A dining table for MRS Clause

[royce]

Got started today with a side grinder trying to even up the underside of this bowling lane.
It plugged up 4 discs before I gave in and used a router to get through the tar on it.
I think I'll set up some rails to run the router on to get bottom the plumb flat and reduce the thickness some.
Also set the legs up and some mock plates to help gauge how big to make it.
Looks like 38"x84" may work.

Royce

 

[xyster101]

Where does one get so much flooring


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Richard Cranium]

from bowling alleys that are closing.

 

[southalabama]

One of the times I got frustrated at dad was when he was offered a bunch of bowling alley lanes. He didn't want to mess with something that heavy for a bench top and I didn't have the room. A couple years later the warehouse the guy had them in burned down.

Gonna make for a nice table.

Maple??

 

[PugetDude]

Got started today with a side grinder trying to even up the underside of this bowling lane.
It plugged up 4 discs before I gave in and used a router to get through the tar on it.
I think I'll set up some rails to run the router on to get bottom the plumb flat and reduce the thickness some.
Also set the legs up and some mock plates to help gauge how big to make it.
Looks like 38"x84" may work.

Royce

Does the entire bottom really need to be perfectly smooth and flat?
Could just cut shallow pockets for the metal legs and focus your efforts on the top...

 

[royce]

One of the times I got frustrated at dad was when he was offered a bunch of bowling alley lanes. He didn't want to mess with something that heavy for a bench top and I didn't have the room. A couple years later the warehouse the guy had them in burned down.

Gonna make for a nice table.

Maple??

South,
If it is any consolation, they are ****** heavy and a bit of a chore to build with.
Yes, maple
I put some thought in today and are thinking of putting a copper border around the perimeter edge and mitering a 4 piece 90 at the corners.
Here is a pic of a corner layout, I may reduce the radius a touch.
Royce

 

[royce]

Does the entire bottom really need to be perfectly smooth and flat?
Could just cut shallow pockets for the metal legs and focus your efforts on the top...

Puget,
Part of the reason for taking material off both the top and bottom is to reduce weight while staying out of the godforsaken hardened screw nails that fasten this together!
To answer your question,no the bottom does not need to be perfectly flat, nor smooth.
Royce

 

[Gizmosity]

I'm by no means an expert on bowling alley table fabrication....but:

I've seen and used many benches and tables built out of these. The only one (one) that didn't get loose was one where the owner removed all those nails, separated each piece and glued it together. The rest of them, over time, worked the nails loose, which makes the entire piece loose. You might be able to put several 'cleats' underneath (attached with screws in slots to account for wood movement) and get away with it. Maybe breadboard ends could help as well.
This is assuming that it isn't glued, I've never seen one that was.....

A frame around anything made of solid wood that doesn't allow for wood expansion and contraction is not a great idea. Not saying it doesn't look cool, but unless you allow for movement, it's a high failure risk.

 

[royce]

I'm by no means an expert on bowling alley table fabrication....but:

I've seen and used many benches and tables built out of these. The only one (one) that didn't get loose was one where the owner removed all those nails, separated each piece and glued it together. The rest of them, over time, worked the nails loose, which makes the entire piece loose. You might be able to put several 'cleats' underneath (attached with screws in slots to account for wood movement) and get away with it. Maybe breadboard ends could help as well.
This is assuming that it isn't glued, I've never seen one that was.....

A frame around anything made of solid wood that doesn't allow for wood expansion and contraction is not a great idea. Not saying it doesn't look cool, but unless you allow for movement, it's a high failure risk.

Thanks for the insight Gizmo,
My thought is to have a steal cleat that fastens to each of the legs and into the top.
I also thought I would try to get a drift into each end if I can get holes bored through the sea of nails.
These boards are keyed and glued.
Royce

 

[larry_g]

There is a guy over in another thread that built the most beautiful 'footstool' out of some bowling alley and you might check in on that thread and ask how he treated the bottom...

lg
no neat sig line

 

[royce]

There is a guy over in another thread that built the most beautiful 'footstool' out of some bowling alley and you might check in on that thread and ask how he treated the bottom...

lg
no neat sig line

I don't know Larry,but I'm not sure I would put much stock in what that guy builds

Royce

 

[royce]

Went out this evening and got the back and front side of the top milled and sanded, also got the corners bobbed off.

Royce

 

[KMScott]

Nice job Royce, I have worked with bowling alleys before and know what issues you are working through. Those hard square nails they used sure are a pain hu. Look forward to watching your progress. I made workbenches for both of my son's along with this one for me.

 

[MBfreak]

Old bowling lane, are they really maple?
If so, I would be extremely happy to get hold of a piece or two 5 feet in length.
I think they will make an absolutely wonderful starting point for a solid body electrical guitar. Old, stable, rock stable wood is hard to come by!
Bowling alleys are not common here, but somewhere they must have some old floors!
Will start looking.

Ola

 

[NORTON'S SHOP]

Old bowling lane, are they really maple?
If so, I would be extremely happy to get hold of a piece or two 5 feet in length.
I think they will make an absolutely wonderful starting point for a solid body electrical guitar. Old, stable rock stable wood is hard to come by!
Bowling alleys are not common here, but somewhere they must have som old floors!
Will start looking.

Ola

Some are maple for the entire length. Others I've seen are maple for the first, maybe ten feet (where the ball will hit the lane), the rest being fir.

