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My 712M will need some new rub rails when I get it next week.

I recall being told the original rub rails were teak - but don't take that as gospel!

Stripped my rub rails off this weekend as I was doing some anti-rust work on the sides and figured I'd check the rub rails whilst I was at it.

Good news - rails came off no problem - no sign of rot underneath, all inserts in place.

Decided whilst I was at it, I'd strip the rails back to bare wood and see what they looked like. 1/2 gallon of paint stripper (Nitromors) and a couple of hours of stripping back, followed by another couple of hours and more than a dozen sheets of 80 grade on the mouse sander, then a few more 120 grade, and we're back to pretty much bare wood (bar a couple of places where the paint is so engrained I preferred to leave some slight staining than sand the wood back further).

Now the bad news - having done all that and looked at the rails, I'm not sure that stained/varnished rails suit the rest of the truck, which externally looks exactly as it did when it left the Swiss military a few years ago...

So I'm now thinking of painting them again! Anyone got any photos of a stock 712 in OD with stained rails, before I commit to paint again?

I think my original rails were oak. Looked good when I stripped and stained and varnished them.
Then I beat them to crap on rocks and put on metal channel painted OD.

built mine with trex if you have a table saw it's a very easy project,probably less than 30$ materials thats the cheapest way. Otherwise Tims (SWPA) are very nice. I have one of his bumpers he is a very talented fabricater.

My rails have started to grow fungus in the screw holes!