35 Pickup Bed question

[Zimmco]

I need some guidance on my pickup restoration. Does anyone know whether the wood under the steel floor was painted when the bed was painted? I've seen pickups with a steel floor and bare wood under it, but it doesn't seem to me that Ford would have asssembled them this way and masked off the wood. I'm sure this will be the first of many questions as I proceed!
Thanks,
Al

[Cecil/WV]

Al,
On the '40, all the wood was painted a flat black, including the mounting wood for the cab as well.

[flat-v8]

They were not painted originally, maybe treated with oil or something, I replaced bad wood then painted mine with urethane, many many coats, the wood sucks up alot of paint!

[Lawson Cox]

Based on our research to date it appears that the wood under the metal floor in the bed, and the wooden cab and bed supports were not painted. I have seen several original beds that had overspray around the edges of the wood, but none in the center.

[TJ]

MinWax makes a product called Polyshades. It's a stain that has polyurethane in it. You can get it in black and really works well. Would be a good preservative for the wood under the steel bed.

[jerry grayson]

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Originally Posted by Lawson Cox

Based on our research to date it appears that the wood under the metal floor in the bed, and the wooden cab and bed supports were not painted. I have seen several original beds that had overspray around the edges of the wood, but none in the center.

Lawson, I have some information on this subject that you may not be aware of. I replaced the floor (metal and wood) on a 36 bed and kept the old wood. I looked at it today and cleaned off the top of the pieces and it looks like the wood was coated very lightly with some weak black paint. The bottom of the wood pieces is covered with gray primer like the remainder of the bed, so I can't tell what the orignal was, but the top of the wood for sure has some black coating. From this evidence, I assume that the wood was coated from the factory with weak black paint, top and bottom, before being installed in the bed assembly. I do not think that the bottom of the bed was painted with the final color during the color painting.

[Zimmco]

Thanks to all for your input. It'll be a while before I get to paint, but this is great info.

[HOTRODPRIMER]

Originally Posted by TJ

MinWax makes a product called Polyshades. It's a stain that has polyurethane in it. You can get it in black and really works well. Would be a good preservative for the wood under the steel bed.

The Minwax polyshade finishes are designed for interior use only.

They make a spar urethane clear for exterior,,but the wood was painted black that was under my bed. HRP