Bowling Alley Workbench #6: There is more than 1 way to skin a cat - not so with bowling alley floors though - finally success

Wow, that looks like a lot more work than you expected, but it looks like you are making great progress and can see the end in sight. Keep up the good work. Ditto your comments about LV, love their stuff!

-- "You get what you inspect, not what you expect"

Tough battle hope it comes together for you

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Thanks. I actually expected this battle, and in retrospect, after my previous battle with it, this time was really easy, and in the long run will take me less time than I had dedicated for it.

Jim – it’s GOING to come together, whether it likes to , or not … lol. (it’s the principle now)

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I’ve heard so many things about making anything from bowling alley materials…you’re a brave man.

-- "That which has in itself the greatest use, possesses the greatest beauty." - Unknown Shaker

I’m tired just reading about this process!
Ellen

-- Ellen on Cape Cod

Ellen, I know what you mean – after my last experience, I was tired and very unmotivated before I started working on it this time, but after the huge difference in reduced labor, time, and psych I’m actually very energized now, and am ready to take it all up… much more than I was before working on this part.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Sweet! I am very glad you didn’t have to kill yourself getting these nails out. Went from an oh my ** all weekend to an evening or two kinda work. As always looking forward to the next installment!

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Nice!

Keep it up… you’re inspiring me to get working on my bench. Unfortunately, life seems to keep getting in the way of shop time. Strange how that happens…

-- Ryno

Is there a way to sort veneer cut the bottom off?

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Why didn’t you try to use a solvent to take the tar off first? That would take most of it off so you wouldn’t have to ruin perfectly good tools…

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

I think for the tarred bottom I would have gotten something like a car-polisher and chucked a wire bristle brush in it. That would shred up the tar and ball it all up, also packing it with dust shaved from the wood beneath. I did similar (with a drill and small wire bristle bit) to clean up a lot of the wax I spilled into my rough concrete floor. It sanded some of the concrete off and balled it up with the wax to create little hard balls I could vacuum right up.Then you could hit it with the plane if it needed it.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Ryan – consider this blog for you, as you’ll be able to just follow the good stuff and avoid the cr@p…lol

Julian and Gary – um….. yeah… now why didn’t I think of that?!? I’m going to take your advice and try to clean the tar with a wire brush, and solvent… whichever one will work better and faster. definitely one of those “DOPE” moments here… lol THANKS!!

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Haha, it’s not a dope moment. It’s planelust. I’m seeing it more and more, and carefully guarding against it in my own life. When you love your planes, you see the world as planeable surfaces!

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Amen to that!

but at the same time – you don’t really wanna gum up your precious planes that you invested time and elbow grease tuning up…

gonna stop at sears on my way home and pick up a 5/8” thread wire brush for my angle grinder… and go for a spin (pun intended) on this… thanks again. then maybe some solvent for some final cleanup.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

As a remodeling contractor, I have worked with reclaimed sections of bowling alley and I would not recommend them to anybody for fabricating a workbench.

That “dream” slab is a nightmare to work with. It is full of nails and you have to plan on disposing of a blade every few cuts.

It also sags side-to-side, so there has to be a proper structure under it that way.

Then there is the tar – crap.

It does make a very heavy and durable top in the end, but so do many other materials that are easier and take less time to handle.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Cool! I want to see how that turns out. Good luck, with both methods.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Indeed Todd, it’s somewhat of a nightmare to work with. I think once you figure out how to get those nails out – it makes things much easier – still a bit of work, but not as bad, and not as destructive on tools. we’ll see how the tar will come off with the wheel brush once I get to it.

you mentioned that the material sags side-to-side. do you mean lengthwise over the long grain? or widthwise over the laminations? I have an under-top support that will help control the sagging widthwise. but nothing for the lengthwise possibility. I don’t recall seeing GaryKs’ and Karsons’ benches having support lengthwise though either, and haven’t heard from neither of them of any sagging issues. but something to consider in the long run.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I have to agree with Todd….My buddy has a garage full of bowling alley sections he salvaged, over 15 years ago..and it still sits there…nobody wants it. It would seem to me that aside from the cost, it would be much easier to just laminate a bench top from some maple, or other suitable wood. I thought about doing the same thing you are Purp, and he would give me the alley sections for free…but after I looked them over and thought it through I said thanks but no thanks!

-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"

I also agree with Todd… lol. If I had to do this again knowing what I know today, I’d go to the lumberyard and buy new material.

But at this point – I already have the material salvaged, it’s in very good condition, I already have the experience to handle it. And as Todd wrote – it’s a “Dream” top, as I always wanted to utilize salvaged material such as this for such a good purpose. Also, agree to it or not – this adds one hell of a story to this bench.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

You’re in far enough to keep going for sure.

