My reloading bench story.

[CHEVYINLINE6]

I live in Vancouver Washington. Years ago we had a chain of outdoors sporting good stores called ( GI Joes ) Kinda like Cabela's. In later years they also sold automotive related stuff. The store over in Portland had a bunch of finned bombs lining the parking lot. Inside they had some old military weapons hanging from the celing. The store chain started out in the early 1950's selling Army surplus and I believe they went out of business in the late 1990's. I was working in Portland when they went out of business and the company I worked for bought a lot of metal storage racks for our warehouse and a bunch of the checkout counters to put in our showroom. I wound up with a 5 foot section of one of the counters that was made of one inch thick plywood that is covered with green formica. I went to Home Depot and bought four 4x4 fence posts for the legs. I added a shelf on the bottom and casters so I can move it around. Next week I will be adding overhead lighting, a large telescoping magnifing glass for case inspecting and overhead storeage.

CHEVYINLINE6.

 

[Mobuck]

I 'bought out' a business that used several types of lumber and MDF material. My bench top and shelves are 1" MDF with an overlay of smoother, less permeable 'processed wood' sheet. This stuff is SOLID and easily supports the stress of 4 single stage presses and a Dillon SDB while providing a rigid no-vibration powder scale area. Not sure I'd want mine on casters.

 

[blume357]

best I can do on this kind of story is not about a table reloading or other wise but a good friend worked in an office building a number of years back and they had an entire floor of the building. the business was closing and the manager needed to get rid of all the office supplies and equipment. There were a lot of those large lateral file cabinets and I ended up buying 'a couple'. gave some to some other friends and kept 4 of the 4 drawer ones and 2 of the 2 drawer ones... here is our stowage area:
(my work bench is around the corner and you really don't want to see that area)

 

[epags]

Similar story....so many years ago that I have forgot just when a neighbor gifted me with a steel and formica desk(?).
I have adopted it to being my reloading desk (boy the movers have cursed me the 4 or 5 times it has had to be moved (actually I broke it down into four parts but they are all heavy steel.

 

[CHEVYINLINE6]

I 'bought out' a business that used several types of lumber and MDF material. My bench top and shelves are 1" MDF with an overlay of smoother, less permeable 'processed wood' sheet. This stuff is SOLID and easily supports the stress of 4 single stage presses and a Dillon SDB while providing a rigid no-vibration powder scale area. Not sure I'd want mine on casters.

Mine has to be on castors due to of the four walls in the room, two are full of bookcases. The wall behind my reloading bench is mirrored sliding door to a closet that we have to get in often and the fourth wall is all windows that can be used to exit the room in case of a emergency. My bench has locking castors and is very solid and heavy.

CHEVYINLINE6.

 

[CAJUNCHEF]

Mine has to be on castors due to of the four walls in the room, two are full of bookcases. The wall behind my reloading bench is mirrored sliding door to a closet that we have to get in often and the fourth wall is all windows that can be used to exit the room in case of a emergency. My bench has locking castors and is very solid and heavy.

CHEVYINLINE6.

My reloading bench is not fancy, but priceless to me. My Dad built a kitchen prep table for me when I was in college and living in a shotgun apartment. It's pine 2x6 top and 2x4 legs, with an undershelf. He built it so that the legs fold and could fit in the trunk of my car when I moved.
Years later, it became my reloading bench, I added a 2" thick section of laminated main beam I scrounge from some nice custom homes built in the upstate of South Carolina.
Dad approved. I will never get rid of that bench when I upgrade.

 

[peachhead]

Built mine out of lumber I had. Of course it's too small and I had a heck of a time moving it because it's heavy. But it works. I've added another press and an rcbs mounting plate and it's still my main bench.

 

[GypsmJim]

I have an 8' work bench that is used for a multitude of things. My "loading Bench" consists of my presses mounted on two pieces of wood that attach with carriage bolts and wing nuts. As you can see, I'm a fan of Lee equipment.

 

[jimbo1096]

I worked for a bank for 33 years, in the maintenance department, and we remodeled many of the bank branch offices over my tenure. I remember back in the 80s that most of the furniture for customers in the lobbies were metal legs and walnut tops freestanding in the lobbies. I hated moving most of that furniture out but one day there was this really nice older unit that was going to the dumpster and I took it home. It has a 2 inch walnut top 6 foot long with solid brass legs and crosspieces. It turned out to be the perfect size for me sitting on my tall stool and working with the reloading press. I'll never move it so it's where it's going to be until the next person has this house and doesn't want it anymore. I hope they realize there's a couple hundred bucks in brass just in the frame.

 

[Mobuck]

ARGH, you guys keep your work spaces WAY TOO CLEAN AND NEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[the_leper_colony]

Similar story....so many years ago that I have forgot just when a neighbor gifted me with a steel and formica desk(?).
I have adopted it to being my reloading desk (boy the movers have cursed me the 4 or 5 times it has had to be moved (actually I broke it down into four parts but they are all heavy steel.
View attachment 50837

When I first got out of school, I had a couple of temporary jobs with the federal government. Your gray steel furniture looks exactly like the stuff they had back then - just about bullet-proof, and heavy as all get out. Not a bad investment for the taxpayer, because it lasted forever! At some point, Uncle Sam surplused all of that well-built stuff, and started buying particle board crap that broke if you looked at it wrong, just so they could buy pretty new furniture every couple of years!

 

[the_leper_colony]

ARGH, you guys keep your work spaces WAY TOO CLEAN AND NEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This look more familiar?

Obviously needs some TLC, before I actually try to do anything!

 

[bobski]

your benches are way too clean and organized!

i prefer the mad scientist look.

 

[the_leper_colony]

My reloading bench is also my work bench (or maybe it's the other way around?), so it definitely gets that "mad scientist look" when I'm doing gun projects AND replacing light fixtures AND painting AND doing yard work etc., etc., etc. But I admit I'm paranoid when it comes to reloading - first thing I do is get the work area cleaned up & reorganized, before I touch a single bullet, primer, or case. Safety first!

 

[jimbo1096]

Clean and well organized? HAH
I'm like the leper colony and use my bench for just about everything. Only when I'm doing reloading is everything off the bench but the reloading stuff. Right now I'm trying to work on an old car so it has everything on it that I need to get to. if you want to see messy look at this



The green foot locker at the bottom was my dad's when he was in the Air Force and used it to move to various duty stations around the world. Right now it's full of all my dies, most of the reloaded ammunition and boxes as well as all my powders. Primers are stored separately.

 

[NC FNS]

I love a good repurposing story! Great thread! Thanks for that pic, Jimbo. Mine looks similar…there's a wooden top somewhere under all my stuff.

 

[Sam Summey]

Clean and well organized? HAH
I'm like the leper colony and use my bench for just about everything. Only when I'm doing reloading is everything off the bench but the reloading stuff. Right now I'm trying to work on an old car so it has everything on it that I need to get to. if you want to see messy look at this

View attachment 51789

The green foot locker at the bottom was my dad's when he was in the Air Force and used it to move to various duty stations around the world. Right now it's full of all my dies, most of the reloaded ammunition and boxes as well as all my powders. Primers are stored separately.

That's more like it!