Here is my sexy FORD, with its new Red Oak flat bed my brother and I cut out with our sawmill this weekend. I hope to treat it this spring. I will be using transmission fluid for a deep red color.

 

Nice work. I can appreciate the usefulness of that flat bed. But stain the wood with transmission fluid? Am I reading that right? Does that actually work?

 

Transmission fluid is oil, and is also red. Oil is a water repellent. Just cheep, and easy way to treat it. I can reuse what fluids I get from changing out the transmission fluids on our vehicles to treat my bed. The redness will help bring out the natural color of the red oak boards.

 

Cool, learn something new every day. That's some resourceful stuff. I'll definitely be interested to see how it looks when you're done.

 

Nice! I learned how to drive on a truck that looked like yours... just not yellow lol

 

so what all do you use that for?

 

Well, I built the truck to be a log skidder. It also has a 5th wheel for a goose neck trailer. The bed its self is 7'6" wide, and 8' long, to carry 2 ATV's side by side.

 

Good work so far, but why half-*** the finish? The ATF will contaminate everything, leaching out over a few years, leaving the wood to degrade. ATF isn't made for wood preservation, and won't work as well as tung oil. Why not just use some cherry wood stain, and a few coats of spar polyurethane? Mix white sand with the last coat for a non-slip texture. It'll last 10x as long; it won't be a travelling oil spill; it won't smell like used ATF; and it won't turn the wood pink. It also won't degrade all the rubber it drips onto, including fuel tank O-rings, fuel lines, TIRES, mud flaps, wiring, & suspension bushings. Lastly: it won't catch fire as easily.

 

Nice job on the bed, but I have to agree, ATF is not something to use to stain wood. If you are worried about used ATF, recycle it.

 

That was one of my jobs when i was in college doing landscaping. We had 3 GN trailers for mowers and bought a 30+ ft flat bed trailer.....he said. GO get some old oil outta the barrel and rub it on heavy....??i wasnt for sure what the reason was, but it water proofs it and actually there other trailers wood was in good order for as long as they have had them.

 

my grandfather used wood planks from an old oil mill for his platform on his wind mill. The wood should last forever since its completely saturated with oil

 

I saw someone with a flatbed just like yours. He treated the wood in creosote and they lasted longer than the truck.

 

well as far as looks and smell go, I built this truck to be a log skidder to pull timber to my saw mill. And I added a few inches to the width of the flat bed so I can haul 2 ATV's side buy side. It took me about 7 years to collect parts, and over 3 years to build this truck. Just buying the gas to drive the truck is hard on me, being I have 4 kids and a fixed income.
Not trying to be rude, but I have had many many people disagree with much of the things I have done when building this truck. Like the 8Gal. of rhino liner. Man Oh man, have I heard the reasons not to have coated the frame and underside of the cab with that stuff, but the truck will live its life in the woods. And I am not worried about weight, or how much mud will hold on to it.
As far as the transmission fluid goes, I will not be using enough that it leaches off and harms anything on the truck, or the earth. After a few light coats, it will get a Gal or so of Thompson's Water Seal as needed.
And next year, after the oak has cupped I will sand down the edges and put 2"x2" "T" channel steal between the boards that have be coated with rhino liner for grip.

Thank you all for your input.

 

OK But if you stain & varnish it now, it'll never cup, & never need to be sanded down. Sand in the varnish will provide more grip that lasts longer than steel strips coated with Rhino. Rhino is actually pretty slippery when wet.

 

The truck and bed look awesome. The yellow and black sticks with your "tonka" theme. And I love those old school mud flaps!!! I haven't seen those in a long time!