Not a Varminter but figured this would be the best place to ask.

I built my self a portable table with a plywood top and need to finish it for weather protection.

I was thinking about staining it and then varnishing with marine varnish.

It occurred to me that the color and finish of the top might affect my sighting ability, lighter, gloss finishes throwing back light into my eyes.

what's the preferred weatherproof finish for a shooting bench top?


Thanks, Rob

I hope somebody has a good idea here. I've been trying to figure out what to make a new top out of. Mine stays outside all year. It needs a new top. Old one is two 3/4 inch treated plywood stuck together and has been warping a little each year. Would like to replace this month. Ideas on best material, color, and finish would be appreciated. I think staining would be a yearly event. Something non light reflecting and doesn't absorb heat. Space age material???

I'm not trying to insult anyone here, but I really don't think it matters...

If you are that concerned over reflection to bother varmints, I am sure that your outline and silohuette against the sky line means a lot more danger to a varmints point of view to himself than the reflection or not of your shooting bench...aniamls respond to movement and outlines to identify threats...their eyesight isn't really that great...

If it is a concern and you also want to break up a profile, I picked up some of that camo'ed burlap, that folks use for Duck Blinds...

I am not a duck hunter, but that stuff works well for hiding a shooting bench profile for someone looking at it from a distance...

I've put it over my head ( not touching my person).. to use both as a sunscreen to keep off the sunburn, but also to break patterns..

same way the military uses overhead camoflague to hide stuff from aerial recon...

For shooting sage rats and prairie dogs, I have a trailer on my 4 Runner, that I just put a table in and then have a rack over it that I put the camo'ed burlap over..

prairie dogs can't see my outline, so they don't know where the shooting is necessarily coming from...

heck just use something like that as a stapled down 'table cloth' on your shooting bench.. you are good to go..

As most PD shooting is done in blazing heat, might I suggest a light color that does not absorb as much heat.

Rob,

I have had many benches with all kinds of colors and finishes and the one I am using now is a white laminate.

I thought white would reflect too much and cause problems with eyes or sun burn, but this was not the case. The top stayed nice and cool, unlike the darker wood tops I used before. No down side that I can see.

Jim

This bench is for range use.

Thanks Jim, I think some of the others misconstrued my question. I was more concerned about the light reflecting back up into my eyes and perhaps causing my pupils to close up, letting me see less light through the scope. The use of a neutral gray crossed my mind.

My top is made from 2 pieces of 3/4" ply also but will be a portable so I won't be leaving it outside but would like some weather protection. I was thinking of some marine varnish I have to seal the wood, perhaps I'll just steel wool it after it cures to knock down the sheen?

At the risk of sounding silly, one of the colors I have found best is the flat green of a ping-pong table. It's not too light or dark and the flat shade really is non-reflective. It's usually available at a good lumber yard or hardware store. Can't say how it would be out in the prairie dog towns; the saber-toothed ones might think it's a snack and attack. Good luck in your search! jk

i used rolled rubber roofing for my outside bench.white side up,glue with contact cement.its been outside in weather 10 years and just as solid as when it was built.

Rob, From protection standpoint sounds like you are on track. If you stain or paint it I would use a medium flat color tan, olive, gray. Marine varnish should hold up about the best, if it's not dull then steel wool it. Mine absorbs water and stays a little damp after a rain. Over ten years old. I put a bath towel on it then my bags. It's comfortable on the elbows and stuff doesn't roll off so easy and no heat or reflection. I was going to check into that corian cabinet top. Don't know if it is waterproof on bottom. A bath towel just feels good. Stretch a tanned hide over it

I use Safari Green on everything. Puts me in the right frame of mind.

Go to your local farm supply and get a black rubber stall mat. Yes, they're heavy, but once your rifle rest digs into it, its not sliding anywhere.


RC

You can always put your own laminated top on, but I just went to the local cabinet maker and told him what I wanted. He called me later that month with a nice medium blue laminated piece of marine plywood trimmed w/ maple that he had removed from a boat. All I had to do was haul it away, cut to fit the base, cement some maple edging where necessary, and drill for various attachments. I figure that with a base made of treated lumber and marine plywood backing this bench ought to last a few years.

quote:

Originally posted by pdhntr1:
Rob,

I have had many benches with all kinds of colors and finishes and the one I am using now is a white laminate.

I thought white would reflect too much and cause problems with eyes or sun burn, but this was not the case. The top stayed nice and cool, unlike the darker wood tops I used before. No down side that I can see.

Jim

Good to know. Mine is just a wood finish, but I would not have thought of white being the best color. White lam would be much easier to keep clean than wood. I was thinking of vinyl flooring.

