Reloading Make Over

[kings6]

For several years I have had all my reloading tools and components in a finished room above the barn. I originally build the room so our kids would have a place to bring their friends to play games, use the punching bag, watch movies and hang out. I always felt I would rather have them all at my house than my kids at someone elses house. Once the kids moved out I took the place over and it kind of became my upstairs man cave. Last week the wife decided it was time for a make over and that included repainting the upper part of the walls and the ceiling. Naturally that meant everything got taken down, moved, shuffled and totally disorganized. These two pictures show the chaos before the restoration. Pat of the redo involved me buying or making a cabinet with doors so all the brass, bullets etc would be out of sight. I started that tonight and got the base adn the main cabinet box built so tomorrow I can make the face frame, drill for the shelf brackets and install the bead board on the outside. Once that is done I will get the materials to make the doors then all that is left is applying the natural finish and finding 36 strong young guys to carry the beast up the stairs and into the loft!



I will post pictures as the project moves along just in case anyone is interested.

[dougader]

Looks like a great room is going to be even better!

[princeout]

The chaos looks familiar! My wife and I are in the middle of a bedroom makeover to a music room (in my case actually a bass room) so the smell of paint permeates the house. Right now all the basses, amps and stereo stuff are in my gun vault so this will free up a lot of space for, wait for it, guns!

Looking good so far Robb!
Tim

[squawberryman]

I'd just cry

[magman]

Our house will look like that soon. Plsnning a bedroom remodel. Then the kitchen as the final room to do a facelift on.

[magnumwheelman]

Hmmm... are you blaming that on your wife???

it kind of became my upstairs man cave. Last week the wife decided it was time for a make over

either way, nice room... as long as it doesn't get too hot up there during the summer to reload... looking forward to seeing your new cabinet...

[kings6]

I know a lot of you guys are very handy around the shop or house so I thought I'd give kind of a progress report on the reloading cabinet I mentioned I was building. Right up front I must say I have never built cabinets. I've installed them when I was a finish carpenter but building them from scratch is not something I have tried before. A good friend of mine is a retired cabinet maker who used to do the cabinets for our custom home projects so he was more than kind in letting me visit his shop and pick his brain and take a few notes. With that in mind it was off to the lumber yard for 2 sheets of AC 5/8 plywood, some pine boards and more gumption than brains.

Like most cabinets, all this really is is a wooden box setting on a 3 1/2" tall pedestal to allow for the toe kick space. Once it is assembled and all squared up then I installed the center divider panel then built the face frame. Since I am matching the woodwork in the loft which is pine, I dug some old dried pine rough cut boards out and ripped and planed them to 1' thick by 2 1/2" wide face stock. Normally you use 3/4" thick material but with pine being a soft wood, I wanted to extra material to help support the doors. As we know, having the right tool helps a ton. Whether it is the proper screw driver for removing a grip frame or a Kreg jig for drilling pocket hoes to assemble a face frame, having the tools can make a job much easier. The pocket hole tool, the jig for drilling the evenly spaced 5mm holes on the inside walls for the pegs for the shelves and the jig for drilling for the recessed soft close hinges are tools well worth the money.

Since that loft has pine bead board wainscoting on the lower half of the walls I decided to install the same material on the ends of the cabinet and to use the same material for the inserts on the doors. A couple hours later and the sides are installed and the frames for the doors are milled out and the dado cut for the T & G bead board inserts. Hit the pocket hole jog again and viola! Doors ready to drill for hinges and install. Tomorrow I should get the doors hung, finish drilling for the shelf pins and get the shelves cut. Once that is done then it is down to applying a natural finish and a clear top coat then up the stairs it goes via the dolly, a lot of grunting and hopefully no swearing!

[oregon45]

Looks great Robb! My wife and I are planning on fixing up the loft in our barn along similar lines to give our girls a place to play outside the house.

[blacktailslayer]

Looks good Robb! I am not a cabnet maker either but I became one PDQ when we were going to remodel our kitchen and found out how much the cabnets were going to cost. My method of construction was the same as you show. Gotta love the Kraig system of pocket screws for face frame construction.

Don D.

[cmh]

Looks great Robb 👍

[kings6]

I was able to finish up the large cabinet today and get the doors hung once I got it hauled up to the loft. Overall I am pleased with how it turned out but like getting a gun safe, you always wish it were bigger! I decided since I have enough face frame material and wainscoting boards left over I will take three sets of the shelving units I had made earlier and make them into a single 3' wide unit that matches the bigger unit. I will use the smaller unit for ammo storage and rifle components.


Naturally all the bullets are on the bottom shelf then the brass and the powder and primers will b next.

[dougader]

Very nice, Robb!