No BAG Day buy for me

The only thing I really wanted to get was one of the S&W 1911PD pistols. Which are so shiny, and pretty, and shoot so nicely. But I couldn't even convince myself that I needed to lay out that much money right now for such, so...

What I did do was make a new degreasing trough. I wrote before about using a piece of PVC pipe for degreasing. And I tried a wallpaper tray. Later, I tried taking a piece of vinyl guttering, putting a cap on each end and using that: you can lay a barreled action in it, pour in mineral spirits and start brushing. This worked pretty well, but it was too short for many stocks to fit into. And I had a stock to clean: my 1903A3 Springfield. I'd done a lot of degreasing on the stock when I got it, but when I took it to the range a few days ago I noticed that, as it got hot(shooting and sun) some grease was still bleeding out. Back when I first cleaned this the weather wasn't too comfortable to stand out in and the wallpaper tray wouldn't hold it all: and, while I'd planned on taking the wood down for a more thorough cleaning in summer, for some reason didn't get it done. So now I needed to get the rest of the stuff out. I hadn't been too happy with the guttering: it was a bit narrow and the shape wasn't too stable, but I still had a section of it so I headed to Lowe's to get a pair of end caps to make a longer tray. It turned out they didn't have the same type guttering, so no caps: they did have some guttering that was a simple flat-bottom shape, wider and more stable than the other. So I got a piece of it, two caps and- just to make it more stable- a pair of the 'heavy-use' supports; they snap around the gutter to keep it from spreading when filled. They also give it more support, when set on a bench or whatever, to keep it from tipping.

Here's the trough sitting on the ironing table I use for this:
Yes, that's a different stock, I forgot to take a picture of the A3 in there. But I did make the trough long enough for the A3 to fit in, which it did. As I mentioned, the shape is much better for the purpose; it'd be better were it an inch wider, but unless I make something purpose-built this is what I've got. For now, anyway. The end-caps have a rubber seal in them that, I was surprised to find, did a very good job of sealing in the mineral spirits with no leaks. Later on I'll take some suitable caulking or epoxy and permanently seal the seams. Which I should have done now, but I tried it with just a little of the spirits and no leaks, and I wanted to get this done that day, so...

This stuff worked very well for the purpose. To really do it right, I need to put a drain valve in one end to make it easier to put the spirits back in the jug. I guess hit the plumbing section next time I'm at the store.