Shooting bench mod and maintenance

[markT]

Did some work on prairie dog bench today. 1/4” plywood was delaminating. Lot of dogs been sent to flight school off this one.

 

[jpx2rk]

Does the 1/4" plywood flex or wobble on you?? Just curious as I used 3/4" x2 on my bench, and it was too heavy for this old fart, so I took it apart and just used one layer of 3/4" plywood. MO better IMO, but I'll find out next week when I try and give flight lessons to some rats. Excited to say the least.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

I'm beginning to think he meant 3/4" that looks awful thick for 1/4

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

He just repaired the side of the table top, routered out and glued in a 1/4" strip so no more snagging while seated.

 

[markT]

@jpx2rk I used qty of (2) 1/4” underlayment plywood for the original build. I sandwiched 3/4” styrofoam insulation board with Gorilla glue. Does not flex. Light weight and sets up in seconds. I can stand in the middle on bench with no issues.
@Coyote I did route out the 3/4” insulation and Gorilla glued a 3/4” x1.25” piece of spruce. Sanded it to a radius so it will feel better on ones side on the prairie.

 

[alf]

I used 3/4" x2 on my bench, and it was too heavy for this old fart, so I took it apart and just used one layer of 3/4" plywood. MO better IMO, but I'll find out next week when I try and give flight lessons to some rats.

I tried 2 layers of 3/4" on one bench, & found the same thing.

I also tried one layer, and thought it was a bit lacking.

I have finally settled on two layers of 1/2" glued and screwed together to be the best compromise of weight & stiffness.

 

[markT]

find some 1/4" underlayment drop / 3/4 foam insulation drops off a construction sight and glue up a sample.. You will see the strength of this glue up. It's actually how I came up with the idea. Lugging and setting a heavy shooting bench on the prairie aint fun..
One tip is if you use folding table legs ( I add 3" to raise it up) is to use solid small pieces of wood for the screws to grab. Basically just cut holes when the top "straps" go and the folding arm fastens.. if that makes sense.

 

[jpx2rk]

I use a miter saw stand for my base, with quick detach brackets bolted to the 3/4" plywood. It was very stable/solid last year but I had 2 pieces of the 3/4" plywood screwed together. Gonna try the one piece of 3/4" this year. I use scrap pieces of wood and flooring samples from big box stores to level the leg out in the fields. Miter saw stand folds up for easy packing in the truck.

 

[markT]

 

[markT]

Not quite up to BCzs paint work but new non reflective paint for the top.

 

[jepp2]

Gorilla glued

Love that stuff. Nice job, but it looks cold.

 

[markT]

It was a crazy or maybe normal day in May on the praire in WY.

 

[jpx2rk]

It was a crazy or maybe normal day in May on the praire in WY.

Experienced something similar to that in SE OR yesterday, and good chance of repeats for the remaining days I am here. Makin' memories, I had fun anyways.