Bench Cross Sticks

[patchbox]

Hello all,

I looked around online for pair of good bench cross sticks. Found some that I'm sure would have worked fine but I decided to build my own. They work on the same concept as a scissor jack - when the crank is turned the elevation changes - sticks have a very tight clearance within the channel so no wobbling. 2 pieces of 1/4-20 all thread, 1/4-20 RH & 1/4-20 LH thread with a crank on the side. Wood was quilted maple with lignum vitae end blocks and center support. I color case hardened the crank handle and crank. There are 2 positions on the sticks - coupled with these 2 hole positions and the infinite adjustment of the lead screw, I can get just about any shooting position I need. I plan on using felt slip-on pads. Hope to try these out at the range in a few days.

Best,

Eric

[mdeland]

Nicely done Eric, thanks for posting the pictures!

[patchbox]

Thanks mdeland,

Hope they work as good as they look. Had about 100 hours into this project.

Best,

Eric

[patchbox]

Top level drawing of bench cross sticks:

[beltfed]

Very clever and great workmanship!!
beltfed/arnie

[patchbox]

Thanks Arnie!

[Ray Newman]

Looks good!

Where did you get the hand wheel?

[patchbox]

Hi Ray,

The hand wheel and related components were purchased from McMaster Carr. It still wasn't exactly what I wanted but saved a lot of extra machining. I chucked it up in the lathe and made it more to my liking.

Best,

Eric

[patchbox]

I think it was some kind of leaded mild steel, 1215L or similar. I didn't know if it would color real well in the case hardening process but it turned out ok. Packed in metal box with crushed royal oak hardwood charcoal and heated to 1750 Deg. F in the furnace - once the furnace reached 1750 let it soak for 2 hours; however, I got tired of waiting and went into the house, set the timer and promptly fell asleep on the couch. I woke up hours later - total soak time at temp. was 5-1/2 hours. So its got a fairly deep case. Turned off the furnace and let it cool overnight - dug the parts out, polished and repacked in charcoal, brought back up to 1450 Deg. F and let soak at that temp. for an hour - pull out the box and dumped the parts in an aerated 5 pail full of water.

[patchbox]

*meant to say, "5 gallon pail"

[Woody]

Excellent!!!

Woody

[kenny s]

I'm a firm believer of.
"why buy it for $80 when Ican do it myself for $100....HA
I did buy mine and they work fine.....but. don't forget a leather barrel cover to protect the barrel, and..
I glued a thick piece of felt on the bottom so it would fit the bench better an not slide....

yup,, they work fine.....and are much lighter than the heavy metal ones....

nice job, !! Ken

[patchbox]

Hi Kenny,
Yeah, I think I have more like $350.00 invested in this one. All the little extra tooling like replaceable pilot counterbores added up quickly. I could’ve bought one online for 80 bucks

Thanks for the suggestions on the felt and leather.

Best,

Eric

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Beautiful workmanship.

I admire anyone that work wood like that true America craftsmanship.


Kenny W.

[rdnck]

That is a whole lot of candy for a dime. Shoot straight, rdnck.