Gunsmith Bench & Blocks?

[graycrait]

Wheeler and Brownells has the little 4" round ones mostly for 1911s. I would think there would be someone who has made bigger ones that have holes, slots and grooves for a wide variety of applications, slides, receivers, barrels, etc. When you are messing with pistol slides they need to be secured to hammer sights in or out- a series of holes would be nice. Even some slide sized slots. Or when you need to hammer out a rifle sight it would be nice to have something better than laying it on the carpet and put wood under the gun until you can whack the sight. I've got a 12" x 12" x 1&1/2" thick piece of delrin. It is nice to hammer stuff on but to have something other than a hole in it, slots for instance, it either needs to be milled or molded to have slots.

Hyskore used to make this:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/728938/hyskore-professional-gunsmith-bench

Any ideas?

[TNWNGR]

Every gunsmith I’ve known has had multiple benches with multiple vices and more “C†clamps than you could shake a stick at. For what you’re considering I’d suggest going to Harbor Freight and getting the carpenters bench they sell, then you will have a front clamp on it, add a vice and keep on moving As for myself I have two mounted bench vice’s a clamp on vice and several different sized “C†clamps that I use wood of leather in for cushioning. I just couldn’t justify the need for anything else.

[graycrait]

I've seen the Harbor Freight bench online just today. Seems reasonable. My buddy going to gunsmith school says they take hockey pucks and drill or file slots.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

The idea starting from an oak woodworkers bench has merit I guess. Knowing nothing about it.

Some assorted random ideas--

If you know somebody with a router table, maybe the delrin could be machined for slots? Just sayin maybe easier to find somebody with a router table than a big mill. Unless it melts or whatever, maybe light cuts would do about any slot you like?

Re alternate surfaces, lots of people get good mileage out of MDF. You can glue up multiple layers if you want it overkill thick. I haven't used MDF much, been scared it might not be impact resistant enough, I'm so careless to drop heavy stuff. But lots of people get good use out of it.

Something like 3+ inch rock maple butcher block would make a hell of a surface to do occasional pounding on? Though white oak ain't no slouch. Some companies make real fancy yuppy kitchen counters out of thick maple butcher block, so might find some scrap somewhere. I glued up several 3" "decorative butcher block" counter tops for my kitchen remodel just for moderate ruggedness and mainly to look real pretty, with a mix of hard and softwoods selected for interesting grain rather than durability. It wasn't real hard to make and I was too cheap to buy maple butcher block. Maybe a small enough area it would make a lot more sense to buy some pre-made thick maple butcher block rather than glue some up out of whatever hardwood you can find.

Rockler sells some T-Track stuff that might be useful. You route slots and inlay aluminum T-Track, and then the sky's the limit for making fixtures and hold-downs affixed to the T-Track. For instance, if you had a few runs of T-Track strategically placed on your bench, if you needed a pistol slide slot, just make up some wood jigs that clamp to the T-Track making a temporary slot "just right" for the pistol slide?

Here is a page showing the various items--

http://www.rockler.com/c/jig-parts-t-tracks.cfm

http://www.rockler.com/tech/RTD10000592AA.pdf

The "universal T-Track" accomodates several different bolt heads. They also sell a slot cutter (used along with a 3/8" straight router bit) so you can cut your own T-Track slots. In hard materials one would have to go slow and careful to cut the slots, and I wouldn't expect them to be as strong as the aluminum T-Tracks, but might be kewl to be able to put em where you want em with a router bit--

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1572

The slot cutter slots only accept one size of T-Track bolt, rather than several type of bolt-heads. These kind--

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16885

[Guest Lester Weevils]

This video shows the "general idea" that woodworkers use for slider fixtures, and also shows a "cheap substitute" for T-Track