New reloading benches for my new reloading room

[McKinneyMike]

Here are some photos of my new reloading room and the new benches that I built over the holidays. The first photo is of the longer bench. I still need to add the hardwood edge to the top and apply a new laminate. I installed a spline around the edge of the top to secure the hardwood edge that I am making from curly Maple. I had some redwood beams that I had no other use for so I decided to saw them up to make the legs of the two benches. The aprons and stretchers are made from 1 1/4" Ash with all joints using mortise and tenons. I then pegged the joints with Maple dowels. The Ash had a lot of darkwood in the lumber, so I was not going to use it for furniture.
Finish was a coat of Watco Teak Oil and once that cured I applied a few coats of satin polyurethane on both benches. I had two weeks off over the holidays and wanted to build something so I did! The room still needs to have the baseboards and door trim added. I haven't decided what wood I want to use just yet for that. The long bench is 96" long and 24" deep.

[img width=600 height=450]http://www.themastins.com/benches/bench5.jpg[/img]

The following photos are of the reloading press bench. It is shallower than the long bench and shorter at 16" deep and 48" long. Both benches are 29" tall, as I no longer like to stand and load. The height is comfortable for me to clean my rifles while standing.
[img width=600 height=450]http://www.themastins.com/benches/bench7.jpg[/img]
[img width=337 height=450]http://www.themastins.com/benches/bench9.jpg[/img]
[img width=600 height=450]http://www.themastins.com/benches/bench10.jpg[/img]
[img width=337 height=450]http://www.themastins.com/benches/bench11.jpg[/img]
[img width=600 height=450]http://www.themastins.com/benches/bench12.jpg[/img]

[dcloco]

We are moving back to Nebraska. Have to be there 3/1/11 for my first day of work.

Can you, your tools, and some wood be there by the afternoon of 3/3/11?

NICE work!!

[McKinneyMike]

Dave I am slow and not cheap, plus I am in Texas, but thanks for the compliment!

[stevec]

Great job! you put a lot into it. looks good!

Steve

[McKinneyMike]

Thanks Steve.

[Blue Avenger]

We are moving back to Nebraska. Have to be there 3/1/11 for my first day of work.

Can you, your tools, and some wood be there by the afternoon of 3/3/11?

NICE work!!

already, that did not last long! Same employer?

[Blue Avenger]

Nice work Mike! even the saw horses show your an excellent over achiever!

[McKinneyMike]

LOL! That would be me :) If 1 is good then 5 must be better!

[stimpylu32]

Very nice , almost too nice to use as loading bench's and as for the room trim - How much of the Redwood you got left , rip some down and use it to tie it all together .

stimpy

[Balljoint]

A woodworker and a shooter this man has the best of both worlds, I'll lay odds he makes his own rifle stocks also.

[McKinneyMike]

Well I laminated the blank that Joel Russo made the stock from, does that count :) Quarter sawn Bubinga and figured Anigre.


[img width=600 height=275]http://www.themastins.com/rifles/bubinga_stock11.jpg[/img]
[img width=600 height=147]http://www.themastins.com/rifles/bubinga_stock12.jpg[/img]
[img width=600 height=159]http://www.themastins.com/rifles/bubinga_stock13.jpg[/img]

[dcloco]

Dave I am slow and not cheap, plus I am in Texas, but thanks for the compliment!

But I might be able to entice you with 2 pound prairie dogs????? :)

[dcloco]

We are moving back to Nebraska. Have to be there 3/1/11 for my first day of work.

Can you, your tools, and some wood be there by the afternoon of 3/3/11?

NICE work!!

already, that did not last long! Same employer?

Yep!

[L.H. Clark]

That stock is beautiful.

[McKinneyMike]

Thank you L.H.

[Pete K.]

Mike,
I applaud your wood working skills. That stock IS beautiful. You should be able to rebuild truck engines on that bench. At 96" long you might consider a recessed track to mount a powered chair which would propel you from one end to the other. I know that you could design and build it and I would love to see the pictures of the left/right button on the chair arm for navigation!! Kindly post more pictures when you get it all up and running. I'll bet you'll be adding shelves, peg board, picture posters and maybe a custom floor to compliment the beautiful finished wood work.

Great work...

Pete K. :)

[McKinneyMike]

Thank you Pete. I will add some shelving shortly. Doubt that I will do anything crazy as I want to get some ammo loaded and get to shooting :) Maybe next winter I will build a couple of small cabinets for the spot above the long bench. It looks extra stout, but the legs are only 4X4 Redwood, so they are really lightweight compared to southern yellow pine. The benches without the tops are really not to heavy at all. In fact I am going to have to secure the smaller bench to the floor as it just does not have enough mass.

The floor was a compromise with the wife as she has the biggest part of this addition that I built. She wanted something like tile and I wanted hardwood floors (something reclaimed in Oak, Maple or Long Leaf Pine). Scarred and rustic looking. The issue with tile is I would need to add cement backer board to the sub floors to lay tile and that would screw up the levels between the rooms. She said just paint the sub floor and we can decide later what to do, so I did.

[ChipEckardt]

If you are looking for a wood floor some folks around here cut up a wood gym floor in a school they were demolishing. It looks really nice in their house. Got it for the labor it took to cut it out and haul it home.

Chip

[McKinneyMike]

Thats the type of flooring that I was looking for Chip. I have a few friends that remodel homes from my days when I owned my hardwood lumber business. They told me that they would let me know if they run across a good deal or a tear down that I could salvage some stuff from as the rooms are not huge (400 sf ft total for both), Of course I got the closet :)

[GaCop]

Man, you do beautiful work. For me to build something out of Redwood in Georgia, I'd be in the poor house in no time. White and red oak is the way to go here along with the usual pine.

[ThorBird]

That is some kind of nice work. You have taken your reloading bench from something utilitarian, to a also being a family heirloom to be passed on through your family.

[McKinneyMike]

Thank you all for the kind words, but it is really not all that :) Mortise and tenon joints are not that hard to do if you can fab the required jigs and run a plunge router to make the mortises. The tenons can be made on a tablesaw or router table.
I just had a few weeks off over Christmas and wanted some shop time to get away from the wife :) The hardest part is the finishing as the sanding, sealing, waiting is the hardest part. I hate to wait to do anything for too long.

[Tim300wsm]

your reloading bench is seriously nicer than all my furniture its hands down the nicest I've seen mine is 2x4 and plywood scrapes from work

[memilanuk]

Mike,

Are those joints just doweled or draw-bored?

Very nice looking! I finally made a rolling shop cart (nothing fancy) for my gun cleaning station to replace the B&D Workmate 550 that I've used for the last 12 years. It's got me somewhat motivated to start making some more 'shop projects' that I've been putting off...

Monte

[McKinneyMike]

They are mortise and tenon joints. Not sure what the term drawbored means :) I pinned them with Maple dowels thru the tenons.



Again thank you for all the kind thoughts. I do hope that it inspires you to build stuff!