Loading bench pics

[BigEyeBob]

I've added a Lee press since these pics were taken and a set of shelves above the bench which hold all my moulds and dies and other stuff.
The bench I built 30years ago from 2x4 oregon dunnage . It was in storage for many years until I got my workshop built

[smokeywolf]

The ash tray right next to the container of powder makes me cringe a bit.

[JesterGrin_1]

The ash tray right next to the container of powder makes me cringe a bit.

Why do you think that the person uses a propane torch to light his cigar lol.

[NavyVet1959]

The ash tray right next to the container of powder makes me cringe a bit.

Well, smoking *is* bad for your health...

[hollywood63]

A buddy of mine built this for me 200 bucks in materials. Thing is sweeeet.

[wyofool]

Finally got my bench finished and have actually used it several times.
There is room for three presses on the bench mounted on "tee track" with "tee bolts" and knobs. Makes it easy to remove them and have the whole bench free for other uses.
The end of the bench is next to the door for ventilation when casting.
Attachment 140385

[beeser]

Finally got my bench finished and have actually used it several times.
There is room for three presses on the bench mounted on "tee track" with "tee bolts" and knobs. Makes it easy to remove them and have the whole bench free for other uses.
The end of the bench is next to the door for ventilation when casting.
Attachment 140385

Nice setup! I noticed you have your tracks running from front to back. Any reason for doing this as opposed to running them sideways?

[wyofool]

With the tracks running front to back the "tee bolts" just slide out of the track when you want to remove the press. I am putting another set of tracks further down the bench for my vise and grinder to be mounted and when not in use they go under the bench on the shelf.

[warbird2006]

These shoul hang in your living room, not your basement

Hi Fellow Cast Boolit Shooters!


I Finally got my New shooting/Reloading/Hunting Room set up! It was a long time in comming!

So here we go! This collection of pictures Represents nearly A lifetime of hunting,shooting, reloading, and collecting animals that I was happy/worth to taxidermy. I have lived in smaller dwellings for most of my life and never had the opportunity to have all these personal trophies together in one place at one time. Now with a new home, I have the Hobby room Of My Dreams! I am still missing two deer mounts from the taxidermists at this time.


I hope you enjoy the pictures I have to share!

[Ken77539]

You folks make me sick – sick with envy that is. After about 14½ hours and almost a whole fifth of Devil’s Cut, I’ve managed to peruse through all 91 pages of posts. My eyeballs look like roadmaps and I don’t know whether to attribute that to staring at the computer screen that long or just blame it on the Whiskey. I’ve got to say that some of the pics I looked at were mighty damn impressive. I’ve spent the last several months out on a union called strike. During my “time off” I spent many, many hours in my workshop tinkering and contemplating (a.k.a. keeping out of momma’s hair) what I was going to do when I retire in a few years – hence, the “research”. My old bench is another one of them 2x4 and plywood basic benches that actually started life as a mechanic’s workbench in my garage/workshop. Like so many other’s I’ve seen, it meets my needs, but it’s doesn’t quite leave room for “expansion” if you know what I mean. Some of the benches look like they have been crafted by Master Cabinet and Furniture makers - beautiful work. I’ve gleaned many great ideas during my reading marathon, but also have come up with a few questions. First off, I’ve seen many pieces of equipment that look so fresh out-of-the-box clean. Just how does one keep it so spotlessly clean and what do you use to clean it? My next question concerns a couple of things I saw done to some of the benches. Carpeting and “T” track installations – it seems to me these would be a “catch-all” for dirt and powder. I really like the carpeting idea, but I’m concerned about it being difficult to clean up any spilled gunpowder. I thought vacuums were taboo - can someone provide some experience backed insight

[grumman581]

Just how does one keep it so spotlessly clean and what do you use to clean it?

Who said that they *stay* that clean? It's quite possible that for many of us, our reloading benches were only that clean right after we first built them.

My next question concerns a couple of things I saw done to some of the benches. Carpeting and “T” track installations – it seems to me these would be a “catch-all” for dirt and powder. I really like the carpeting idea, but I’m concerned about it being difficult to clean up any spilled gunpowder. I thought vacuums were taboo - can someone provide some experience backed insight

I've recovered spilled gunpowder from carpeting with a shop vac and a coffee filter over the nozzle. How much other stuff you "recover" depends on how often you vacuum the area when you're not spilling powder. In the grand scheme of things though, having a floor or work surface that you can brush and wipe down makes things a lot easier.

[stu1ritter]

Tucked into the corner of my wood working shop which in my house, is a very undisturbed place.
Stu

[gspgundog]

We just moved into a new home and I have managed to get one of the rooms for a reloading. I will be building four dedicated benches, one for shotshell, pistol, rifle and boolit lube / brass prep. Which brings me to my question, what is the group think on laminated vs. raw plywood tops?

