Hey Guys,

I was wondering what you guys use on your workbench when you are cleaning your guns? I have seen gun mats for pistols and rifles but they are limited in size. I am looking for something bigger, maybe 2 feet wide 4 feet long and I was just wondering what you guys use for your workbench top.


- James

about a month ago I was in Target and found toolbox drawer liner, it's for putting in a tool box to keep the tools sliding around.
It was 6 feet by 1.5 feet.
I ended up cutting into 3 1/2' for the top of the cart I'm building for cleaning and 2 1/2' for rolling up and putting in my range bag.
It was less that $10... so maybe that will work for you.
They had two styles one black that has a thickness that's kind of a cushion and the other was gray but very hard, no give, so I went with black.

Total impulse buy.... but I was actually quite pleased with it.


found it online for you
draw liner

Brownells has a bench mat about the size you're looking for.  I have one and it works great.  It's sort of a thin felt with a rubber backing.

I use a white hotel towel and clit it with the big black paper clips to my plywood table top.

CLIT?

I bet a hotel towel has seen a lot of clits.

And with some big black things

Thanks guys for reminding me what a spelling B champ I am!!! The white hotel towel and CLIPS work really well I promise.

I prefer a large towel (cheap beach or bath towel from Kmart/Wallymart) over a piece of scrap carpet, if the workbench isn't affected by chemicals.





Otherwise, you might want to think about that, too, if you have to put something under it if you think your coffee table is a workbench sometimes.





Those toolbox draw liners can melt if exposed to some gun scrubbers or aerosols and suchlike, if you get them from the Dollarstore, or Harbor Freight.


Some get a little tacky to the touch and get more difficult to un-stick from metal as the minutes go by in the presence of oils and chemicals, too.


I discovered that a few years ago when everyone was touting the inexpensive drawer liner mesh to 'save money' in my tool box drawers.





Just saying.

 

what do you use to line your tool box drawers?

I generally use the mesh stuff from Snap-on/Matco/Craftsman because it's made specifically for contact for tools with a film of oil on them.
My point was that many people were suggesting the stuff that looks like the mesh, but used for household drawers or kitchen drawers, and under bartops for glassware.



That stuff will absorb the oil film off of tools, or the solvents that end up on cleaning rods, and either melt or get tacky.  I've had tools settle into the rubber mesh to the point that I had to peel them off the mesh and use solvents to clean the rubber mesh off the wrenches and out of the drawers.
I've used a granular compressed rubber sheeting that we got to glue down in some exercise rooms we custom built years ago, I don't have a name, but it's still surprisingly oil resistant.
I just dont want someone to learn the hard way that a splash of Hoppes or a gun lube on the work surface can turn the wrong material into a sticky mess.  Sometimes it just breaks down over a few hours and gets sticky for the next time you lay something down on it.
Test your chemicals, is all.  It's a PITA to lay tools or weapons parts in a drawer, come back a week later, and find the liner has turned to goo that your stuff has embedded in.

Yeah, I'm being anal about a small detail, but it's one that'll either make an avoidable mess or waste time/ruin parts if you don't take it into account.
 

Oil drip pan covered with a towel.

A scrap of Linoleum can be handy if your bench can accomodate.

Harbor Freight foam rubber floor mat. It even has a sweet manly diamond plate pattern pressed in.

If you have a tractor supply nearby they sell rubber matting that's 4 foot wide and you by it by the foot. They even have it in varying thickness. Mine on my bench is 1/4in 3ft x 4ft and cost me around $10. I used all kinds of sprays and cleaners and isn't sticky or melted at all.

 

I've got a few plastic flat trays that came from surgical packs.
About 12 x 18 inches with a slight lip around the edge.
Works well.

I have a couple of heavy plastic old school lunch trays. I lay a rag over half of it. The raised edge keeps anything from spilling off the sides and when done I wipe it down with the rag I was using.

I have seen some similar sized stainless cooking trays and may try one of them at some point, but the cheapest I have seen was still over $25...

I use self adhesive indoor/outdoor carpet tiles.
They stick nicely to the bench top, are a dead surface if you need to hammer a pin in, keep things from rolling off of the bench and protect a firearms finish.
Vacuum it off occasionally and when it gets too skunky replace it.