'66 Longbed 327 w/AC project

[cortcomp]

After we scuffed and repainted the lower quarter and hood, we had issues with the paint running under the clear...too much clear and not enough tack time. SOOO, sanded and repainted and cleared AGAIN. This time went on ok, blocked it, buffed it, and hood and last quarter look good! Had parts out in the sun while cleaning the shop up, everything looked sharp, getting started on the bedwood, maybe have it done by the weekend if anything goes my way...really hope to have it done by the goodguys ppg nats in columbus:

https://www.good-guys.com/ggn-2014

Gonna be close i think, unless the motor/tranny/shifter install goes smoothly and the back widow gives us no issues. Also, if i don't sand through any more paint.

[cortcomp]

Started sanding the edges of the bedwood so there'd be less chance of the clear breaking through on the sharp corners. Went out last night so progress was very slow and quiet today.

[TJ's Chevy]

Really looking good!

[azdude1964]

Awesome, Have you chosen a color for the wood yeah ?

[cortcomp]

Thanks guys! For the color i have a gallon of the darkest in the sample, but i guess that could change before i open it. I love red colored woods but everyone i know hated the middle colored one the most. (Green none of us liked.) I thought the whole truck was light and a dark bed would make it pop. Honestly, if you didn't have samples there, any of them would look great especially with 232932 layers of clear on it.

While rounding the edges (6 long edges, 4 short per standard board, plus using the dremmel to round the offset washer slots), i've been kicking around how to do all the staining on all sides at once, and how to do the first like 6 coats (3 at a time) of clear on front and back before just laying on the clear on the top only. I didn't want to do one side at once, because you risk stain runs and marks and it's twice the work.

I had a jig in mind but it wasn't until today i thought of how to make one sides dowels removable so that i could put in and remove individual boards for sanding and cleaning. $13 in 2x4s and 5/16 dowel rods later, i had the below mocked up. It works well, since the boards can turn but not freely, without you doing it. You can yank one board and sand it and put it back, then stain and spray all sides at once.

If i had to do any more bed wood kits, this would come in crazy handy. (and, i bet people would spend a few bucks to get a fantastic quality bed finish done, when they don't have the room or feel comfortable doing it, plus final wetasand and buff and polish) I could see maybe doing them for cash if i was done with other projects and it gave me something to do.

Anyways, below is the jig. Only downside is you have to drill 5/16 holes in the ends. I plan to hand brush stain and clear on the ends, in holes, etc, and where the wheel well cutouts are, anywhere water would get in easiest. Then after dry start doing all over coats. When all done and done, probably clear RTV to fill the holes in the ends, as i think it'd be more waterproof and longer lasting than putty, especially with the clear inside there.

So far though, working great! Been sanding on the body stands (DA 320 both sides, then block 600 the top, rounding all edges) and then drilling the two holes and putting in the jig. I'm tall with a good reach, and i may need it to stain the center boards, and reach to wipe them off! Only downside so far i can think of.

[azdude1964]

Sweet jig gonna copy you if you don't mind.

[cortcomp]

No problem, that's what the site is here for, to throw ideas around! I should say though, if you're leaving the boards overnight, probably better to leave them on thing side down instead of flat side down, to minimize and bowing, which isn't much with the oak but i'm thinking pine would be more.

[Old Bleu]

I think that if you want to close up the holes in the end when you're done, maybe just glue the dowlels in the holes and cut them flush. You could even get hardwood dowels if you wanted. Of course, if you get sealer in the dowel holes the glue wouldn't hold. I'd probably seal the ends good with the dowels in place to keep those dry, then glue in the dowels, cut them flush and then seal over them. They won't be seen, and no more hole.

Great jig idea by the way!

[cortcomp]

You know that's a pretty brilliant idea, i think i'll do that. I'll get osme oak dowels, when i'm done i'll put them in and cut them flush, and then use a brush to put some more clear over the whole area.

[duallyjams]

pretty slic jig

[cortcomp]

Reading my posts above, can definitely tell when i'm typing on my phone. Ugh the typos.

Rotated the boards today so they wouldn't sag (didn't seem to be anyways) since i couldn't do any more work on them tonight.

[clemdaddy]

don't know how many beds i've done 1 side at a time, waiting 24 hours before flipping and doing it again. over and over, again and again... but way too dang many.

thanks bro...

