Red or white oak??

[bigmoe]

My brother in law is an accomplished wood worker and has offered to make my oak bed wood. He asked if I wanted red or white oak. I checked several on line listings and I only see them called "oak". Any wood experts out there have some input?

[SkinnyG]

Red oak is a whole lot more porous. White oak has plugged pores, making it more resistant to rotting, and, incidentally, is used for liquor barrels.

I will likely be doing mine in White, and using a black stain.

[bigmoe]

Thanks SkinnyG. I suppose any oak will likely outlast me. I just want it to look good and for the finish to last. I plan to stain, epoxy seal and varnish.

[vin63]

How do you plan to use your truck and bed? Any particular finish you are looking to achieve for the bedwood?

[bigmoe]

Originally Posted by vin63

How do you plan to use your truck and bed? Any particular finish you are looking to achieve for the bedwood?

Truck will not haul anything other than some lawn chairs to car shows. I'd like a nice appearance. Stain and several glossy coats of marine varnish.

[cj847]

IMHO if you are going to stain it go with Red Oak. it is much better looking. If it's not going to haul anything you could use most any wood that you prefer the look of. Most any hardwood is acceptable (but Oak is likely the most available and cheapest).

Here is a link that you brother in law can use for the patterns/sizes of the boards.


https://gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

[vin63]

Of the two, I would go with the red oak for its properties when stained. As another option, I was originally looking at some of the hardwoods, but did some test samples with stain and urethane on different wood types. I ended up going with pine and doing a flame burnish with red mahogany stain. Sometimes the lighter woods take well to different kinds of stains and finishes...plus, it was the cheapest at the time.

Originally Posted by bigmoe

Truck will not haul anything other than some lawn chairs to car shows. I'd like a nice appearance. Stain and several glossy coats of marine varnish.

[best view]

The British used to come over here back in the day and ship our white oak back to build there ships it would best choice

[Killer Bee]

my high school friend's dad is a master cabinet builder in his 70s and he offered to make my bed planks for my 71 ochre longhorn..

after talking more about it and his year(s) of backlog in his shop, I elected to go with stock style pine and bullet proof it with epoxy and varnish..

it's a working farm truck and will encounter rough handling so not expecting as many hard feelings when it gets broke in..

so far though, the appearance turned out so well, no one else willing to put much in it.. wait til I get back there again and doing my annual chores

anyway, when Larry was discussing making my planks, he suggested apitong for outright heartiness and can be finished to a beautiful appearance..

since your brother in law is making yours, your choice of wood is unlimited.. something to consider for a wood deck no one is offering in kits that I could find anyway.. and industry recognized as superior truck and trailer deck wood..

it's beautiful wood too! apologize for the derail but maybe worth consideration..

good luck!

BRAZILIAN APITONG AKA KERUING FOR TRUCK TRAILER DECKING