New wood for Step Side truck(good stuff)

[wideboots]

I have ordered new bed wood for the truck bed of my 1978 Chevy 1/2 ton step side truck.  I got the good oak wood so I can have a show quality bed when finished.  I also ordered the polished stainless steel strips and hardware for the bed.  New bed sides with polished stainless steel angles are also on order.  All in all I want to do this right.

My question is:  How do I Prepare the wood for this project?  I intend to have the truck painted immediately after this new bed is fitted for installation.  The painter wants the new metal portions (bed sides, tailgate, fenders, etc.) of the bed brought in pieces so it can be done separately for consistency of the paint and then installed on the truck after the paint job is completed. The bed wood comes with all bolt holes drilled except for the ones under the angle pieces on the bed sides.  These must be done during the fitting of the wood to the bed.  How do I seal this wood after it is fitted to the bed?  I want a show quality shine on the visible wood, but I do not want to have to take it apart all the time to refinish the wood.  The truck will be garaged or covered once it is completed.  Can the underside of the wood be painted with a good quality paint so it will be save from weather during use?  Yes, this will be a driven truck.  I plan to use it extensively.  No trailer queen here, thank you very much. Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.    

[cooltoolguy]

your going to need elbow grease.  oak is strong but very porous and easily turns black if it gets wet.  Epi would look nice but is really expensive or teak.  Any way sand the wood with a d/a sander 80/120/180/220  and check that there are no scratch marks left.  break out the vacuum and thourghly clean the wood of saw dust.  now you'll need get a high quality wood finish (valspar, man-o-war) marine polyurethane (any boat place should have it).  put on 3 thin coats letting it dry throughly to build a base(on oak it will soak in well).  now what you'll need too do to get the shine is sand in between every one or two coats with fine paper and again clean well before next coat.  do this until the pores are filled and your boards will look like fine furniture and all you will need is a little maintenance to keep it nice.  but beware do not go too thick with the finish it may crack.  goodluck steve. ps finish wood before assemby ALL sides need to be sealed  

Edited by: cooltoolguy at: 12/10/05 4:32 pm

[wideboots]

Thanks for the directions.  I'm new to wood preparation so I will need these instructions.  Would it be better to apply the varnish etc. with spray or brush?  I would think the spray method would be better to avoid brush strokes.  I have the equipment to spray it on.  What is the maintenance you speak of?  Can you protect the finish with a good paste wax after it has cured?   I would think that would protect it from rain, etc.  Thanks again for your advice.  I really appreciate the help.  

[Blazin]

What Cooltool said or another posible option would be to use similar steps but use epoxy resin instead of varnish or urethane. If you know of a place that does wood strip canoos, they will be able to guide you in the right direction. I have done some outdoors wood projects and used just the epoxy and also covered the wood in fiberglass cloth.

[cooltoolguy]

yea the epoxy resin is good stuff, liken it to the tables you see in a restaurant with the 1/4 thick clear finish.  nice stuff.  expensive and messy but if you do it right you'll be the only one on the block with that finish.  As for maintance..  yes wax is good,  but i meant to fix any gouges or scatches in the finish immediatley after they happen, so wood does not turn black
rain + raw oak = deep black stain.  steve