Reloading bench surface

[209jones]

I bought an NMRA bench about 44yrs ago off a fella. He'd used a dark wood grain formica on top of 2 sheets of 5/8 ply. When I moved into current place, 4 yrs ago, there was a sheet of whire marble coloured formica here. Top was getting beat up a bit, it's been thru 1/2doz moves over the years, various presses R&R'd put the white stuff on. It really made a nice difference in brightening up that workspace, easy to see powder granules. The other half of my bench setup is plywood, sanded and coated with spar varnish, works well enough, nice and light to see stuff on. presses are on it, scales on the NMRA bench. We had stainless counters at work on the parts and service counters, they do get beat up looking. pics to show difference

 

[m_moss23]

I did mine with hardwood flooring I had left over and put 5 coats of varnish on it .

 

[I Dont Care About You]

Steel plate will be COLD and unpleasant to interact with. There is a reason the vast majority of loading benches are wood topped.

 

[DiMP]

My first bench I used a topper of 1/4" MDF. My first bench was small and was able to be covered by a single 2'x4' piece for like $12. Made it cheap and easy to replace the topper when it got stained or damaged. I just looked and Home Depot has 4x8' sheets of 1/4" MDF for about $30
h ttps://www.homedepot.ca/product/metrie-standard-hardboard-1-4-x-4-x-8/1000167410?rrec=true

 

[Deathrawt]

Puck board would work really good
It’s hard and tough
Plus it’s white so it would brighten up the area your working in plus be easy to see spills and anything you drop or place on it

 

[MRP]

Had some scrap oak veneer plywood, a couple of coats of hard wood floor sealer. 15 years on, gun solvent and others stuff on it and still going.

 

[OkayShooter]

I use 3/4" MDF with the melamine top.