The length is fine, but all of the bowling alley sections I have dealt with are flexible side to side. As you look down the length of it, the slabs sag left to right because they are only nailed and not glued together.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

My top sits on the apron on each end A 2 X 6 that is mortised into the legs and I’ve not had any cupping between the two sides. I also didn’t take off the tar. I saw no reason to do that, it protects that side from moisture, so i didn’t have to put any finish on it. The only saw blades that I destroyed were 2 nail cutting blades that I used to rip the butcher block into two long sections. I did it in the middle of one of the wood strips so it was a sacrificial strip. I peeled it off the rest of the bowling alley and had two straight sections. I made a kitchen counter top and two workbenches from the alleys that I got.

The sink cutout

The island with walnut edges.

I don’t seem to have many pictures of the maple top.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Maple is one of my favorite woods….it is not as brittle as oak….and I love the grain….

Good job salvaging those strips….a lot of work for sure….I am hoping you got a deal for pulling them out….that will make the work seem less of a bother…

Thanks for sharing

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

PurpLev pay no attention to Todd he has got the ‘remodeling contractor sickness’, always wanting to start with clean materials and a tabula rasa… lol… when your not doing it to make a living it isn’t about how long it takes (well sort of) its about how many scars (physically and emotionally) you have when you are finish

-- criticism: the art of analyzing and evaluating the quality of a artistic work...

Lev, I got a stress-relieving idea for you. Take all the nails you pulled and drive them deep into a bowling ball. Pretend it’s the head of the god of bowling alleys :)

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

LOL. indeed far into it I am. and as of late- loving every minute of it (yet still want to see this thing finished already).

I just picked up a wire brush wheel for my grinder, and this thing works magic – I got the crimped brush (not the twisted aggressive one) and it cleans the tar off nicely and leaves a smooth surface that can be planed without ruining the plane/router blade/bit – fantastic!!! thanks Gary! this is a life saver. never used this thing before, but a good accessory to have in the box (at $10).

Karson – I was thinking about leaving the tar in place and not having to worry about finishing the bottom, but there are already some strips that are tarless (where the cross bars were nailed+screwed), so I might just clean all the tar off, and finish the bottom all at once after all. Thanks again for the inspiration!

Todd. I noticed the flexing that is caused by the nails-only construction, and made notice of that in a previous installment of this blog series. this is also the reason why I modified the ‘original’ roubo design of the base, and added cross braces supports at the top of each leg end so that the top will sit evenly on a flat surface which should take care of that sagging potential.

as jlsmith said – I’m in it for the adventure and experience. I got these 3 huge slabs for $0. In fact – I was awarded a nice drive with a fellow LJ (Ryno101) and a new woodworker buddy neighbor for going to get these slabs – so it is well worth it.

aaah… things really start to look up… now if only I can get enough shop time to dedicate to the rest of this adventure :o)

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Oh my good man are you having a time of it….this is part of the journey to becoming a well rounded craftsman. I adore you relentless pursuit of accomplishment. This bench will be a friend for a lifetime. I won’t be the one with 20/20 hide site I can see you will conquer this project. Thanks for sharing and writing your story it truly bring backs memories, your friend in woodworking Blkcherry.

I think that I mentioned that I’m not sure if I would do it again, didn’t I? Those are some tuff-ass nails, huh?

I didn’t break any of my nails using the cats paw though.

For that black crap on the bottom I put on an old blade on my tablesaw and cut just enough to get rid of it.

If I remember correctly I glued up quarter of the table at a time. Then 2 pairs and finally the last glue-up for the 2 halves. Mine was 8 feet long and 36+” wide so I had to do it this way.

Don’t depend on the tongue and grooves to line up the top surfaces. They vary quite a bit. I imagine they were there just to help keep thing in place while they clamped them up. They would surface the top after wards.

Don’t sweat it too much since you will have to surface it when you’re done anyway.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Blkcherry- Thanks! it is indeed more of an adventure than a project – and will yield much more experiences and understanding as such once it is all over. I really just want something to work on already… seeing your bench makes me wanna be done with it and putting this thing to use.

GaryK – I thought I knew better… lol – just kidding. I was actually going to follow your advice and forget about it when Ryan contacted me and offered to team up to pick some up – how can you say no to a fellow lumberjock?
seriously though it was more of a challenge, and something you don’t get to experience everyday. another story to tell around the campfire (hopefully NOT while you’re burning the bowling alley out of frustration) :) I most definitely learned more then a handful of new approaches and techniques for the future.

as you say – I’m not going to depend on anything to keep things aligned – just close enough to keep things together – I WILL surface this thing top and bottom (bottom only where it’ll rest on the cross braces supports) for the black crappy tar – I’ve taken Gary Fixler’s idea, and got a $10 wire brush at sears for my angle grinder – this thing works magic, and leaves the maple untouched and clear of the tar in a matter of minutes! I will do the same for the top (laquer/poly finish) and then either plane it flat, or use the router +sled technique Tage Frid used to flatten tables.

