Bowling Alley floor bench

[Lynn Kasdorf]

In my recent acquisition of a used saw mill (!), as part of the deal, I got more that my pickup should haul of air dried lumber.

Included in this was 3 sections of maple bowling alley. Two are about 4' x 15", and the other is about 5' x 20". The bigger one would make about the right size bench for my purposes.

Since I've been meaning to make a decent bench fro some time, I figured this might jumpstart me. These sections have a couple of problems though.

The biggest is that the laminations are seperating in a couple places at the ends. And the other issue is that the former owner apparently tried to run these through his thickness planer (he had a biggun). Maybe the knives were dull, but it caused a lot of chipout on the maple. I imagine he did this, saw the chipout, got disgusted and set them aside. I have projects like this...

So- on the laminations. Since the splitting is only at the ends, and not terribly severe, i figured I'd try the following. I'll inject glue with a hypodermic into the cracks, and attempt to glue back together. When this dries, I'll cut a 1/2" wide, 3/4" deep dado slot in each end of the sections and glue in a maple strip, to keep the ends stable.

As far as the top goes, I figure it is about time to tune up this old 22" jointing plane I have, and give it a try. I'll not attempt to take the surface down enough to eliminate all the chipout (this would require about 1/4"). I'll just live with the chipout and strive for a basically flat surface with some defects. I've never tried to plane a large area like this, so it will be a learning experience. I hear talk of winding sticks for measuring flatness- I don't know how to do this. Uh-oh, I'm getting into a discussion for the quiet side...

This is not going to be a museum quality bench, but a sturdy, functional tool. I'll make the frame and legs from some big oak timbers I have. I have a decent side vise for it, and will probably install a veritas dual end vise at some point. I'll probably go for round dog holes.

Of course, if i delaminated it, I could cut the square dog holes and reglue...

It is funny- the bottom side of these was apparently run through a planer with SEVERE dings in the blade. There are all these striations in the surface. I suspect this came from the factory. The hidden side is not important, so I guess they tolerate a pretty bad surface.

Maybe this is a lot more work than just whipping one up out of 3 layers of MDF, but it will be much cooler to have a maple top.

[Tom Scott]

Lynn,
I have heard of people using old bowlling alley wood before as a workbench. Good re-use of wood, and saves you all the glue-up mess.

A few comments:
1. Be VERY careful when doing any cutting or planing on this wood. From others who have done this, I hear that those bowling alleys had mucho nails in them.
2. I don't see a problem with your plan to inject glue and try to pull the cracks together. It may or may not work, but it's definitely worth a try.
3. The maple strip in the end...I don't think this is such a good idea. You will be gluing the long grain of the strip into the cross grain of the ends. Not usually a good idea. Another possibility if you want to cover the end is to use a bread board type end. Create a large tenon on the ends, and make a new end cap with a mortice across the width. This should be pegged with elongated holes (in the direction of the width where expansion will take place) in the tenon. The center or one of the ends could be glued, but the others are not.
4. You might also think about putting a skirt on the front. Glue on 1 or more additional laminations to give the bench a thicker look. You could also use this additional width to put your dog holes. This is not necessary, but a possibility.
5. The jointer plane is a good choice for leveling and smoothing the top.
6. Winding sticks are nothing more than 2 sticks that are parallel, usually with contrasting colors (1 black, the other white). One is placed at each end (across the width), and when sited from a distance you can tell if there is any twist across the length.

Good luck, and you will enjoy having the ebnch once it is complete.

Tom

[Joe Tonich]

I have a 4'x8' bowling lane bench. Works and looks great but heavier than hell! I cut off the ends as they were seperating also. Look out for the nails! LOTS of them!! I wrapped mine w/2" Red Oak, wish I had some dog holes in it. I put a couple coats of Tung Oil on it then waxed with Johnsons.

I know you'll like it! :)

Joe

[Jim Becker]

Originally posted by Tom Scott
1. Be VERY careful when doing any cutting or planing on this wood. From others who have done this, I hear that those bowling alleys had mucho nails in them.

Nails...Big Time! Cut them with a Sawsall or a blade in your hand-held circular saw that you're willing to sacrifice.

Depending on the manufacturer of the bowling ally, they aren't always maple, either. The one that I had was maple in the pin area, but it transitioned to what appeared to be SYP towards the bowler.

[David Rose]

How would you drill them in wood that might contain nails? I'm sure it might be hard to locate them all in advance to a pinpoint. Would a forster carbide cut a nail without damaging it (the bit, not the nail :) ?

David