Bed Wood Question

[Praxiss454]

Hi all,

I have the green light from the boss to buy a Mar-K bed wood kit for my 65 GMC, including hardware and stuff. I plan to do the 3 coats of POR-15 and then 3 coats of black paint as recommended by Mar-K's tests.

My question: If I buy the bed wood now, and paint it right away, but don't install it right away, is it going to warp on me? I want to do some clean up before mounting everything, but that clean up might take me a month or two of weekends to finish up.

Second question: If instead of the Mar-K kit, I buy Kiln Dried wood from a local lumber yard and cut it myself, will *that* wood warp on me?

My only experience so far has been to try some sample dado cuts on a piece of home depot common board, and that warped to crap after a few weeks. Since I'm going to be painting the wood black, I don't need an ultra high quality wood, but I just don't want to deal w/ warping issues.

[Flathead Smith]

If the wood has been properly dried, is of fairly straight grain and is stored in a dry environment, warping will be minimal, even if you do not paint it.

[Clyde65]

I always placed a larger piece of 1" by under the stack (4 boards high) and then another 1" by on top, placing some cinder blocks on top to ensure they didn't but this was before paint.

[oem4me]

If you buy the kit, you'll be fine doing the finishing now and installing later. Just store it indoors and keep it dry and out of the sun. It should be ok indefinitely.
Buying second rate lumber, whether kiln dried or wet/green is going to give you fits. No amount of care or paint is going to make lesser quality wood behave like good solid stock.
The particular wood species, as well as how a board is cut from the log determines its strength, stability, and resistance to rot. If you are not familiar with different woods and their characteristics, then for sure let the good people at Mar-K handle it. I've never heard one bad thing about their products.

[Praxiss454]

Originally Posted by oem4me

If you buy the kit, you'll be fine doing the finishing now and installing later. Just store it indoors and keep it dry and out of the sun. It should be ok indefinitely.
Buying second rate lumber, whether kiln dried or wet/green is going to give you fits. No amount of care or paint is going to make lesser quality wood behave like good solid stock.
The particular wood species, as well as how a board is cut from the log determines its strength, stability, and resistance to rot. If you are not familiar with different woods and their characteristics, then for sure let the good people at Mar-K handle it. I've never heard one bad thing about their products.

Thanks guys. I have ordered the kit from Mar-K and I won't fret too much about painting it now but waiting to install it for a couple of weekends.

Next up, once it all gets here, is to figure out how to paint it. Mar-K says 3 coats of POR-15 applied 30 minutes apart, but I don't know how to do both the top and bottom of the boards. Maybe I paint all the bottoms first, and do the top and sides as a second round once the bottoms have dried?

[Clyde65]

Choose the bottom of the boards.
Point them up
Paint them and the sides, careful not to get the paint/stain on the top.
Once all that is done,
Get another board and drive nails all the way through it so about 3/4" sticks out.
Place the painted bottom side on there and lightly sand the top, paint or stain.

Good luck.

This is how I did it twice. Everyone will have their own way.

[Praxiss454]

Thanks Clyde, that's what I'll do. I have some long sawhorses set up for just this purpose but the boards don't arrive til next Thursday.

Do I paint the steel metal strips with the same paint as I paint the boards? I did not opt for stainless and was planning to paint them black.

[jbgroby]

I bought my wood at least two years before I painted it AND after I painted it it was another 3 years before it was installed. It turned out perfect, I think. The youngest grand daughter approved.

[oldtrux]

Originally Posted by jbgroby

I bought my wood at least two years before I painted it AND after I painted it it was another 3 years before it was installed. It turned out perfect, I think. The youngest grand daughter approved.

looks great!did you use por 15?also a little off topic but are your wheel tubs aftermarket?if so where did you order them and how did you like quality and fit?
thanks dan

[jbgroby]

I did exactly what Mar-K recommended, two coats of POR-15, scuffed between coats then 2 coats of Behr semigloss exterior grade black. She is garage kept, but I'm sure she'll get rained on so she should be ok.

The wheel tubs are factory originals, I have a great source for OEM parts in Crowley Colorado. Do you need some?

Jake