My Little Bench

[onondaga]

Was pouring rain again today and I couldn't set up on my porch. This is my kitchen setup:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c338/rhymeswithwhat/CastingBench.jpg

I work between the dishwasher and the fridge. A window fan blows out flux smoke. There is my Lee 4-20, bag of sawdust, chunk of bees wax, Slop can, spoon, paperclip, screw driver, sprue bin with hide mallet, bullet bin with mold and 270 bullets I cast this morning.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c338/rhymeswithwhat/312Checked.jpg

All lubed, sized/checked, lubed again and ready to load. These are sized .312" 150gr FNGC boolits for my Remington Spartan 7.62X39mm single shot rifle.

Gary

[cbrick]

Compact ;-),

What's the hammer for?

Rick

[onondaga]

That is a rawhide mallet. I don't pound anything with it, I use to nudge open my sprue plate and tap the mold handle center bolt if necessary to get boolits out.

Gary

[cbrick]

Was just curious, I've never had a hammer on my casting bench and couldn't figure it out. Thought there must be a reason though.

Rick

[skeet1]

Gary,
What boolit is that your casting there? Is that the Lee 150 gr? They look very good, nice work.

Ken

[geargnasher]

That's all a person needs. My full-time casting bench is only six inches wider, and has two sizers on the end so is effectively the same size. Works for me.

Gear

[onondaga]

Yes, that is the Lee C309-150-FN. I have honed the bearing bands to drop .313" and I size .312"for the X39.

Gary

[Bret4207]

I've been using the same rawhide mallet since 1978. Good tool.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

For a rainy day or otherwise that's a neat, uncluttered, and efficient layout. As seen by the accompanying pictures, it gets the job done. I too use among other things, a rawhide mallet and the one I've used has lasted many years. A plastic one works well as well as a wooden one that I made on the lathe from a small oak log. None of the above has ever hurt any of my sprue plates. Regards to the "Niagra Frontier" as the disc-jockey Joey Reynolds used to say on WKBW. LLS

[onondaga]

I am the right age to remember stuffing my face with Pizza from the Bocce Club with Joey. He was a bigger laugh off-air and a personal acquaintance.

Gary

[skeet1]

Gary,
What was the original dia. of your bullet before you honed it out? I've been thinking of getting that mould for my .30-30 but I like to use a .311 bullet and was wondering if yours fell from the mould at least that size.

Ken

[Leadmelter]

My wife would have a fit, she complains when I cast in the garage.
Must not be married or have a very understanding wife.
Good Luck!

Gerry

[onondaga]

Skeet,

That mold originally dropped .309" I honed it using a bullet cast through a hex nut as a rotational abrasive cutter by a adding liquid dish soap and 500 grit dental pumice paste. I applied it to the band areas only. Bullets with my 7:3 WW:Lino are BHN14 and Average 152.4 gr +- .9 gr. all up from both cavities. I weigh them to check, but I don't sort them when they are that close for a hunting bullet.

Gary

[onondaga]

I have worked hard to be a neat freak. I do the stinky messy stuff outside. Start to finish for 300 bullets including cleanup is about 3 hours. You can schedule that when you have the place to yourself and pull it off without a hitch if you are neat.

Casting on my porch is more fun, but I needed the bullets to catch up from the work-up loads for the new X39 rifle. The rainy day in the kitchen worked for me.

My apartment is pretty well sealed, so if I open a few windows a bit. the fan blows all the fumes out very well.

Gary

[ihmsakiwi]

I have worked hard to be a neat freak. I do the stinky messy stuff outside. Start to finish for 300 bullets including cleanup is about 3 hours. You can schedule that when you have the place to yourself and pull it off without a hitch if you are neat.

Casting on my porch is more fun, but I needed the bullets to catch up from the work-up loads for the new X39 rifle. The rainy day in the kitchen worked for me.

My apartment is pretty well sealed, so if I open a few windows a bit. the fan blows all the fumes out very well.

Gary


I also have trouble casting when the weather is wet. I cast close to the outside of our house under a first floor deck but if it is raining I always have a worry about a drop or two dropping into my pot.
This past weekend over Easter I told SWMBO I was going to tidy up the gazebo which is used for garden type storage and for my copious buckets of lead and WW.
Whilst tidying I decided it was better if I melted all the WW in to ingots and made up my mix in bulk quantities instead of small quantities.
So off to the hardware store bought a four ring burner and a Black & Decker Workmate to use as a table and proceeded to make hundreds of Gem-iron ingots of 10/10/4 mix.
SWABO saw through my "tidy-up" offer pretty quickly but at least ten or twelve empty buckets got thrown out and I have reclaimed 3/4 of the gazebo space from the acculated junk.
I would not even consider doing my casting inside. I am quite messy. Peter.

