stain, oil or oem type finish will never bubble and usually lasts for decades

if you want bullet proof with no finishing... i used trex plastic decking



technically you don't need bed strip if your not going to haul heavy stuff or shovel loads out of it.
bed strips were designed recessed but a little above the wood for using a shovel in the bed
i painted my strips and did not want lawn chairs or luggage scratching the paint
the bed strips in truck sit a little lower than the top of the 'wood'
cutting the grooves is easy if you have axcess to a table saw, but a router or skill saw would work too

[The Haberdasher]

Good job SpeedBump....

[lowrodderchev]

so I painted the under part of the wood black was curious to see what it would look like what do you guys think black or natural oak color? sealed up of course

[lowrodderchev]

now the black

[lowrodderchev]

[Speedbumpauto]

I'm not a fan of the black but with your light body color, like mine, I think you could benefit from a darker stain to accent the grain of the wood. I used black cherry after a couple of experiments because it matched the wood in the steering wheel. If you put it on with a dry brush or a rag, you can really control how dark the stain gets in the grain of the wood. The urethane made mine a touch darker when applied. I think you're on the right track getting a darker color to accent the light body color.

[Donaldo]

Dark colors really suck in the UV, that's a lot of expansion and contraction of the wood if exposed to much sunlight - finishes will fail sooner.