Homemade reloading benchtop material?

[bob4]

People use so many different things that make usable benches. Just depends how much time and money you want to invest. My self, I glued and screwed two 3/4 inch sheets of plywood together and a little varnish. Works just fine. Bases are 3 older cabinets that make for a ton of storage.

 

[Oldschool280]

I did the 3/4 plywood with 2x4 around the perimeter deal and it worked great. In the future if i find a school teachers steel desk, that may be the move. Storage for dies, brass ect

 

[PAGSDIII701]

I'm a carpenter/cabinet builder and I bought this instead of building a benchhttps://www.samsclub.com/p/ultra-heavy-duty-workbench/prod1490086?xid=plp_product_1_5

I have/use that same exact one!

 

[Sam Summey]

Maple is really nice. Mine is 2x10s clamped together tight with a Masonite layer on top. I don't recommend the Masonite (pressed paper) though, it wears terribly. Go with laminate of some type.

 

[Gater]

The time has come and the wife has green lit my reloading bench project for the new house. Was walking through Lowes today looking at material and got to wondering what you all are using as a bench top?

My only friend who reloads swears I need a thick butchers block top to handle the torque of my progressive presses while reloading and states that plywood will bend, warp, and compress while running the presses.

I've seen a lot of reloading benches posted here and I can't recall seeing a single one with butchers-block bench top. What reinforcement (if any) are you using for your presses on your reloading benches to prevent the top from flexing while running your presses?

Mine is 2x4s 4x4s and 1" thick plywood top I pound drill grind and even reload on it no wobble no sag

 

[dartem]

Simpson Strongties has a plan for a workbench. I've done a couple of these, even scaling one up to 6 feet in length. A minimum of tools are required. They even show cut diagrams so there's minimum waste. I covered the tops of mine with self-stick vinyl floor tiles.
Link-
DIY-CSWRKBCH19.pdf

 

[dartem]

Should add that I used doubled 3/4" plywood for the top and added shelves underneath. More than sturdy enough and the floor tile covering is easy to keep clean.
Regards,
Mike

 

[Alibiiv]

The time has come and the wife has green lit my reloading bench project for the new house. Was walking through Lowes today looking at material and got to wondering what you all are using as a bench top?

My only friend who reloads swears I need a thick butchers block top to handle the torque of my progressive presses while reloading and states that plywood will bend, warp, and compress while running the presses.

I've seen a lot of reloading benches posted here and I can't recall seeing a single one with butchers-block bench top. What reinforcement (if any) are you using for your presses on your reloading benches to prevent the top from flexing while running your presses?

Not sure about South Dakota, but I used some seasoned, rough sawed 3"x10" pine (if you can get it, but you could use 2x10 staging planks that are skim-planed just to clean up; southern yellow pine boards. Then squared the edges, doweled the joints with 3/4 inch, oak dowels and glued the joints; roughly 30 inches by 8 feet long. From there I used 2x4s on the underneath side of the bench screwed and glued in a "cross-buck" pattern to make the bench top so it would not buckle. The bench is screwed to the wall with 3/4 inch lag bolts through a ledger board attached to the foundation and attached with 2"x4"x 36 inch long gussets to the foundation wall. I do wish that I had made the bench 9-10 feet longer instead of the 8 feet it is now. It has been on that same wall for 30+ years and thousands of rounds of rifle and thousands of rounds of pistol ammunition, still as good as the day it was put up. I'm thinking that I might belt sand the top and put a layer of white formica on the top surface just to spruce/brighten up the bench a bit; but, nothing wrong with the polyurethane finish on it now.

 

[Osiek]

Glue-lam beam sometimes you can find leftover pieces on construction sights or at lumber yards

 

[DDWing]

The time has come and the wife has green lit my reloading bench project for the new house. Was walking through Lowes today looking at material and got to wondering what you all are using as a bench top?

My only friend who reloads swears I need a thick butchers block top to handle the torque of my progressive presses while reloading and states that plywood will bend, warp, and compress while running the presses.

I've seen a lot of reloading benches posted here and I can't recall seeing a single one with butchers-block bench top. What reinforcement (if any) are you using for your presses on your reloading benches to prevent the top from flexing while running your presses?

Mine is all 2x6 framework, with 3/4" plywood top, and 2x6 runners under the press, with 3x4" bolts holding the press in place. That gives me 2 and 1/4" of solid table top. It's solid as a rock.

 

[zslayer]

I put in a 2"x6" under the plywood where my press would be mounted to. Works great!

 

[Oldtime Shooter13]

My reloading bench project that I built a couple years ago. I built the lower and upper cabinets out of Maple. The top is double 3/4 plywood which I integrated a slide system into the top for tools. My priming, trimming, shotgun reloading all have a tongue that fits into a slot in the front of the bench. Might be overkill in most reloading applications, but I am kind of anal about having a place for everything. Hence all the upper cabinets. My first time uploading photos and hope that they go through. To answer the original question I have used about anything to make reloading bench out of. As long as you can brace the press from flexing you have a solid bench top. I don't like anything plastic (Formica). Top should be solid without any cracks or indentations that powder and the like can fall into.

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

3/4" plywood with a fine finish surface. Then I painted it with two coats of urethane, which made it impervious to gun oil and barrel cleaning chemicals. It still looks like new, 10 years later. And it's plenty strong for the single stage press that I have bolted to the edge.

 

[Rem7mm08]

I used a damaged sheet of cabinet grade 3/4" plywood. You may be able to purchase one from one of the big box stores for cheap. Ripped two pieces to the width I wanted and laminated the sheets with glue and a few screws. Added a piece of steel plate under the press for support. 2x4 frame, solid as a rock.