How to Stencil Ammunition Cans for Ammo Storage

How to Stencil Ammunition Cans for Ammo Storage

 

How to Stencil Ammunition Cans for Ammo Storage
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The other day I showed you how I removed the markings from old surplus military ammo cans. Today I will show you how we went about stenciling ammunition cans with our own markings.

As I scoured the internet for options I found that stenciling ammo cans was the most popular by far, and I even found a guy that will custom cut stencils. The cost was reasonable – about 2 dollars a stencil, but I decided to try my hand at cutting them. I got some clear plastic, a hobby knife, and a printout of the words I wanted to paint on my cans. Let’s just say this was a fail.

Next I tried to get a friend of mine with a vinyl scrapbooking stencil cutter. My idea was to resale common stencils like 5.56 and .40 S&W. My powers of persuasion were not powerful enough to get the stencils in bulk.

Next I just went to the local hobby store and bought some stencils.  Spray-paint and stencils never work well for me and after turning my workbench a nice shade of yellow I threw the stencils in a box.

I then found that the military STAMPS the lot number – which makes a lot of sense. I then bought some rib type stamps, a stamp holder, pad, and yellow ink and decided to stamp my own cans.

½ letters work fine and you can get about 23 characters a foot
I chose ¼ letters so I could get more lettering on the locking end of my can (If I did it again I would stick with ½ inch) ¼ inch stamps is about 43 characters a foot.
If you go bigger ¾ is about 16 characters a foot and 1inch letters get you about 14 characters a foot.

Some Common Dimensions

30 CAL AMMO CAN is 10″ x 7″ x 3
50 CAL AMMO CAN is 11.5″x7″x6″
SAW BOX is 12″ X 6 3/4″ X 8 1/2″
20 MM AMMO is 18 3/4 X 8 1/4 X 14 1/4
81 MM MORTAR BOX is 14 1/2 X 5 1/2 X 22 1/2

My smaller cans I use for cast bullets so I stamped them “CAST and the caliber”.  I use another for casting supplies so I labeled it “CASTING SUPPLIES”

For my 50 caliber cans I labeled them the following way:

800 ROUNDS
CALIBER and BULLET TYPE
BOXED or BULK
RELOADS or COMMERCIAL

Stamping is easier for me than painting, and mistakes were easier to clean up.
But my pad was too large – I wanted to get a lot of room for letters, but ended up wishing I would have gotten a much smaller pad to make it easier to use even pressure.

My letters were too small. They were just right for the ends, but could have been a lot bigger on the sides.

But my biggest learning curve was my ink. I wanted to use yellow like the original cans, but high quality yellow ink was expensive so I did not buy what I needed and the ink I got did not adhere evenly and was hard to see.

Next time I am going to use a high quality white ink.

I know that there are easier ways of marking your ammo cans – one guy said he colors in his stencils with a white grease pencil – others use tape and sharpies. Whatever works for you. But personally while this does not follow K.I.S.S. principles to the letter, I like how it turned out, and since I put a lot of effort into making good rounds, I wanted to store them in nice boxes.

How to Remove Stencils from Ammo Cans: The Easy Way

 

Easy Tip to Remove Markings from Ammo Cans
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When I figured out how to remove stencils from ammo cans, I wished I had learned it earlier.  Up until this point I had repainted my cans to cover the markings.  Now I can simply remove the stencils and keep the nice OD green paint.

Want to Store Reloads in Labeled Ammo Cans?

I have a few thousand reloads stored in various methods around my shop .  Soon I got tired of seeing ice cream buckets full of bulk ammo sitting around.  To fix this, I ordered several Styrofoam repack kits for my pistol ammo. Next, I packed the rounds neatly into little white 50 round boxes.  After that, I wanted to have a good way to store them.

Luckily, I have several assorted military surplus ammo cans lying about. I find it interesting that 4 boxes of pistol ammunition will fit in the bottom of an .50 ammo can.  Those layers of 200 rounds can be stacked 4 deep.  This means in a single .50 caliber can I can securely store 800 pistol rounds.

My problem is that I have a lot more than .38 special rounds, and since all the ammo cans are marked with military stampings they all look alike. This caused me to start an internet search to find an easy way to mark military ammo cans.

You Have to Remove Markings Before You Can Re-Label

However before I could paint my cans, I had to remove markings from ammo cans. Most people tend to either sand and repaint their cans, or just paint over the markings with spray paint. That is the simplest solution, however, matching paint colors as you repaint several cans can be a problem, plus the cost of paint, and the fact that I wanted to do it a different way led me to discover that the markings are not painted on with stencils they are stamped on with ink.

