I looking at redoing my gun cleaning bench love to see some of y’all work area
Gun work area
- Thread starter jav
- Start date
Following
' love to see some of y'all work area'
No, you really don't.
My 'work area' is currently a scramble of reloading stuff, maintenance manuals and parts for a JD 5105, a couple rifles laid out for cleaning, and a plethora of assorted bits and pieces of clothing the kids left after their last hunting session.
No, you really don't.
My 'work area' is currently a scramble of reloading stuff, maintenance manuals and parts for a JD 5105, a couple rifles laid out for cleaning, and a plethora of assorted bits and pieces of clothing the kids left after their last hunting session.
creeksidewilly
Free American
Following as well.
You can't see the top of mine because it's buried under about three years of projects. But I do know where everything is. More or less, kinda.
You can't see the top of mine because it's buried under about three years of projects. But I do know where everything is. More or less, kinda.
GasGuzzler
Hawkeye
Same area I use for reloading, gold club repair, and general household work bench activities. Right now there's a shirt I bought but not sure what I am going to do with it along with random .32-20 WIN and .222 REM brass and ammo I bought off the forum that arrived last week. Impulse buy and have no idea what I am going to do with it either. Then there's a single red spot light spike waiting for its green counterpart to arrive in the mail. Final touches to the Christmas lights on the house.
That's all there is on my bench.
That's all there is on my bench.
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That's WAY TOO ORGANIZED. I'm embarrassed.
Yeah it's like the pictures you get with a new wallet. Gotta be fake
Seems like no one wants to share pictures...
I'd post mine, but my current gun cleaning bench looks a lot like our dining room table, since that is what it is.
I am planning on having a gun room/man cave in the house I will be building in Montana. I plan to have a cleaning/smithing bench and a separate reloading bench. I too would love to see some of the different setups. Mostly because, while I try, I invariably cannot think of everything that might be nice to have.
I'd post mine, but my current gun cleaning bench looks a lot like our dining room table, since that is what it is.
I am planning on having a gun room/man cave in the house I will be building in Montana. I plan to have a cleaning/smithing bench and a separate reloading bench. I too would love to see some of the different setups. Mostly because, while I try, I invariably cannot think of everything that might be nice to have.
GunnyGene
Hawkeye
Shared space:
I have a workbench in the little room with my furnace/AC unit/hot water heater. I put a pad down before laying a gun down to be cleaned, and keep a tool box with all of the cleaning materials next to the bench. Nothing special. Pretty much just use Ballistol and Hoppes #9 for the barrels.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!”
That setup is thing of beauty, Jim.
Be proud of your level of organization!
contender
Ruger Guru
A work bench can be just about anything.
But to be building a dedicated gun work bench requires a lot of thought. Will you be JUST working on guns,, or will reloading be involved? If reloading,, look at every press, or dedicated permanent type mounted item you have. Allow about 2-3 ft of space for each one. I suggested to a friend who was doing the same thing to allow for 2-3 ft between each press, powder measure, etc. He went with a 2-1/2 ft spacing & says it works quite well. Then allow for the addition of at least (2) more presses or machines. Allow a 2 ft depth at least for comfortable spacing. If you are going to have table top items like scales, or other such items,,, add at least a foot. So a 3 ft wide,, by whatever length you need will be quite nice.
For the gunsmithing/tinkering space,, I like a minimum of 5 ft, but 6' is better. Again, about 3 ft depth.
GOOD (LED preferred,) lighting.
VERY sturdy shelves mounted above AND below allows for putting bullets, primers, brass,, loaded ammo books etc on. A tool box that can be rolled UNDER the bench,, yet pulled out for easy access is a great option. Especially if it has a top you can use as a shelf for a place to temporarily lay something. (Kinda like the bottom half of a stack-able tool box system.)
Build to a height that allows for a comfortable chair to be used for extended times of work or loading.
Add on's,, such as a magnifier, a vise (or two), need to be considered as well.
These are a few ideas to assist in planning on how to build a GOOD comfortable work space. But my buddy,, well, he did as I said,, yet he soon ran out of space as he found out he wanted to add stuff. So I chuckled at him,, saying; "I told ya it wasn't big enough!"
But to be building a dedicated gun work bench requires a lot of thought. Will you be JUST working on guns,, or will reloading be involved? If reloading,, look at every press, or dedicated permanent type mounted item you have. Allow about 2-3 ft of space for each one. I suggested to a friend who was doing the same thing to allow for 2-3 ft between each press, powder measure, etc. He went with a 2-1/2 ft spacing & says it works quite well. Then allow for the addition of at least (2) more presses or machines. Allow a 2 ft depth at least for comfortable spacing. If you are going to have table top items like scales, or other such items,,, add at least a foot. So a 3 ft wide,, by whatever length you need will be quite nice.
