# Bowling Pins



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Greetings, 

Since the purchase of my Grizzly lathe, I have been on the lookout for sources of wood to practice on. 

I was at our local bowling alley for lunch today and as I am sitting there watching the bowlers, it hit me... Used bowling pins - which in my days as a firearms instructor I put to good use as long range targets. 

Anyway, the manager fixed me up with a box of used pins and said go forth and create. 

I understand they are made out of maple and have a tough plastic coating - which appears to be glued on. 

Does anyone have any experience with using these for small projects, etc? What was the easiest way to strip off the plastic? 

If this works out, I will have a virtual endless supply of hard maple for small projects. 

Thanks for reading,

Mike


----------



## Firewalker (Jan 3, 2011)

I know the plastic is very stuck on there. I have never tried to remove it but I bet my first attempt would be scoring it maybe twice and hitting it with a heat gun. Hair drier if that's what you have laying around.

Pretty dang good idea I think. Solid material and already have the corners knocked off. Love to see what you create.

I haven't turned anything in 20 years but I wonder if there is a heavy duty turning tool that you could just hog the plastic off with? Something easy to sharpen? It seems like we used a gouge for the initial hard core material removal.

Good luck.....Post pics.

Scott


----------



## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

It might be interesting and since you have them I'd turn them but in reality it's pretty easy to come up with wood. It's everywhere and if you learn to turn green wood it's free as well.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

john lucas said:


> It might be interesting and since you have them I'd turn them but in reality it's pretty easy to come up with wood. It's everywhere and if you learn to turn green wood it's free as well.


There is plenty of stuff out there for sure. You just have to get creative about finding it. The thing I like about the bowling pins is that the wood is already well seasoned and ready to turn. 

I will post updates as I progress down this new path.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Update: After cutting the top and bottom of the bowling pin off, I decided to chuck it in the lathe and see if I could just turn off the plastic covering. 

Things were going pretty well until I reached about the middle of the pin. It seems the plastic de-laminated (probably from the numerous strikes it had been subjected to throughout it's life) and chunks started coming off. 

So, thinking it was better to be safe than sorry, I removed the pin and chiseled off the remainder of the cover. 

Following that, I chucked the pin in the lathe again and cleaned it up. 

Now, I have what appears to be a ....... wooden bowling pin.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Here is my first item.

One thing I found out quite by accident is that these pins are not solid wood as I assumed. There are voids in there that you need to be aware of - as I found out when a large chip of wood went sailing across the floor. 

I may cut a few of them apart to see if this is common occurrence or if it was unique to this particular pin.


----------



## H. A. S. (Sep 23, 2010)

That was very cool. Never tried that one.:thumbsup:


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Not bad for a novice. I am almost to the point where I know just enough to be highly dangerous....


----------



## wildwood (Jan 25, 2011)

I found scoring plastic coating with craft knife, hit with propane torch allowed me to pull plastic coating off pretty easy using two pair of plyers. 

Definitely want to do that trick out side. 

Have not done anything with bowling pins since mid 1980's.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

wildwood said:


> I found scoring plastic coating with craft knife, hit with propane torch allowed me to pull plastic coating off pretty easy using two pair of plyers.


Good idea. Lathing off the coating was kind of messy. It would be better if I could take it off in larger pieces. 

I will try that. 

Thanks again,

Mike


----------



## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

I would suggest scoring and putting in the oven at 200 degrees for a bit to see if you can then pull the plastic off... that way you can do more than one at a time and no live flame.

This is the way I've flattened PVC pipe for some other projects.


----------



## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

RetiredLE said:


> One thing I found out quite by accident is that these pins are not solid wood as I assumed. There are voids in there that you need to be aware of - as I found out when a large chip of wood went sailing across the floor.


Pins aren't made from solid pieces of wood, as you can see in your picture. You probably hit a weaker part of the pin. Apparently they are only good for about a year before being retired.

This has the best info I found in 5 minutes of google searching:

http://www.answers.com/topic/bowling-pin


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

cellophane said:


> Pins aren't made from solid pieces of wood, as you can see in your picture. You probably hit a weaker part of the pin. Apparently they are only good for about a year before being retired.
> 
> This has the best info I found in 5 minutes of google searching:
> 
> http://www.answers.com/topic/bowling-pin


The wood was solid but it looked like they used a couple of short pieces when it was laminated - leaving a small void toward the center.

I checked out the link you provided and it looks like sections are drilled out of the core during construction to meet the weight parameters. That explains the two voids I encountered.

"The machine drills into the post to adjust its weight then repeats the process until the pin falls within a 4 oz (113.4 g) weight range. The 4 in (10.2 cm) cheeks are glued over the holes, overlapping the sides of the 3 in (8 cm) cheeks and the new assembly is again clamped into a jig to properly align all the pieces."


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

frankp said:


> I would suggest scoring and putting in the oven at 200 degrees for a bit to see if you can then pull the plastic off... that way you can do more than one at a time and no live flame.
> 
> This is the way I've flattened PVC pipe for some other projects.


The wife would kill me if I used her oven.....:thumbdown:


----------



## JMC'sLT30 (Oct 26, 2010)

Just asking. Would it be possible for you to use a slightly rounded skew as a knife in low speed and spiral score the pin and then heat it?


----------



## Goldeneyes (Jan 23, 2011)

Firewalker said:


> I know the plastic is very stuck on there. I have never tried to remove it but I bet my first attempt would be scoring it maybe twice and hitting it with a heat gun. Hair drier if that's what you have laying around.
> 
> Pretty dang good idea I think. Solid material and already have the corners knocked off. Love to see what you create.
> 
> ...


Maybe a roughing gouge would work.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Goldeneyes said:


> Maybe a roughing gouge would work.


I cut the top off of a discarded bowling pin and am removing the plastic covering using a homemade rough nose scraper made from a Wal-Mart wood chisel. (I later determined a more efficient - and way less messy - way to remove the plastic was to score the outer surface down to the wood every inch or so using a parting chisel then make lateral cuts using an air powered cutoff disc. The plastic comes off in chunks with a few well placed taps using a chisel & wood mallet.)


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Modified Wal-Mart wood chisel.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Plastic covering is off and the underlying wood is ready to shape into ……….


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Something resembling a candlestick holder.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Some sanding and a bit of boiled linseed oil.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

Not too shabby for a scrap wood project by a newby.


----------



## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

look great for a nubie
or anybody else


----------



## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

Interesting final projects. I'm find myself more and more amazed at what people throw away. It may be time to head over to the local bowling alley to pick up a few dozen of these.


----------



## RetiredLE (Jan 20, 2011)

frankp said:


> Interesting final projects. I'm find myself more and more amazed at what people throw away. It may be time to head over to the local bowling alley to pick up a few dozen of these.


They are a great resource for practice and/or small projects. You just have to be careful of the voids inside the center section and be able to work around those. Other than that, the price is right. :thumbsup:


----------

