Thought I would share with the group the project that was my reloading bench...

I have been acquiring equipment for some time, and I now have a Hornady Lock n Load AP Progressive Press, Lee dies for 45 Colt (w/Factory Crimp Die), Redding 45ACP Dies, Redding 30-06 dies, and Hornady PTX Expanders as well as Powder Cop. I also have a Hornady digital bench scale, and case tumbler.

None of this is very special though because lots of folks have and run these setups... what I think is special, is my bench to put it all on. I had an old slate pool table in my basement for several years. The felt was all worn, and the table hardly ever got played. I disassembled the table, and tossed out the wood components and felt for the trashman - but kept the 3 pieces of heavy slate. It was one of those pieces of slate that I decided to use for this project. The slates are very heavy, very thick, and very flat. I thought... what a good idea for a top for a workbench! I constructed a table frame using 4x4 boards. The table is held together on multiple points using 6" lag bolts, and 'L' brackets on inside corners with 2" bolts. The whole frame is secured to my concrete basement floor. The slate was secured to the main 4 posts using 3" lag bolts. I drilled extra holes through the slate and the 4x4 below that with my DeWalt hammer drill and used those holes to mount a small bench vise and my Hornady LnL press. The slate was then painted with Dutch Boy concrete paint in Battleship Gray. The wood was all stained with MinWax 'Special Walnut' stain.

This thing is ROCK solid... Needless to say I'm pretty impressed with myself and this whole project that came from a brain fart to a real workbench.











Brutus likes it!


St. Florian watches over to make sure I don't blow something up.


Enjoy![/QUOTE]