For the gunsmithing/tinkering space,, I like a minimum of 5 ft, but 6' is better. Again, about 3 ft depth.
GOOD (LED preferred,) lighting.
VERY sturdy shelves mounted above AND below allows for putting bullets, primers, brass,, loaded ammo books etc on. A tool box that can be rolled UNDER the bench,, yet pulled out for easy access is a great option. Especially if it has a top you can use as a shelf for a place to temporarily lay something. (Kinda like the bottom half of a stack-able tool box system.)
Build to a height that allows for a comfortable chair to be used for extended times of work or loading.
Add on's,, such as a magnifier, a vise (or two), need to be considered as well.
These are a few ideas to assist in planning on how to build a GOOD comfortable work space. But my buddy,, well, he did as I said,, yet he soon ran out of space as he found out he wanted to add stuff. So I chuckled at him,, saying; "I told ya it wasn't big enough!"
OP
My man cave is share space the computer is in there
OP
Great thoughts
NDIH, but I like a lot of Inline Fabrication's products.
https://inlinefabrication.com/
Lots of neat quick-change mounts, various height stands, etc. If you have a press or tool that he doesn't have a quick-change base for, I believe he can make a plate off of a drawing that you provide. He also has blank plates for his quick-change system, where you can drill your own holes for your equipment.
Great if you have limited bench room, and don't want to devote a 3' wide space for the specialty press that you only use sparingly.
Not the cheapest stuff, but I've been impressed with the items that I've purchased. Everything I've seen from him has been well thought-out, and very nice quality.
I'm sure that others here are also using his products.
https://inlinefabrication.com/
Lots of neat quick-change mounts, various height stands, etc. If you have a press or tool that he doesn't have a quick-change base for, I believe he can make a plate off of a drawing that you provide. He also has blank plates for his quick-change system, where you can drill your own holes for your equipment.
Great if you have limited bench room, and don't want to devote a 3' wide space for the specialty press that you only use sparingly.
Not the cheapest stuff, but I've been impressed with the items that I've purchased. Everything I've seen from him has been well thought-out, and very nice quality.
I'm sure that others here are also using his products.
I do the smelly part (hoppes & brake clean) in a space I built on the back of my shop, basically outside.
Blow 'em off with some air and then back inside to the warm and the reload/disassembly/assembly, everything bench!
Also bought a roll around table from Home Depot that I mounted a Real Avid pistol vise and use as a spot for
my rifle vise and picture taking.
Lots of ways to do things. The fun part is putting it together for yourself
Cheers,
JAYDAWG
Blow 'em off with some air and then back inside to the warm and the reload/disassembly/assembly, everything bench!
Also bought a roll around table from Home Depot that I mounted a Real Avid pistol vise and use as a spot for
my rifle vise and picture taking.
Lots of ways to do things. The fun part is putting it together for yourself
Cheers,
JAYDAWG
What a great site!
Wish I would have found this when I was putting the bench together.
Cool stuff.
JAYDAWG
Pictures can lie.Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"
That setup is thing of beauty, Jim.
Be proud of your level of organization!
The previous picture shows what it looked like that day when I was doing some reloading and had cleaned it up so I could work safely.
This is what it normally looks like. Taken today.
deac45
Blackhawk
Hey! He is one of us after all!
I would be embarrassed to show you a picture of my setup right now, but I can describe it. My main bench is simply steel and particle board top workbench that you would buy at Home Depot, it has a integrated shelf above it. And then I have a nice loading bench for my shotshell loader and pistol loader. This bench was built by a close friend of mine and he was a pretty good craftsman and he had built shelves above it and compartments to hold various loading components, shot shell cases, wads, etc. About 30 years ago he went through a divorce and was getting rid of his stuff and asked me if I would like to have it. Of course I said yes and paid him for it. He has since passed away and I always think of him when I see it.
Before we moved this was my reloading area-
My work area was another bench like that with a vise, plus I had an old metal military desk that weighed 5 tons and had acreage for a top.
Now, 2 years after moving, I have a much smaller workbench…
And it’s usually covered with miscellaneous junk. I still haven’t set up my press….
My work area was another bench like that with a vise, plus I had an old metal military desk that weighed 5 tons and had acreage for a top.
Now, 2 years after moving, I have a much smaller workbench…
And it’s usually covered with miscellaneous junk. I still haven’t set up my press….