[Jeff La]

Great Idea

[cortcomp]

Got the rest of the wood sanded tonight, need another sawhorse and 2x4 to jig the smaller boards, because i was a dummy and used the sawhorses that match to hold up the bedsides. They're cheap so picking one up shouldn't be an issue.

[1963c-10]

Very good idea....I see this being used in the future

[cortcomp]

Finished the jig, the final is what you see below. Hosed down the floor and cleaned the place up, did a damp rag wipe down of the boards and then tack cloth. Going to let them dry out some and then try some stain! Fingers crossed!

[cortcomp]

Back is killing me, but got the first coat on tonight.

[TJ's Chevy]

VERY NICE!! Hope mine comes out 1/2 as good! LOL!

[62 Barnfind]

Looks good! I wish I would have thought of that when I did my wood.

[cortcomp]

That jig is quite the time saver. A couple of my dowels are crooked on the small boards so they bind some, and the two wheel well boards always want to spin down. On one end i am going to drill a second hole with another dowl so i can make them stay level. not as big a deal for the stain, but when i'm pouring clear on like a firehose, there will be curtain runs on those two if i can't get them to level out. It took me about an hour-hour and a half to stain all sides. I stained the ends with a foam brush, then a roller for the long edges, then i did the fronts and backs. Waited 15 minutes and started working from one side to the other, and it took long enough to wipe the boards down clean (stain was thickening at this point) that the timing was right across all boards and they seem to match. I had more time in setting up the second jig, wetting the floor and blowing them off, tacking, cleaning, sweeping, etc to get things prepped.

[McMurphy]

Your bed wood looks fantastic !! Nice

[azdude1964]

Awesome

[cortcomp]

Got the second coat on and done tonight. It kills your back because you have to bend over to do it. Phone doesn't really show it correctly, but second coat didn't really change much. It's a little warmer color than shown here and a little darker.

May be able to get first clear on it tomorrow. And, as a bonus if i get first set of coats on early enough, you can apparently do second set of coats on within 11 hours without sanding. Figure before first coat i'll go around with brush doing ends around rough cut areas and holes.

[cortcomp]

Got one coat of clear on today then ran out of clear....the boards ate it up fast!

Jig is THE WAY TO GO....do the ends of the 4 boards on one side. Rotate all up one way 45 degrees to do 4 long edges. Repeat for other long edge. Rotate to shoot the back. Rotate to shoot the face and leave it. Spraying takes about 15 minutes, and most of that was reloading clear. Of course, if i had enough to do 3 decent coats, would have taken 20-25 minutes.

What will take longer is blocking the boards between coats. I will likely just 3m scuff the first coat, put three thick coats on, wait a day, block the face and maybe the back, 3m scuff to catch low spots, and spray again. With luck, might be done before the end of the week.

[cortcomp]

Between the second coat of stain and the first of clear, you could see brown dots and splotches where i apparently didn't wipe all the wet stain off.

Rather than use lacquer thinner and risk changing the color, i used fine steel wool and those areas cleaned right off. Well, i thought i had all the steel wool fuzzies off those couple boards, but after checking the first coat of clear i could see and feel the fuzzies on those couple boards (and i mean one coat, i didn't realize how low on clear i was so they all gone one coat all sides, a heavy coat, not three medium coats.)

A quick run of the block and 1000 gritt over a piece of wood then some red 3m scuff pad (so as not to sand through the single coat of clear) and everything was clean again. I wasn't too worried because of how dark the wood is, you wouldn't see it against it and after 10+ coats of clear.

I figure quick quick block both sides then 3m scuff all over all the pieces, and 3 really nice coats of clear all around. Then, after doing that 3-4 times with a day of drying in between, lastly i'll probably, depending how little orange peel there is, block 1500 then do that DA system on one board and polish it with the three foam pads + polish. Then i'll do one without sanding and see if you can tell. If so, i'll sand, if not, i'll just buff. I could block all the way to 2500, just more work than the DA.

And, because i'm an a$$(#*$, i'll probably do both sides polished so i can tell people to look underneath to see how nice it looks, because apparently i am one step from a trailer queen with this one.

This pic shows the color a bit better and you can see that if you wanted texture, you could stop after the first coats of clear and still get some shine.

This jig is IT! once you have the boards ready, in about 1/2 hour you could have three pretty thick coats on and be cleaning the gun, and have gotten all size sides at the same time.