I was neck sizing some .25-06 yesterday with a Lee Collet neck sizer that I just got. My bench is homemade out of 1x12 yellow pine.

I cracked the top board and was thinkin of just replacing it with a piece of 2x12 instead of 1x12.

Any ideas how to make it even stronger? Thought about running a piece of angle iron under the new board across the front.

Any other ideas?

I'd go with plywood, the cross grained plies are much stronger than pine planks.

I think a 2X12 would be plenty. It will be much stronger than the pine 1X12, those have a tendancy to crack even under light stress. If you want more then just put anoter piece under the 2X12 and throughbolt it, it will be fine. Mine is an old formica counter top with a 2X4 on the bottom and it is plenty strong.

matt

I think I'm gonna go with a 2x12 and some big washers against the wood. I do like the Collet die though. EASY to use and seems to do a good job.

I built a small bench 38"W x 21"D, that fits in the space I had available, made the top out of 3/4" plywood and topped that with 3/4" utility grade oak planks from a flooring liquidator store. Very solid table and pleasing to the eye,don't think i'll ever break it.

I almost forgot that I have a piece of 1x8 Oak that will go across there. Hmmmmm.

Now I'm thinking of adding another level to my setup. Never can have too much room on the bench.

My brother built a real nice bench inexpensively. He found a place on line that had a blue print. I am thinking about building me one.

I mounted my press on a grinder stand, I also had some of my bench-top crack, no problems with press on the stand, it is very solid, and I can move it around if I need to.