[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by rbruno68

If I understand your question, are you asking if the paint will have a different shade depending on the type of oak you use as bed wood? Lets say white oak vs red oak? I do a little woodworking on the side and this would be just my opinion. The difference in white oak and red oak would show if you were doing a clear stain/finish on the wood. Red oak, well, has a red tone to it and white oak has a more light brown look to it. So those colors would show through the clear finish. I am not sure yo would see much of a difference if you painted them black and then cleared over top. If you are painting, I think the grain would show more of a difference then actually the color of the wood itself. For instance and no matter if it is white or red, if you have a bunch of tight grained pieces and then one piece that has a wider grain, I think you would see that in the paint because the grain absorbs the paint differently. It would also show in the grain the way the board was originally sawn ie quarter sawn or rift sawn. So I think the decision would depend a little on how you would like it to look and how particular you want to be.

I am redoing the bed in my truck and I pulled whatever oak boards I could find from my stock to make into the bed wood. I have one that is white oak and the rest are red. Some have knots and checks and one I had to fill a couple checks and knots with epoxy. But, I had everything in stock and only need to buy two full sets of planner knives to get that hard oak milled to thickness.

I agree that white oak would be better. But, I didn't have enough in stock to do the entire bed in white oak. I am clearing mine, so someone will definitely be able to see that one board is white oak. But is a driver, I had the material, and it is ok with me.
Rob

Thanks! Your info fills in some blanks.

I'm no carpenter nor 'wood' guy. Def no tools for it. I know a couple of guys w/limited equipment but I like to minimize others involvement because I invest WAY MORE time/effort in detail stuff & don't want to subject them to that.

I'll likely move forward since it seems the 'grain' will be my biggest visual issue vs color/tone variance if something ever comes to that.