I have a gun bench/reloading bench that has a white vinyl flooring top (left over from a flooring project).
Very easy to clean, and if you drop something it doesn't make as much noise as hard laminate does.
I was thinking of using the same vinyl for my varmint bench, now I am sure that would be the best solution.

quote:

Originally posted by Flippy:

quote:

Originally posted by pdhntr1:
Rob,

I have had many benches with all kinds of colors and finishes and the one I am using now is a white laminate.

I thought white would reflect too much and cause problems with eyes or sun burn, but this was not the case. The top stayed nice and cool, unlike the darker wood tops I used before. No down side that I can see.

Jim

Good to know. Mine is just a wood finish, but I would not have thought of white being the best color. White lam would be much easier to keep clean than wood. I was thinking of vinyl flooring.

I have a gun bench/reloading bench that has a white vinyl flooring top (left over from a flooring project).
Very easy to clean, and if you drop something it doesn't make as much noise as hard laminate does.
I was thinking of using the same vinyl for my varmint bench, now I am sure that would be the best solution.

For my bench, tool boxes, and just about everything in between is that .99cent role of none slip stuff. Picked it up at hell...uh I mean..walmart. After using it on my reloading bench, it ended up on my work bench, then my tool box, range box, hell I used it on a friends car roof so we didn't scratch it!
If found in the kitchen department I guess some people use it for place mats and for the strainers.
I use the non reflective green color.

quote:

Originally posted by Flippy:

quote:

Originally posted by pdhntr1:
Rob,

I have had many benches with all kinds of colors and finishes and the one I am using now is a white laminate.

I thought white would reflect too much and cause problems with eyes or sun burn, but this was not the case. The top stayed nice and cool, unlike the darker wood tops I used before. No down side that I can see.

Jim

Good to know. Mine is just a wood finish, but I would not have thought of white being the best color. White lam would be much easier to keep clean than wood. I was thinking of vinyl flooring.

I have a gun bench/reloading bench that has a white vinyl flooring top (left over from a flooring project).
Very easy to clean, and if you drop something it doesn't make as much noise as hard laminate does.
I was thinking of using the same vinyl for my varmint bench, now I am sure that would be the best solution.

I think vinyl would work quite well.

Good idea.....

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by James Kain:
For my bench, tool boxes, and just about everything in between is that .99cent role of none slip stuff. Picked it up at hell...uh I mean..walmart. After using it on my reloading bench, it ended up on my work bench, then my tool box, range box, hell I used it on a friends car roof so we didn't scratch it!
If found in the kitchen department I guess some people use it for place mats and for the strainers.
I use the non reflective green color.

I use that in my roll away tool box drawers. Works well. The only downside is that it collects all sorts of crap and is impossible to wipe clean after spilled coffee, etc. It has to be washed to get really clean after something like that.

Vinyl is very durable, easy to clean and easy to keep that way.

Behr exterior solid stain a flat forest green.
Two coats over OSB.




Al

SAFARI GREEN!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Buliwyf:
SAFARI GREEN!!!!

Trouble with that is you can't find vinyl in SAFARI GREEN...

I made my bench top from 2 pieces of 3/4" marine ply salvaged from a construction site scrap bin. I just made a template of the shape I wanted from cardboard boxes taped together and stapled it to the ply and drew around the template then cut it all out with an electric jig saw. I used 3 4X4 oak legs and some 30mm steel angle for the base and mounting frame.I then painted it all over with Battleship Grey epoxy floor paint. As that was all they had in the site store cupboard at the time.

Its been left out on my range for the last 9 years and is still as good as ever. I repainted it with more epoxy B/G floor paint about 3 years ago when I managed to scrounge some off another job.

Battleship grey works remarkably well as far as reflecting light and camouflage goes. They manage to hide pigging great battleships using it don't they?

Light to medium green.

Green seems to be a soothing color to the eyes.

I have built a couple shooting benches over the years. My latest effort has a black rubberized Plasti-Dip finish sprayed on the top of a couple coats of polyurethane. The matte finish kills any glare which was an issue for me with just the PU coating. It also won't scratch up a nice stock when you lay your rifle on it. The only bad thing is that it needs reapplying every now and then because it isn't the toughest finish. I can live with that though as it is never gets too hot or too cold to touch unlike the varnish and paint approaches I have tried.

Went to WallyWorld last week and picked up a white plastic folding table for a birthday party. Cost $41.78 or something, less than $42.00 and after setting it up for the birthday party I thought, how sturdy would this be as a portable shooting bench?

Only one way to find the answer and here's the answer -- not bad!

The white plastic is easy to clean BTW.

Here's a couple pictures:




Bigger pictures, more detail:

[img=http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8936/hpim2714.th.jpg]
[img=http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7195/hpim2715.th.jpg]


That's my friend Tom sighting in his H&R .223. There is at least 35 lbs of weight on the bench as this picture was taken. We had substantially more weight on it when BOTH of us were shooting.
Pretty stable and easy to carry.

Cheap, too.