We had an old oak desk at the range we weren't using anymore, so I brought it home to repurpose it as a reloading bench, has a little more class than my current dimensional lumber and MDF bench.
Stripping off the old, damaged veneer:
Routed a roman ogee around the top to remove all the dents and chips from the surface (and just squared up the face for the press to sit against) - inset is the original brass lock, pinned with a threaded brass rod to keep it from being inadvertantly locked:
Top after stripping and initial sanding, then wetted to show grain:
Completed bench, curing and waiting to be brought in this weekend:
I ended up just reinstalling the large drawer face without the drawer body behind it, since it'll be inaccessible with a press mounted to it anyway. The drawers were missing their dividers as well, so I made a few of those from some planks of mahogany that my dad had scavenged out of a depression-era safe.
My metallic presses are all mounted to 3/16" hardened steel plates (from safe walls) with a common through-bolt pattern, so they get bolted through the bench into tee-nuts mounted under the table top. Still working out how and where to mount the Lyman 45, shotgun press(es) and powder measure when each of those is required.
Bren R.