[Bret4207]

For a rainy day or otherwise that's a neat, uncluttered, and efficient layout. As seen by the accompanying pictures, it gets the job done. I too use among other things, a rawhide mallet and the one I've used has lasted many years. A plastic one works well as well as a wooden one that I made on the lathe from a small oak log. None of the above has ever hurt any of my sprue plates. Regards to the "Niagra Frontier" as the disc-jockey Joey Reynolds used to say on WKBW. LLS

I can remember when KBW was THE clear air station for nighttime listen. Used to be a riot. "Mmmm, may a weird man from Montreal give your sister a Canadian goose!!!". Funny stuff back in the mid 70's, back when on air personalities could be funny without resorting to profanity or straight out sex talk. These days I think it's Air America or sports.

[thegatman]

For a rainy day or otherwise that's a neat, uncluttered, and efficient layout. As seen by the accompanying pictures, it gets the job done. I too use among other things, a rawhide mallet and the one I've used has lasted many years. A plastic one works well as well as a wooden one that I made on the lathe from a small oak log. None of the above has ever hurt any of my sprue plates. Regards to the "Niagra Frontier" as the disc-jockey Joey Reynolds used to say on WKBW. LLS

I am sure you must remember the Chicken Man series.

[exile]

Ihmsakiwi,

I have been thinking about buying a Black and Decker Workmate since I just purchased a new ten lb. pot to supplement my Lee 4 lb. pot. How do you use it, do you clamp a board in the middle or what? Are there plastic parts in it that would melt or mar if lead was dropped on them? Could you provide pictures? I cast in the garage and need something portable that I can fold up easily. I currently cast on an old rusty COOP bucket and thought it was time for an upgrade!

Onondaga,

You are in inspiration to me. Small set-up, tumble lubing, Lee mold and pot and it gets the job done. If I cast in the kitchen or even the basement, I would be minus some body parts, and I think you guys know which ones.

Sorry for the thread hijack, this thread just makes me feel so much better about my un-sophisticated set-up, if you can call a rusty bucket a set-up at all.

exile

[onondaga]

The Harbor Freight Universal Tool Stand I just mentioned in another post may be a choice for you to consider:

http://www.harborfreight.com/universal-tool-stand-46075.html

I use this for the casting bench, but it is the older model that came with a flake board top..

Gary

[crabo]

Ihmsakiwi,

I have been thinking about buying a Black and Decker Workmate since I just purchased a new ten lb. pot to supplement my Lee 4 lb. pot. How do you use it, do you clamp a board in the middle or what? exile

Buy 2 and also set up a reloading bench

[ihmsakiwi]

Ihmsakiwi,

I have been thinking about buying a Black and Decker Workmate since I just purchased a new ten lb. pot to supplement my Lee 4 lb. pot. How do you use it, do you clamp a board in the middle or what? Are there plastic parts in it that would melt or mar if lead was dropped on them? Could you provide pictures? I cast in the garage and need something portable that I can fold up easily. I currently cast on an old rusty COOP bucket and thought it was time for an upgrade!

Onondaga,

You are in inspiration to me. Small set-up, tumble lubing, Lee mold and pot and it gets the job done. If I cast in the kitchen or even the basement, I would be minus some body parts, and I think you guys know which ones.

Sorry for the thread hijack, this thread just makes me feel so much better about my un-sophisticated set-up, if you can call a rusty bucket a set-up at all.

exile

Hi Exile,
Yes I will post some pictures over the weekend. I too have one set-up for my reloading and the new one for smelting and casting.
I had a flat S/S BBQ lid that I screwed a block of wood to the top and invert it and clamp it onto the workmate. i
I simply put a sheet of steel under the 4 ring burner to help take some of the heat away from the wooden "deck" of the workmate. They are very stable. Peter.

[exile]

Thanks. The reason I ask is that I have been looking for one in a store, but can only find online ordering information, so I thought if I was going to go that way, I would need more information before taking the plunge.

exile

[ihmsakiwi]

Hi Exile,
Here are some pics of my two work-mates which I have to say work just great.

Peter.


http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/drulov/DSCF5176.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/drulov/DSCF5170.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/drulov/DSCF5177.jpg

[303Guy]

Ahhh! Kiwi ingenuity!:drinks: