I could grumble about the power surge that took out two of our servers in Atlanta yesterday, and I might toss in some moaning and groaning about recent construction, but yesterday was Easter Sunday so I'll just remember how good my life is and that petty annoyances come and go.

We haven't left the country, we just had an outage that hopefully won't repeat soon and I've been busy working on the interior of the shop. I thought it was time to make an actual contribution to the project, because that is what gun people do; maintain a level of independence and make things. As an example, the pile of lumber on the floor is the reloading bench.

My approach to design is to go to Home Depot, or Lowes, and buy enough of their skewed sap wood AKA "Top Choice" lumber to build an ark. Then I head back to the shop and get busy turning it into saw dust. I buy 8' lengths of board and plywood because that is the length of that will lay flat in the back of the Chevy and allow me to close the tailgate. Everything I build is 7' 6" because the lumber that is coming in from China is actually metric sized and wet, so 8' boards are never 8' anymore, much less 8' with room for a couple of saw cuts.

The bench is sitting table height, or about 29" with the top in place, so the ten legs were cut to 28". It is also stout, framed in 2"x6" lumber. Lap joints were used for framing because support of vertical loads was the priority and they are easy to make. I cut 1 1/2" from the face of all legs and an additional 1 1/2" from the sides of the end legs. I used a band saw with a 1/2" blade to make the cuts. I was initially using a 1/4" blade, but that's a story for some other time. I cut 4 lengths of 2"x6" lumber to approximately 7'6" for top and bottom framing components.

This is the front going together. I drilled pilot holes to minimize splitting, then 2 or 3 coated 3" deck screws to secure each joint. I do not use glue as I sometimes end up disassembling pieces to facilitate moving or modification.

I cut 4 2"x6"x24" pieces to serve as end framing to hold everything together. It is really hard to get decent straight framing lumber these days. All I do is dig through the piles at the store to find the best, then measure carefully and square, assuming everything will eventually pull into place.

I use 3/4" oak veneer plywood for bench tops. The stuff is structurally sound, pretty hard surfaced, and the wood is dense and doesn't soak up spills quickly. I like a deeper bench so I can pile lots of garbage on it before it needs to be cleaned and organized again. I also wanted an overhang for mounting equipment.

Ripping the plywood to 28" gave the top a 4" front and 3" side overhang and left me with a nice 20"x8' piece of  expensive scrap wood I could place on the "magic wood pile" that will someday be used up on a project(s).

I like to do all the cutting and preassembly fitting in the basement where the heavy power tools live, then haul the sub-assembled pieces and final assembly in place. In this case, where the finished bench will weigh...5,000 lbs, give or take, it just makes a lot of sense.

The bench was to serve as a reloading area and also the support structure for a dividing wall. It needed to be placed squarely in the shop and positioned correctly to divide the room as planned. Assembling in place simplified the tasks.

Before the bench top was installed, the frame components were assembled and clamped together at its intended location and a load was placed on the frame. The diagonals were checked for square, the frame rails for level, then the final screws were put into to tighten up the assembly.

Next, the bench top was laid in place, squared and the proper overhang was set. 1 1/2" deck screws secured the top to the perimeter of the frame on roughly 10" spacing. They were cut countersunk and filed to make for a snag free surface. I know it might seem like an overkill on the hardware, but the top is a structural component that provides a good deal of lateral strength to the bench.

The final pieces were the shelves. They needed to be strong enough to hold bullets, brass and loaded ammo, so beauty wasn't a prime consideration. Another sheet of 3/4" oak veneer plywood was ripped into equal pieces for the shelving and notched to clear each leg.

This is the bench with the bottom shelf in place, the top in place and the yet to be notched second shelf laying on top. I actually cut out a set of shelves that could be adjusted in height within each section. My concern was load limitations, so I went back to a one piece approach to the second level shelving. There are 7,000 grain to the pound. I found I had over 170 lbs of .458" bullets alone and extrapolating suggested the bench would see in excess of 1,200 lbs easily. A second shelf supported by cross 2"x4"x24" at each leg was appropriate.

Reloading requires a very rigid surface. Bench tops that yield under leveraged pressure make for inconsistently formed brass, seated primers and seated bullets. With the assumption I would have two presses bolted down most of the time, I cut a 24" section of 4"x4" lumber, placed it under the bench top and bolted it to the face of the bench with 1/2" hardware. Then I drilled through the bench top and the supporting block and bolted down my presses. It made for a sturdy assembly. I predrilled the bench top for smaller tools like case trimmers, etc..

All that remained was the half wall that was to divide the room and serve as the bench back. The wall is mostly decorative so it was framed with 2"x4" lumber on 32" centers for a span of 13'. Secured to the bench, a heavy wooden bookcase and a few spots on the floor made the structure sturdy. 2 1/2" deck screws held everything together.

The framing was covered with 1"x8" tongue and groove pine. I bought 8' lengths and cut them in half to get 16" of wall coverage per board. Since the covering needed to be slightly off the floor and it was to be trimmed, the 8' length was more than enough. The material was on sale at Home Depot for $1.65 per board and, because it was decorative, the more knots and colored sapwood the better.

In anticipation of people walking up and leaning on the wall to see if I am hiding behind it, I cut a 5" wide pine board to serve as a top ledge. 5" wide pine molding trimmed the bottom and side, 2" lumber trimmed the top under the ledge. The bench side of the wall was finished with 1/4" A-C interior plywood. It gives skin structure to the wall and makes a nifty place to hang things on the bench side. The wall and the bench were clean sanded, then double coated with satin finish latex water proofing. It's a nice finish that brings out grain and color.

Hopefully the rest of the shop will fall into place shortly. We've been moving out from scattered little work areas and trying to make a workable layout. Where did all of this junk come from!? In any event, the first project from the shop is handgun and handloading related. As more of the work area is cleaned up and things are put away and there is more room, I'll move on to longer firearms. In the mean time, if you're looking for a new handgun or rifle, give Cindy a call. I'm sure she'll give you a great price. Mom-Sat 9AM - 6 PM Eastern. (207) 310-8075.