You would be surprised at how easy some acetone paint remover (I used fingernail polish remover) and a rag will lift the stencils off the cans. The only thing you need to worry about is that with enough scrubbing you might be able to lift some green paint off also. In my experience this did not happen – but I imagine it could.

Once I removed all the markings and let the paint thinner dry I was ready for the next part which was actually marking the cans – Stay tuned for how I actually marked the cans…

How to Cut Circles on a Table Saw (Dangerous)

How to Cut Circles on a Table Saw (Dangerous)
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This post might not be best called how to cut circles on a table saw, but rather, how not to.  This is a dangerous method and I don’t recommend it, but sometimes you may need this method and if you choose to use it be well aware of how dangerous it is.

I am by no means a skilled woodworker. I wish I was as both my Grandfathers were highly skilled in the construction trade, but as a kid I was more interested in goofing off. If you watch my video below, you can tell that some of my safety procedures are lacking, so please don’t imitate me, cutting off a finger constitutes a bad day.

Dangerous, But Useful When Needed

HOWEVER, the technique I show is useful, and if you have your safety guards in place on your table saw, and use a better sliding table you can accomplish the same thing much safer.

I needed to cut some circles so I could build my Gingery forge, and my shop is very limited with tools so I needed to find a work around. After a little internet research and looking into my old Audel’s books I discovered a solution. You can cut circles from squares using a table saw. All you need is a sliding table with a pivot point for a square of wood sized for your circle.

Make a Slide Table

My table saw is old and very inexpensive, so I had to make a sliding table by cutting down two pieces of 1×2 to act as runners. I nailed a piece of wood across the runners as they sat in the slots along side my blade. I then turned on the saw and cut about a third of the way through the center board. Now I have a very cheap sliding table.

Once that is done to cut a circle you need a square of wood the size you want for the finished circle. If you want a 12 inch diameter circle you need a 12 inch square block of wood. Insert a pivot pin in your sliding table the same distance away from your blade as the radius of the circle. So for a 12 inch circle, drive a nail 6 inches away from the cut in your sliding table. This pivot point should be on one side of the blade (imagine a line from your pivot point to the cut you made in the table – the line should intersect perpendicular to the cut.)

Cut Corners (Literally)

Pound the center of your wood square onto your pivot point and ensure that it rotates freely.

Line up your square so that you will cut off one corner of the square. Turn on the saw and slide the table to the blade and cut off each corner of your square.

Once you have cut those corners, cut off the 8 new corners, then the 16 after that. With each cut you will have a more rounded shape. Depending on the size of the wood, and your blade, soon you will be able to rotate the piece into the blade and actually trim it round. Just make sure you keep your fingers well away from the blade and don’t rush.

You will be amazed at how easy this is to do. If you have any other cool shop tricks, please feel free to make a comment. My next trick will most likely involve turning a drill press into a lathe.

How to Make Green Sand for Casting Aluminum

How to Make Green Sand for Casting Aluminum

 

 

How to Make Green Sand for Casting
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I needed learn how to make Green Sand for metal casting. If you watched the furnace video you saw me making refractory, and making green sand is about the same process. Simply put, it is a mixture of sand, bentonite clay, and a bit of water. Using this kind of sand is called green sand casting.

Since I had some fireclay left over I was going to use it, but after some research I realized that since fireclay vitrifies (fuses) with heat, I probably could not reuse it after I molded something. So I figured I would go with Bentonite (as everyone else does)

Where to Get Bentonite Clay Cheaply

If you cannot buy bentonite clay in bulk (luckily my ceramics supply store has it), you can grind up clumping kitty litter (cheap without additives) and reclaim the bentonite. It must be ground up VERY FINE and you will need a dust mask.

Bentonite now gets added to a 5-gallon bucket of “fine” masonry sand (I used play sand, but the finer the sand the better quality your castings will be). You need a 1 part clay to 9 parts sand. Mix this dry, and then add water in small increments (like coffee mug sized). Mix between additions over several hours. You want the clay to coat the sand evenly, so the more you mix and the slower you work the happier you will be.

Test if your Greensand is Packable

The next thing you need to do is check to make sure the sand is “packable” You can read about this in the Gingery book, or watch my video. Basically you just grab up a handful of sand and squish it in your fist. It should mold to your hand. Then break it in two. If the lump of sand holds its shape and breaks cleanly when you snap it then it’s good to go.

Store your greensand in a covered container (I use 5 Gallon buckets with lids) and the longer you store it (unless it dries out) the better it will be

More Resources:

You can read many good books and articles on green sand casting, or just the process of casing metal.  I have several reviews on this site.