Ted’s essays

radio, reloading bench

radio and reloading bench 1000pI am more than a little surprised today to discover I never shared my finished product here.

Ta Da!

One of the endearing bits of me as far as the Missus is concerned is my role as “Shelf-Meister”. I have squeezed just about as much shelf space into this (and prior) homes as imaginable. Of course they are STRONG, but also functional and suit the spaces handsomely for us.

The white shelves to the left were TEMPORARY with those metal shelf brackets that everybody uses and scrap lumber that happened to be somewhat close to the right shape. Lots of putty and paint later, they are as temporary as the rest of the house (and probably nearly as strong).

The shelves at the far end are where the cables come through the wall into the house. These came from Mom and were modified to suit the radio shelving needs … and also Internet modem, some books, power tools and knick knacks. The handset cables can be moved aside if needed for reloading and gun cleaning.

The window in between used to be to outside the house, but now is semi-permanently open reloading bench drawers 900pbetween my studio and the living/dining/kitchen space. Pretty darn cozy for us to be in our own spaces but mere chatting distance away.

The reloading bench itself is a somewhat cut down scrap of chip board I’ve been dragging through our bi-annual moves for about a dozen years. It was just too sturdy to let go.

I milled an old scrap fir 2″x 4″ to give it a strong, pretty face and put on many, many coats of Verathane, sanding between each.

It is an odd 1 1/8″ inch thick by 19″ deep and 7′ 8″ long. Trust me, it is plenty strong for the rigors of resizing brass with a reloading press.

The drawers … ah yes, the drawers. I don’t do many of these. Sad, because I really like having done them. They are pretty, neat, functional and a major step up from shelves.

Many of my reloading tools reside in drawers that are quite handy to get at, have reduced dust collection and those lovely pine faces add clean lines to an otherwise somewhat cluttered view.

The extra-sturdy 19″x 24″ shelves under the far end of the bench primarily hold bullets … heavy as lead, because they are mostly … lead. studio both sides + floor 900pThe corner 4″x 4″ leg holds the lead ladened shelves, all of which combine to make the reloading press, “the Rock Chucker”, in as firm a mount as I’ve seen on anyone’s reloading setup.

The flooring was a close-out of one particular style plastic clip-together stuff. Much trickier to put together in 21-foot-long strips than I would have imagined – that is with just two people who had never even seen it done before. I love it, though.

And the truckload of salvaged oak hardwood I was going to use became great stock for all sorts of shelves, faces and projects that are blossoming in our home and can be seen all over in the studio.

The desk has been trimmed several times in the 20+ years it served as my main office piece. It still weighs about a million pounds and I hope to never move it again.

We built out to the property line and squoze everything in the space allowed. The woodstove is as about as small as can be while still using stackable logs for fuel. Way more than enough to heat the whole house from the studio. Clearances for heat determined much of the space utilization.

Does it work? At 20-below outside and I will be dressed for Hawaiian summer with a window opened to keep the heat moderate. studio desk 900p

Our electric bill (the other source of heat in our home) last winter hardly changed at all from the rest of the year… a far cry from the prior winter.

For lighting I have a single-bulb that I use over the desk/bench spaces most of the time. Two similar fixtures light up together to cover the other half the room. Then I have two four-foot fluorescents that come on separately to add close-in work light if I’m doing detail work on either side of the lane.

I think I’m finished.

However, every time I thought that something came along that had to fit in. It always fits.