Tips on finishing bed boards

[Lauppster]

Hey guys, after seeking and finding many answers here and other categories on this site I thought I would pass some helpful tips along on finishing bed boards.
I started with Mar-K's site, the "installation info" tab; there is a section on "wood board finishing II". I read all this jazz and decided that the Pelucid by POR-15 and Minwax Helmsman eurethane were best for my needs.
The boards were sanded down to 220 grit and cleaned to be dust free before starting. As the Mar-K info suggested, I broke all the board edges with an orbital sander before starting.
The POR-15 goes on really thick. I have a 67 short bed, managed two full coats and a third on the top surface only as I then ran out. I would recommend sanding the show surface after the second coat. The POR-15 directions recommend 4 days between coats. This was needed or the solvents would not completely cure out leaving a layered result; not ideal. 220 dry and then you could go back over it with 320 wet. Then the final coat was applied. Again, sand down with 220 followed by 320 wet. Don't worry, you just sealed the wood from moisture!
Now the fun part. I tried everything I could to get a dust free finish with the eurethane; brush, spray, roll, spray in the garage, spray outside with the bugs. Needless to say there are about 8 coats on there. Buy the gallon can and you will have plenty left over. My final results were obtained by luck watching my paint guy. The secret was to wet sand the boards back smooth with 320/400/then 1000. Now I used a buffer (Harbor Freight $30) and Mother's rubbing compound. WOW! Still was not happy; painter said I was crazy, probably so but if he would give me painted body panels I could do something worth while! (That's another story). Anyway, he suggested I use Mothers machine polish. The bed boards are smooth as glass.
If you have boards w/o the mounting holes, try to drill them in first; I could not as the bed was in pieces. If not, just go over the fresh drill holes with the Helmsman a couple times. Use a drillpress with the Forstner bit; you have no chance to hold a 1/2" drill and 1 9/16" bit steady.
Anyway, here is the result.
Hope this saves someone some trouble. (No, I don't work for POR-15, Minwax, or Mother's)

[DorianB]

Thanks for that great information!

Saving this as it will come in handy very soon!

[VA72C10]

Looks great! Nice work!

[1moretime]

Yours looks great. The tips are very handy as I just assembled mine and painted the bed. Haven"t wet sanded or buff yet. Now I'll know what to use.

[Lauppster]

Your color combo looks really good!
Good luck to everyone and thanks for the encouragement.

[survivingalone]

anymore pics of the bed in the sun? what kind of wood did you use?

[BigDan3131]

I really don't like bed wood and if I were going to do a truck I would place panels of steel between the chrome strips. What makes it interesting is I would have them painted by a pinstriper who does wood graining. With wood graining it will look like any color of wood you want and last.

[Lauppster]

Survivingalone, the boards are oak and pruchased from Classic Industries. Here is the best shot I have of them in the sun; she is not driveable yet... Good luck!

[survivingalone]

beautiful!! thank you...

[GMR-PERFORMANCE]

I shot my oak wood with basic auto clear. Reason I wanted something with UV in it.. And being that I have seen what some of the other stuff does in the az sun.. Woods that has been shot 4+ years ago with auto clear is still going strong. Just one more option that is out there.. And its easy

[notsolo]

Originally Posted by GMR-PERFORMANCE

I shot my oak wood with basic auto clear. Reason I wanted something with UV in it.. And being that I have seen what some of the other stuff does in the az sun.. Woods that has been shot 4+ years ago with auto clear is still going strong. Just one more option that is out there.. And its easy

What was your prep for putting auto clear on wood...any sealer needed...Thanks....Ed

[amccomb]

I am going to use this same method, Where did you get the pelucid por-15 from? and how much should I buy to complete the two or three coats? I have a fleetside long bed, Thanks in advance.

[Lauppster]

I ordered it straight from the POR15 web site. Not sure you can get it anywhere else.
I bought a quart. Mine is a short bed and I was short one coat on one side of the boards; tops all had 2x coats and bottoms 3x coats. I don't feel that I was wasteful with the product either it is just that thick. Think the quart and shipping was about $50. I am not sure what the next size container is that would be larger than a quart.
Would two coats do what you need? Probably. Will it hold up? Probably. When I cut the bed mounting holes into the boards it looked like I was cutting plastic for the first 1/8" or so. Afterall you are going to coat over it anyway.
If I remember correctly in the spec sheets you can thin it the product out with their thinner if one were to spray it on. This would probably make it go further for brushing, but do you lose in protection? I don't know.
I know that is not much of an answer, but that is all I can say. Hope it helped some.

[amccomb]

Thanks for the reply I ordered two quarts of the por 15 pelucid. How do you think spray cans of the helmsman minwax would work as apposed to brushing it on?

[Lauppster]

I think you would go through a ton of spray cans and they are not cheap. By the time I finished with the Helmsman I almost went through a gallon. At one time I did thin and shoot it with a HVLP gun trying to get a smooth finish. It was better but not perfect. One thing I learned is that if you have enough build thickness you can sand and buff out almost anything.

[amccomb]

Mine is more of a daily driver work truck, don't get me wrong I want the bed to be nice but durability is the priority. How many coats of the pelucid and minspare should I go with? I am probably going to brush both?