[NavyVet1959]

We just moved into a new home and I have managed to get one of the rooms for a reloading. I will be building four dedicated benches, one for shotshell, pistol, rifle and boolit lube / brass prep. Which brings me to my question, what is the group think on laminated vs. raw plywood tops?

A thick top is nice to have. Mine is made from some 2×8s (and 2×6s, I think) to get a certain depth I was wanting to achieve and then joined together with pegs aligned between the adjacent plank and glued. If I had had a table saw at that time, I would have made a glued tongue-and-groove joinery, but this works pretty good. After sanding it down with a belt sander, I coated it with Danish oil.

The pre-laminated 4x8 sheets that you see at Home Depot is over particle board. I would *highly* advise staying away from particle board, especially on a horizontal surface.

Of course, you can buy the sheets of laminate and laminate over a top made from 2×X lumber, but what will your feelings be about leaving holes in the laminate when you decide you want a different press or you want to move a press from one bench to another? With a solid wood top, you can just cut a dowel to the size of the hole, hammer it in along with some glue, cut it off flush, and then sand it even with the table top. Or you can just create a "dutchman" to cover the surface.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I recently revived my reloading habit, built a sturdy table top from a solid core door. I cut laminate flooring to fit, then glued it to the top. It's heavy and doesn't move when I load.

[alamogunr]

A thick top is nice to have. Mine is made from some 2×8s (and 2×6s, I think) to get a certain depth I was wanting to achieve and then joined together with pegs aligned between the adjacent plank and glued. If I had had a table saw at that time, I would have made a glued tongue-and-groove joinery, but this works pretty good. After sanding it down with a belt sander, I coated it with Danish oil.

The pre-laminated 4x8 sheets that you see at Home Depot is over particle board. I would *highly* advise staying away from particle board, especially on a horizontal surface.

Of course, you can buy the sheets of laminate and laminate over a top made from 2×X lumber, but what will your feelings be about leaving holes in the laminate when you decide you want a different press or you want to move a press from one bench to another? With a solid wood top, you can just cut a dowel to the size of the hole, hammer it in along with some glue, cut it off flush, and then sand it even with the table top. Or you can just create a "dutchman" to cover the surface.

I would agree with that statement except in the case of my bench. I had access to some extremely dense "particle board" where I worked before retiring. The name they used was "Lebonite". This particular stuff is slightly over 2" thick and was used as structural insulating material in large power transformers. My 2' X 8' bench top weighs just over 200 lbs.

[LAH]

I would agree with that statement except in the case of my bench. I had access to some extremely dense "particle board" where I worked before retiring. The name they used was "Lebonite". This particular stuff is slightly over 2" thick and was used as structural insulating material in large power transformers. My 2' X 8' bench top weighs just over 200 lbs.

My bench in Montana was made from similar, good stuff.

[NavyVet1959]

I would agree with that statement except in the case of my bench. I had access to some extremely dense "particle board" where I worked before retiring. The name they used was "Lebonite". This particular stuff is slightly over 2" thick and was used as structural insulating material in large power transformers. My 2' X 8' bench top weighs just over 200 lbs.

Never heard of "Lebonite" and it didn't come up on a Google search. Got a link to some more information about it so I can expand my knowledge?

Most particle boards have pretty good strength in compression, not great in tension. I was at Home Depot the other day and a woman and her mother had a 4x8 piece of the laminated Melamine) particle board and a tape measure and were looking a bit confused. Since I couldn't find what I needed and didn't have anything better to do, I asked them if they needed some help. She said that she was wanting to use that as a counter top for a sewing machine, but did not want to want to put any supports under it. I told her that she should consider putting a frame around it supporting the bottom or using regular plywood instead -- just supporting it on the ends would probably result in failure eventually. Considering the price they were asking for the laminated stuff, she could have bought a nice piece of cabinet grade plywood that would have looked better in my opinion than the white Melamine laminate. As far as I'm concerned, if a counter top (or reloading bench) is not strong enough to support someone standing on it, it's not acceptable. Maybe you won't actually ever stand on it, but there's a good chance that you might lean on it and put a lot of weight on it eventually. Surely, I'm not the *only* person who has stood on top of a countertop in order to change a lightbulb...

[dragon813gt]

Which brings me to my question, what is the group think on laminated vs. raw plywood tops?

I used a sheet of 3/4" sanded plywood for the top so it had a nice smooth finish. I took a sheet of the sanded and a regular sheet and cut them lengthwise for a 2'x8' dimension. Then glued and screwed them all together. I didn't want to deal w/ joining and planing dimensional lumber to get a perfectly finished top. At 3" thick it's nice and heavy and has no flex in it.

[alamogunr]

Not surprised that you couldn't find anything on Lebonite. I'm sure it was a Westinghouse proprietary material(like Micarta) from many years ago. I first ran into it in 1980 and old timers were working with it for many years before that.

I built this bench in 2005 and have pounded on it, spilled solvent on it and in general used it hard. Except for discoloration, it is the same as it was 10 years ago.