Bowling Alley - Wood pieces

[Dennis Lopeman]

I ran across on craigslist a couple guys selling pieces (5.5' x 42inches) of bowling alley wood...

Couple questions and ideas to run by you guys - please let me know what you think...

1. I plan to make a work bench from it - if it can take a beating from bowling balls then I probably can't hurt it much, huh!?!

2. Cost $50 per piece. I want 2 pieces. Is this a good price?

3. costs $50 per piece. They are about 2 or so inches thick. I was thinking of getting two pieces and glueing them together to make a real thick table - like 4 inches thick. Heavy and strong... (I'll glue the backs so the shiney sides are bottom and top...) SOooo. $100 total for the top. I will still have to fabricate the rest of the table...

a.) should I do this? is 4+ inches excessive? (well I'll probably want it anyway!) LOL I want it heavy as well as strong!
b.) glue? how to clamp? what kind of glue? etc...

4. Is there anything I should look out for?

5. did I forget to ask something? haha

6. I know someone posted something about doing this very thing... so I will search for that... its how I thought of doing this idea!

Thanks (TIA)

[Dave Breitwieser]

I bought 4 pieces a few month back for a workbench. I paid $15ea for pieces approx. 15" x 15'-0 long.

They are nailed together ever 6"+/- not glued. I decided not to risk hitting a nail with a saw blade. Spiral nails do not come out of hard maple vary easy! I spent 3 hours saturday pulling nails and have one of the four apart.

[John Schreiber]

I looked into this once and decided not to do it.

Hard maple is used for the part of the lane where balls first impact and where the pins are, but it's softer cheaper wood for the majority of the lane. You would need to know for sure which part of a lane you are getting.

There are lots and lots of nails in the wood. That means if you ever plan to cut into it or drill holes in it, you are going to run into nails for sure. If you plan to take them apart to reassemble later, you are going to have a very difficult time.

Different kinds of glue are used and some are a royal pain to work with/take apart.

[Jack Hutchinson]

A couple of friends and I chainsawed sections out of a bowling alley in a rec building at the former Grenier Field days before a D-8 was coming through preparing to build the current Manchester Airport (NH).

My 10 foot section (split in half for "easy handling") sat in the basement for 25 years. Eventually I disassembled it (about 15 pounds of nails), jointed and planed the 1 1/4" x 2 1/4" matched pieces uniform, and glued up a workbench top (without the shallow matching). I'm very happy with it.

With the alley we scavenged if you don't do something to hold the strips together, they will work loose under workbench stresses. In the original alley they were nailed to cross pieces.

I don't see a need for two thicknesses.

[Bob Rufener]

My workbench was made from a 7' section of bowling alley. I have had it for about 15 years and it is great. I did rip saw it as the bowling alley width was too wide for my area. Bought a cheap carbide tipped rip blade and threw it in the garbage when done. LOTS of nails. I think 4" is overkill for the thickness. I built a framework out of 4 x 4 legs and 2 x 6 aprons under the table and 2 x 6 boards about 1' off the floor for shelf space. Bench is rock solid. I paid $70 for it and thought that was reasonable. Try buying hard maple and making one yourself. It'll be lots more costly.

[Alan Schaffter]

Be careful most if not all have lots of hardened nails. Some also have steel rods that go from side to side. What you save it wood you could spend on a new saw/saw blade!!!!

[Fred Voorhees]

I have a five or six foot section of bowling alley that my grandfather procured somehow a number of years ago. I made a simple bench out of it that is in my garage .... NOT in my woodshop. Tell you the truth, that would probably be the worst place for it. NOT WORTH IT!

[Dennis Lopeman]

cool guys - Thanks for the inputs... I'm still on the fence though... (a maple fence!)

couple more notes:

this wood IS the wood nearest to where the pins were... SO - even though someone said its the "cheaper" maple... isn't it being maple still a good deal?

Also - these pieces are 42" wide = 3.5 feet wide. Perfect width for a work table. Why would I take it "apart?"

as for cutting it - I had already thought of using a cheapo (harbor frieght) blade and drill bits to do all the work... but thanks for adding that tip... I failed to say that and someone doing future research on this topic might not think of that.

So i was thinking that I would just use the pieces "as-is" - not even unscrew/un-nail it... I will inspect it before buying it, so that is good...

I'm curious what was meant by needing "do something to hold the strips together or they will work looose..." If I leave it all "screwed together then shouldn't I be fine??? I'm asking out of ignorance, not being a smart a$$!! Maybe it will be more apparent when I see them...

Thanks again ya'll

[John Sanford]

IF you're planning on using it as a "general purpose worktable", then there's not reason to double the thickness, and the large size would be good for assembly work and the like.

On the other hand, if you're planning on making your primary woodworking bench out of this, then doubling the thickness is good, and you'll almost certainly find that 42" is far, far wider than you need, and wider than is useful (except giving you a place to pile junk at the backside of the bench).

Take a gander at this: Workbenches: Design, Construction and Use - Chapter 1

[Calvin Crutchfield]

Funny you mention this. A friend of mine said he got some stuff from a friend that was moving and also mentioned he had old bowling alley lanes but he didn't get them.

Needless to say I gave him a verbal scolding and made him go get the lanes.

Ours were 4 pieces of end lane. Where the pins sit. They actually had ten inlaid composite dots where the pins drop down.

We did spend a few hours yesterday getting the nail and screws out of the perimeter, but well worth it. I put a junk blade in and disabled the safety portion of the sawstop and we ripped to 15" widths, the size of my planer.

I like it and would always take some more. Although the good wood is only at the beginning and the end of the lane. The middle section was pine.

I will be adding a workbench to my shop. Using my portion of the alley! But to answer your question, I would spend $50 per slab if it is the kind of slab I have.

[Dennis Lopeman]

Take a gander at this: Workbenches: Design, Construction and Use - Chapter 1

John - thanks - great read!! Where's the rest of it?

[Bob Horvath]

I made a pretty nice bench out a bowling alley section in the last year.It was a lot of work and there ARE a LOT of nails in them.I added an extra board on each side for my dog holes.I probably saved a few bucks because I didn't have to buy material, but probably ended up putting in the same amount of effort as lamming one up.It can be done, but be prepared to lunch a sawblade or three.


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