Bowling Alley Workbench #1: Disassembly

Hello folks,

I figure everyone should get a bit of a chuckle out of this project. My sister recently moved into a new apartment and for whatever strange reason she had somehow acquired a six foot long piece of bowling alley. Normally I would have just pitched it in the trash, but the grain caught my eye, birdseye! Upon further inspection it was a mix of birdseye, curly maple, regular maple and white oak. So it was acquired, and quickly moved home.

Upon closer inspection I notice a few things…

First off it is nailed, and screwed through with stretchers going across. Hmm, this may be interesting. Well, nothing to do but dive in!

It worked, if by diving in I meant smashing a gasket scraper in with a hammer. The first three are horrible, very tight, each squeaking and squawking as it is removed. I have to hammer a small block in between each, then slowly expand it out. After one hour…

And suddenly it hits me, they are threaded rod...

Yup, that’s right. My 19.2 volt craftsman drill is about to get the workout of a lifetime! I have to say I didn’t expect it to work, but it did! I had to spray each rod with a teflon lubricant otherwise it was burning when it finally threaded out. Ten minutes later…

All apart! It made the loudest most horrible screech, but damn it worked well. One battery too, I figured I’d have burned through both spares. The chuck jaws held up great, good thing it was hardened drill rod.

They seem to be random thicknesses so I will rip them down and try to get a common size. After that I’m not sure… anyone have any thoughts on the best way to go about sticking them back together? I’d like to avoid the threaded rod if possible.

-- Casey, Engineer, Escanaba, MI