New bed wood finish for Stepside UTI

[BabyBlueUti]

I found a guy on Craigslist who has his own sawmill. He sold me enough White Oak to do the bed for $80. I'm gonna plane it down to 3/4" and 7.5" wide. The old boards were some kind of pine and have deteriorated badly. I'm not sure how much to cut out for the metal strips, but most of the board kits I've seen run over $300 for unfinished wood, so I don't mind the extra work. What would you recommend as a finish??? It's not garaged, and open to hot Atlanta summers and all of the rain, etc... would you go with a stain/oil finish or some urethane / spar varnish???

[BabyBlueUti]

http://www.mar-k.com/final_summary.aspx
found this test of different finishes, but not happy with any of them really... the black POR 15 was the most resistant, but who wants a black bed? I guess I'll just stain it and go with some kind of Linseed oil or something I can reapply when needed...

[my5thmopar]

Look in my build thread. I used Helmsman Spar Urethane. Its holding up well.

[3deez]

Could you post the Craigslist posting? This is exactly what I want to do for my " Ute". Thanks. Don.

[my5thmopar]

Could you post the Craigslist posting? This is exactly what I want to do for my " Ute". Thanks. Don.

Not sure what you mean by Craigslist but here is the build thread. viewtopic.php?f=34&t=36025&p=272512&hilit=wood#p272512

[BabyBlueUti]

The wood guy I found on Craigslist lives in Snellville Ga... Very fair. I got to choose all of my boards and he will let me swap out any that are not PERFECT. He also raises Shiitake mushrooms which were INCREDIBLE! Never ate mushrooms so fresh... anyway, His number is 678-863-9168.

[3deez]

Thanks for the info. I'll give him a call and see what he can do for me.Thanks again. Don.

[BabyBlueUti]

If you need me to go over there to pick out a set of boards, give me a call. You will still have to cut and plane them to the proper thickness… they start at about 1" thick to 1-1/4 and run about 9 to 13 feet long. I will cut out the best sections. He contacted me today to make sure I was happy, so that's great… even with shipping, you would be ahead by hundreds of dollars.
you can reach me at 404-271-2975 Randy. I can email you pics of what I got and how they look after planing… which is perfect.