I mentioned it before – I’m very tempted to take it all apart completely and remove all nails like you did… something about those nails in there bother my mind.lol – we’ll see how adventurous I feel, and how much time I have to spend on this.

Thanks again for the inspiration! even though you did suggest I shouldn’t do it ;)

P.S. something with delivery this week is in my favor – I ordered the lee valley vises, and they arrived a day earlier than FedEx predicted. and I also ordered (out of previous frustration) the Nail-Hunter which was supposed to arrive end of next week, but instead- arrived today… looks hefty – my point is – I’ll put it to use and see how it stands up to it’s advertisement and post a review on this soon -stay tuned.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I’m glad to hear the bristle brush did the trick!

Pulling embedded nails, bullets, signs, and spikes will be so much easier once we get Star Trek transporter technology.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Glad I found this site. I thought i was the only idiot to try and build something out of a bowling alley lane. I bought about 1800 square feet of old pine bowling alley in 18’ lengths. They only weighed about 900 pounds apiece. They had these “tee” beam brackets on the bottom and imagine my suprise when I removed a couple and th floor started to separate. I was convinced that the strips were glued and nailed. But no, just like described here they were nailed through 2 stips each. Believe me I can feel your pain as I experience the same issues from trying to separate the strips to gumming up planes. I made a wall in my master bedroom with the alleys, an island top in my kitchen and treads and stringers for my stairs. I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how. The question I would like to ask is how do you strip the finish off? I really don’t want to have to scrape my whole wall (18’ x 8’). I have tried the “best” chemical stripper from the box store but it doesn’t have much effect. This finish kills sandpaper, it is hard. If it hadn’t have dulled over time I wouldn’t mess with it but the samll area I have been able to clean is beautiful so it will be worth it to do but If

-- KW Murphy, NC

Please be careful planing as the nails can be very close to the surface depending on how old the alley was. They were often planed in place to restore them so there is no way of knowing how much of the top was removed. I kept my slabs in as big of pieces as possible for the projects I am working on. If you disassembled all the strips and removed nails you won’t have a problem but it was easier for me to screw straps on the back of my wall to keep it all together. For my stair treads I used 10” long screws driven in from both sides. I had to predrill but it came out fine in no time and they are solid.

-- KW Murphy, NC

If anyone else wants to experience this pain I have plenty of pieces left over from 2’ x 3’ to 42” X 18’ with a bunch in between. Bring help , they are heavy.

-- KW Murphy, NC

dubya – I know the pain you’ve been going through… it can be pretty frustrating.

the way I took off the finish was using a sanding disc in an angle grinder. yes- this finish is a sandpaper-killer, and doing the one piece 30”x80” completely finished 1 sanding disc. maybe not the most efficient way, but it did the job with minimal labor, and quite fast at ~10 min for the whole thing.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I would think that a coarse Randon Orbital Sander could take it off fairly fast. But remember that you will have to get rid of any deep scratches made by the sandpaper. I’d try 80 grit before going any coarser.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I used a DA sander with 60 grit and the finished laughed at me. I have used a belt sander with 50 grit paper and it does the job but as you said I ended up with some deep scratches. I am experimenting with a gang of wire wheels on a mandrel where I will try to use them like a planer.

-- KW Murphy, NC

dubya – I used a wire wheel to take off the tar on the underside of the bowling alley – it does the job and does it well, and also will not clog (esp. with the tar). while at homedepot I noticed the sanding discs for the angle grinder, and thought I’d try them out – they are used to strip off paint and rust, and they did a great job on the finished side of the bowling alley with minimal abuse to the maple strips. also because the angle grinder is a beast at 8000-10,000rpm the work is done quickly as opposed to a random orbital sander, which is more for finishing applications.

heres the one I used:

both flap disc, and wire wheel would last about the same time, and the flap disc I think is cheaper – so might be more useful for to tackle the finish side of the bowling alley

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I’ll try the flap wheel. I have some laying around from my welding days. I have had some pretty good success with an old hand plane I have. It is a big sucker with a 3” wide knife. I used a sheet of paper to set the depth and was able to plane off just the finish. As long as I didn’t go over the same area twice I wasn’t removing any wood.

-- KW Murphy, NC