Has anyone ever removed a maple bowling alley floor?

[Adam Herman]

a long sewer pipe buried in the ground at a slight angle makes for a great bowling ball cannon. 5 lbs of flash powder in the bottom gives a 12 lb ball more than 40 seconds of air time. you can listen to them sing due to the finger holes. they leave a pretty good impact crater in sand when they come down.

on the subject of the lanes: we turned some into an island top and it is really the highlight of our whole kitchen. its beautiful and functional. If you have the room, get some of it for tops, build a dining table even. advise here is correct. no glue, lots of hard ring shank nails to damage your saw blades. Mine had 3 in. angle iron bolted to the bottom to keep it flat. I sawed grooves into the bottom and rabbits for 1/2 angle iron and put a bunch of 1 in #8 screws into it to create structure over our bar area. if you pick up both sides and do not support the center, it can some apart or bend like an accordion. our island top was built of a section with the walnut darts and the matchsticked pine/maple transition. it weighs around 300 lbs for the 5 ft by 6 foot area. it took hours with with a belt sander to remove the thick plastic finish.

[Brian Elfert]

I saw a documentary on the LDRS. You guys are great! I particularly liked the scene where some guys mounted motors on a portable john and sent it aloft. I think someone else launched a big wooden cable spool. Great fun.

We are getting way off the original topic, but I know the guy who did the porta potty rocket that was filmed in 2003. I was maybe 500 feet from where the porta potty launched as our group was waiting to launch a rocket.

The reality is a lot of the really crazy rockets like the porta potty where really only done for TV.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

We are getting way off the original topic, but I know the guy who did the porta potty rocket that was filmed in 2003. I was maybe 500 feet from where the porta potty launched as our group was waiting to launch a rocket.

The reality is a lot of the really crazy rockets like the porta potty where really only done for TV.

As as the OP, I approve any discussion on this thread related to launching bowling balls, port-a-potties, and other objects into the air.

[kevin nee]

I have a bowling alley section for a work bench. It has been split down to 28 inches x 9 foot long. It is mounted on two cabinets against the wall in front of a window. I wrapped the three exposed faces with 3/4 maple. Vises on each end! I scrape off any glue or anything that got on it about once a year and put linseed oil on it. It is close to 3 inches thick. Go for it, you won't regret it. The flooring in front of the lanes is probably 3/4 young & groove. Good luck post photos.