Blade for cutting bowling alley lanes

[abram godshall]

Yesterday, I bought 2 8' X 3" X 42" sections of bowling alley lanes (yellow pine) that I plan to make work benches and/or cutting boards out of. They are riddled with nails.... so how do I cut them down to size. Someone suggested using a roofing blade in my portable power saw. Any other suggestions or what blade would a roofer use when cutting through nails?

Oh, by the way, I found the material on Craigslist (materials under Philadelphia). It is located in Mt. Holly NJ if anyone is interested and he has a lot left; yellow pine and hard maple and he is willing to deal with you.

Thank you in advance,
Abram Godshall

[John Bush]

Hi Abram,
Several bowling alley icons out here have lost the battle with developement and it seems one entity bought all the alley lanes and are selling them at a pricey price. What should I expect to pay for a section of lane?? I am used to making all my own stuff, and considering the cost of materials and time, it may not be such a bad deal. Thanks, JCB.

[Jamie Buxton]

Yep, use a circular saw and a blade which you don't mind destroying. Your local big-box will have cheap carbide-tipped blades for something like $5 a pop. They're sometimes labeled framing blades. They're often sold in packs of three or four, or even twenty. House-builders and remodelers go through them quickly.

[abram godshall]

My cousin bought 2 hard maple sections and 2 pine sections; I bought 2 pine sections. He was asking $9 a linear foot for the pine and $18 for the maple. He ended up selling the pine for $60 each ($7.50/LF) and the hard maple for $117.50 each ($14.69/LF). He has lengths varying from 7-10'. All are about 2.5-3" thick and about 42" wide.

[Darryl Hazen]

If you haven't got one, I would suggest picking up one of those small hand held metal detectors. (Little Wizard II). They're pretty good at locating hidden nails. (Amazon has them for ~$20.) That way you could mark the locations and avoid most of the hidden ones. That way you can choose the best blade for cutting the wood instead of selecting a blade to cut nails.:)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EIajFzIhL._SL160_AA115_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Detectors-24902-Little-Detector/dp/B00005NMUO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/176-6860830-5472007?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1230478038&sr=8-3)

[Jim Becker]

Sawsall...or a "demolition" blade in a circular saw.

[Rob Wright]

They use hardened nails, and they are spaced every few inches. It will be impossible to pick a path through the top that will not hit a few, if not many when cross cutting. I just bought a few of the cheaper carbide tipped framing blades and had at it. Don't be shy about it - just cut it!:D

You will also want to get some angle iron or some other type of bracing to run perpendicular to the strips on the bottom. It will attempt to curl up and warp since the the thick finish is only on one side. DAMHIKT :mad:

[Greg Sznajdruk]

HD used to sell a 7 1/4 blade called a Nail Cutter I've used these with good results in cutting out sub-floors. They were less than $10, have not looked for them recently.

Greg

http://power-tools.hardwarestore.com/54-361-circular-saw-blade-carbide/dewalt-nail-cutting-blade-604884.aspx

[Dick Strauss]

84bf in each slab...it sounds like that may be quite a good deal!

[Chip Lindley]

Why oh Why would you buy yellow pine?? when Hard Maple was available? Hmmm....

[Rick Lucrezi]

Have you ever seen carbide tiped saw blades after cutting through nails? Notice the tips missing? Wonder where they went? Have you got good eye protection?

I build houses for a living. I recently had to have an MRI done. I was asked alot of questions about what I do for a lving first. I told them what I do, they required alot of x rays. I have lots of little metal pieces in me. Wonder where they came from?

[Thomas Bank]

I picked up three sections about 12' long of hard maple bowling alley lanes a number of years ago for the main workbench in my shop for $80 apiece. To trim them to length I picked up some DeWalt construction blades for the circular saw from Lowes that specified that they were for nail cutting and when through two or three before the job was done. They did a good job, but it was one of those jobs that sort of makes you cringe.

On a side note, talking the folks at the bowling alley they said that they typically replaced the wood lanes every so often but this time they were replacing the lanes with a polymer product instead of wood - so no more wood lanes to "recycle" in the future.

[Jacob Dahn]

make sure you take three or four passes. I have built a number of benches with bowling lane. As somebody mentioned before, you will probably want to put a base under the top. Since they are only nailed together it will have a tendency to sag over time. I built mine out of engineered lumber...microlam, or something similar (the stuff they make house beams from. I found mine in a menards discount rack because one edge was dinged up.

Good luck, it will provide you will a very nice work surface.

Jake

[Bill White]

They use hardened nails, and they are spaced every few inches. It will be impossible to pick a path through the top that will not hit a few, if not many when cross cutting. I just bought a few of the cheaper carbide tipped framing blades and had at it. Don't be shy about it - just cut it!:D

You will also want to get some angle iron or some other type of bracing to run perpendicular to the strips on the bottom. It will attempt to curl up and warp since the the thick finish is only on one side. DAMHIKT :mad:

Mine came from Georgia Baptist Hosp. bowling alley. Those spiral nails are h$(( on the blades but the bowling alley sections were free. I did put the angle iron on as Rob suggested, then "wrapped" the edges of the top in 3/4" maple. Have been VERY pleased with the end result.
Bill:)