Gun Cleaning Rod Holder 1

I have a few gun cleaning kits that I've acquired over the years, mostly the kind with 'multi-pieces' that screw together. These work fine when you're cleaning a handgun...maybe even a shotgun, but this becomes a different story when your dealing with a rifle. And those multi-piece units want to flex and bend while using them, which is far from ideal. That's where a 'one piece cleaning rod' works the best, and after using one for awhile it just makes life so much easier when using it. The one I have is made by Bore Tech and they have a bunch of products to choose from.

Now these one piece cleaning rods can get quite long, which means I needed a good place to store it instead of the two nails that it's been hanging on in the garage. With that in mind, I decided to make a holder for it that would attach to my gun safe so it's nice and handy. How am I going to attach it to my gun safe? Magnets!

Here is my one piece cleaning rod, which is 56" long. Yes you read that right, it's 56" in length and has bearings in the handle making it very easy to use. It also has the same 8-32 threads at the end so you can use all of your old cleaning rod attachments. The rod diameter is .221" (just under 1/4") and is made out of heat treated steel covered with a proprietary coating that prevents any solvents from harming it and the threaded end isn't made out of brass so it won't give you a false indication of copper fouling either. These guys make a great product.

Let's Cut Some Wood

This cleaning rod holder is going to be made out of wood and will be able to hold three cleaning rods. The material I'll be using is hard maple and black walnut and will be screwed together when finished.

The first step is to square both pieces on all six sides.

Next are the three slots to hang the cleaning rods from.

Once I had the two outer ones done, I moved my work piece, found the center and cut the middle slot. BTW, these slots are 5/16" wide.

Fastening It Together

Below I'm putting in some clearance holes for some #8 screws and countersinking them.

Here is the other piece that will be screwed to the piece above.

This should give you a better idea of what I'm making. So far the holder is coming out like I planned.

Magnets

This is the back side that will go against my safe. And those round pockets are for the magnets, which will sit just below the surface when finished. The tape with the info on it is to make sure I put the round pockets on the correct side. Whatever works!

I'm using a two-part epoxy to hold the magnets in with. This stuff works great and dries fast. However, I let the glue dry overnight before testing the magnets out. Note: The magnets are 3/16" thick X 3/4" diameter, but I made the pockets about .025 deeper so I'd have room for some epoxy. BTW, these are Neodymium magnets and have a maximum pull of 16 pounds each.

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