A Cluttered Work Bench/Mind

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delta-419

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My hobby with guns extends beyond a half a century. Spending 14 years with AMC (Army) at Rock Island Arsenal and other places beyond my time there, was a rich experience for a gun guy. Make no mistake, I am an amateur, not a professional, but I have been exposed to the gun world in every way: military, LE, hunting, self defense, etc. The craft of gunsmithing holds my interest in my retirement years. The opportunity to work with my hands is much rewarding after a professional life in offices and boardrooms dealing with "people problems". Things are what they are, people are never that. My current passion revolves around derelict 1894 Winchesters and prewar S&Ws. The hardest part of getting into restoring these objects was the decision to take on the first one. I work for myself, no one else, to rebuild these very old guns and shoot them. A very good friend who was chief of the metals fabrication dept at a large AFB is one of my mentors and has his own machine shop just around the corner from my place. This forum has provided me with many hours of S&W education and "on line" friends that have been there to answer my mundane questions. If you have not tried this phase of the "hobby", take the plunge!
Here are some shots of my cluttered bench and a few projects. Working in wood is a current learning curve for me.




 
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That sir is a hobby i also hope to take up once i retire.
I've been around firearms since the age of 10 and enjoy
cleaning, working on, fondling, shooting, reloading, and
just about every aspect of ownership thereof.
I've got a solid 10-12 more years before i can say goodbye
to my real paying "Job". But when i do, you will find me at my workbench
doing what you are doing or on the farm shooting/hunting
with my guns.

Chuck
 
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As a confirmed sufferer of clutteritis, I subscribe to the saying "A tidy desk or bench is the sign of a sick mind". :D

Good luck working with wood. Wood and I have a hate/hate relationship in the main.:(
 
My two workbenches are even worse than yours and I still work on them every day.
If it`s any consolation I saw a photo of -The Master His own self- John Browning`s bench and it was totally cluttered much worse than ours!!!
 
I would like to sit down with DELTA-419 over a cup of coffee and talk about "restoring" firearms. While many feel it is quite normal and even required, many believe it is a travesty. I myself restored many old knives and guns in my decades and am now seeing the error of my ways. Some work HAS to be done, like stopping and removing the cancer we call rust. While other work is done just to "purty it up". I myself have always admired any tool, be it a gun, knife, hammer or truck that has honest wear. Delta shows some very good workmanship and appears to be quite talented at his cluttered workbench, it is just his definition of derelict is what I call character. When you get to Colorado, look me up and we can talk over a cup.
 
If you ain't makin a mess you ain't doin it right. :)


This is what it looked like when I first started six years ago.
DW
 
My benches never seem to be cleared or at least in some orderly form.
A snow-shovel would be the best bet for clearing an area to work most times.
I've developed a habit over many years of placing a piece of 2x10 about 10 or 12 inches long into a cleared area on the bench next to my vise.
The current project parts and small tools used in it get to sit on it,, safely above the rest of the 'stuff' lying around it.
I really clear it off before a long rifle project,,I just plain need the room for them. But by the time I'm through, it's back to the 2x10 island in again.

Your wood work looks great. It takes some time and patience to properly inlet a cresent buttplate w/a tang.
Great hobby. Ain't bad as a job either.
 
Workbench

Just to clarify, that 1894 in 25-35 on my bench is what it looks like now after a bringback. When I got her, it had a post '64 butt stock that did not fit in any way on an early 1894, it had some kind of medallion imbedded on it, the forearm was in shreads and splintered. She was taken down completely, cleaned, worn parts replaced and new springs installed. It was road hard and put away very wet. I pulled old wood out of my "wood pile" when I took her out to the test range for a run. She will hit a steel plate at 100 yds now that the "tinny" .22 caliber rear sight has been replaced with a real rifle sight. The wood currently on it is not that good so, a butt stock from Precision Gun Works in Kerrville TX is in the works. I do not plan to refinish the metal, it will stay as is. She is old and silver is her earned color. Wish she could talk! The 1895 SRC was "customized" years ago, she will be restored to original wood configuration with hand guard. Trust me, this one is a "bear" to fit. She also in in 30 Army. Sometimes I will start out with just a naked frame and build the gun I want , just to see if I can do it. I love to research these old shooters.
 
I have to confess about a dirty workbench. But which one?. The one in the garage or the one in my man cave. Right now the inside workbench has a pile of martini parts somewhere in the mess, then there is the little heavy barreled martini single shot in 22rf that needs some work, or the finish worn marlin 336 in 30-30 that has got to be put together.or the winchester 1895saddle ring carbine in 30-40 Krag. Frank
 
Cluttered bench

I have several benches and carts when they are all full I put a piece of plywood atop two 55 gal barrels when that's full I either take everything off one of the full benches and pile it on another or build/buy another bench.
 
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