My new shop building has a work bench built into one wall. Bench is L shaped 14' long and 30" front to back with an equally sized shelf half way between floor and bench top. Vertical storage along 9' of that. With all the parts and shop manuals laid out most of that bench top is covered. I was hoping to get the project tractor running and re-assembled before real cold weather sets in but we're already on borrowed time.
Mine tends more toward the hopelessly disorganized look. I have five workbenches in a fairly small non-carpeted area in an otherwise finished basement. There is a half wall with a doorway (no door) down the middle that separates the shop into two halves (and the former owners of the house had 9 people living here, so those two sections were used as children's bedrooms with a curtain hung between them).
The way it has evolved since I bought the place 21 years ago, one side has the workbench I built as a teenager and my dad's workbench that I modeled mine after (but of course, I had to make mine bigger). There is also a workbench on wheels in there that was surplus from work and it has the bench grinder and so forth. My table saw, router table, and drill press are also on that side. My OG workbench is used as a general-purpose bench with a vise and backboard with pegboard and a shelf above that, and there is a shelf below the bench. My dad's old bench is currently where I take my gun pictures, and it has the lighting setup, part of which is held up by his old vise. The work surface of my dad's bench is tongue and groove oak flooring (I never asked him but suspect he picked up scrap flooring around the cookie cutter suburban neighborhood which was all being developed by one builder in the early 1960's) but I could not afford oak when I built mine, so it has a particle board top. There is also a wardrobe size cabinet that was free at the end of a weekend garage sale years ago, and that is full of tools.
The other side has two more surplus commercial benches with power, one is set up for reloading and one for gun cleaning. That half also has two gun safes and another heavy homemade waist high table with my dad's air compressor under it (mine is in the garage). The tall table is next to the bigger safe and I built it to have a spot to temporarily sit guns when searching through the safe. But now it has turned into more of a catch-all space plus has my postal scale (also surplus from work) set up on it. The company I retired from was always getting rid of stuff, first-come-first-serve in the early days, then later on a lottery basis. Throughout the rest of the basement, I have Steelcase type shelves, bookcases, file cabinets (both vertical and horizontal), and even one of the big metal desks with "wings" that pull out above the side drawers. As the company grew and was bought up by increasingly bigger companies, the surplus giveaways ended due to some insurance concerns. There are also homemade shelves on both sides with ammo and other gun stuff on one side and tools on the other side.
The way it has evolved since I bought the place 21 years ago, one side has the workbench I built as a teenager and my dad's workbench that I modeled mine after (but of course, I had to make mine bigger). There is also a workbench on wheels in there that was surplus from work and it has the bench grinder and so forth. My table saw, router table, and drill press are also on that side. My OG workbench is used as a general-purpose bench with a vise and backboard with pegboard and a shelf above that, and there is a shelf below the bench. My dad's old bench is currently where I take my gun pictures, and it has the lighting setup, part of which is held up by his old vise. The work surface of my dad's bench is tongue and groove oak flooring (I never asked him but suspect he picked up scrap flooring around the cookie cutter suburban neighborhood which was all being developed by one builder in the early 1960's) but I could not afford oak when I built mine, so it has a particle board top. There is also a wardrobe size cabinet that was free at the end of a weekend garage sale years ago, and that is full of tools.
The other side has two more surplus commercial benches with power, one is set up for reloading and one for gun cleaning. That half also has two gun safes and another heavy homemade waist high table with my dad's air compressor under it (mine is in the garage). The tall table is next to the bigger safe and I built it to have a spot to temporarily sit guns when searching through the safe. But now it has turned into more of a catch-all space plus has my postal scale (also surplus from work) set up on it. The company I retired from was always getting rid of stuff, first-come-first-serve in the early days, then later on a lottery basis. Throughout the rest of the basement, I have Steelcase type shelves, bookcases, file cabinets (both vertical and horizontal), and even one of the big metal desks with "wings" that pull out above the side drawers. As the company grew and was bought up by increasingly bigger companies, the surplus giveaways ended due to some insurance concerns. There are also homemade shelves on both sides with ammo and other gun stuff on one side and tools on the other side.
Me Too
OP
Ok so I order a table top tool chest this is what it looks like so far
OP
Made some progress today just waiting on my tool chest
I really like projects like this. Building a bench that works for YOU.
Have fun.
Cheers,
JAYDAWG
Have fun.
Cheers,
JAYDAWG
OP
Thanks it is fun now That I retired I do things a little slower before you only had so much time and it’s back to work so yes it fun been on this project for about a week just trying to get organized ha haI really like projects like this. Building a bench that works for YOU.
Have fun.
Cheers,
JAYDAWG