 

[royce]

Nice job Royce, I have worked with bowling alleys before and know what issues you are working through. Those hard square nails they used sure are a pain hu. Look forward to watching your progress. I made workbenches for both of my son's along with this one for me.

Excellent bench KM,
I agree, I find no joy in working with these lanes, but the end product ain't half bad
I'm really looking forward to wrapping the edge with some copper.
Thanks
Royce

 

[royce]

Got some angle iron screwed to the bottom and some attachment plates bolted up, to transition between the cast iron legs and the steel cleats
About ready to tack off.
Royce

 

[tarbellb]

Double Stabila, now I know you are serious!

Nice progress, where did you score the legs from?

 

[royce]

Double Stabila, now I know you are serious!

Nice progress, where did you score the legs from?

Tarbellb,
With these trifocals, the digital readout is sure easier!

The legs came off of a old roller of some sort, found at a sale.

Lunch time progress report:
Legs welded out and attached
Edges cleaned up and recesses cut at edges for copper cap

Thanks

Royce

 

[royce]

After a few unsucessful attempts at boring holes to get a drift through at the ends,I ended up running six 6" timber lock screws down each side.
I'm also screwing a flatbar all the way around the perimeter,to maybe help keeping the cantilevered ends from warping.

Royce

 

[royce]

Got the flat bar fastened and welded around the perimeter.
Now, I'll work on the copper.
I have a piece of 3"L tube I'll anneal, flatten and bend to shape.
Once shaped, I'll cut a kerf in the top for the edge of the copper to drop into and then bend the last 90 degree bend in place, on the under side of the top.
I'm hoping to only fasten it on the underside of the top, we'll see.

Royce

 

[royce]

Got the copper prepped for forming tonight
Here is a pic of my hillbilly annealing furnace and the flattened skelp, ready to go to town for shearing and bending.

Royce

 

[royce]

Got the copper formed this morning.
Hope to start cutting and fitting all the miters tomorrow night.

Royce

 

[bczygan]

I got some pieces of that stuff for free.

It was weathered from being outside and had separations between some boards.

Pain in the *** with hundreds of spikes between each board. Finally tossed it all.

Bill

 

[royce]

Started fitting up some miters tonight.
I'll weld these first 8 and then fit and weld the last 4 on the ends.

Royce

 

[KMScott]

Wow Royce, I am enjoying your build. It looks like you started with copper pipe, am I correct. Are you welding it with TIG? Just curious. I have worked with copper myself but never made anything like what you are doing. Thanks for sharing.

Kevin

 

[royce]

Wow Royce, I am enjoying your build. It looks like you started with copper pipe, am I correct. Are you welding it with TIG? Just curious. I have worked with copper myself but never made anything like what you are doing. Thanks for sharing.

Kevin

Glad you are enjoying it Kevin, me too.

Yes, 3" L tube.

Yes, on the tig.

I've fiddled with a good bit of copper myself, but nothing like this either.

Got 8 of the miters welded, the bolts radiused and fire blued today.

Tomorrow, I'll cut the dados in the top to let these trim pieces in and fit the last miters.

Thanks for the good words.

Royce

 

[royce]

Well, I did not get to where I thought I would today.
I was hoping to get welded out, but did get the last pieces fit up.
The first miters drew enough from welding to make the layout of the dados challenging to say the least.
I thought it may get my goober for a while this morning.
Some of the fits between the copper and wood are not as tight as I would like.
I guess the house apes will have them filled with cookie crumbs in no time anyhow.

Royce

 

[royce]

Finally got to the weld I wanted most, the last one.
I screwed around and let one of them get away from me and dropped a molten blob of copper on the top and did not realize it at the time.
It left a deep burn in the top that I'll have to chock up to the rustic nature of this table.
Next task is to get some finish on the maple, then fasten the copper permanently.
The end is in sight.

Royce

 

[Hchrist]

Wow! That is a great looking table. One thing, the leg placement looks too centered?? Like if someone used the end of the table to help lift themselves off their chair they might be able to seesaw the table???
Not trying to urinate in your cheerios BTW. Maybe it's just the camera angle?

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

 

[royce]

Wow! That is a great looking table. One thing, the leg placement looks too centered?? Like if someone used the end of the table to help lift themselves off their chair they might be able to seesaw the table???
Not trying to urinate in your cheerios BTW. Maybe it's just the camera angle?

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

Thanks Hchrist,
The two things that drove the spread between the legs were seat placement and COG.
I messed with it before committing and it feels secure to me.
It takes around 150# to teeter it.
I think the camera makes it look tippy.

Royce

 

[Hchrist]

150# seems more than safe to me. Very nice project being done well. I'm looking forward to seeing it done.

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

 

[Krokodil]

Wow, looks great so far!

 

[tarbellb]

Crazy impressive. Doing that dado cut for the copper to sit in I bet is a huge amount of work. Looks very well executed.

Did I miss what you are going to do for a top coat? With that copper lip all the way it is a perfect candidate for a epoxy flood coat!

Also, have you thought about adding the natural greenish/blue patina to the copper? I am total fanatic of that look. Its easy to accelerate the process, and then clear coat it.

Just thoughts, the clean copper looks is also a very nice touch.

Thanks for posting.

 

[royce]

150# seems more than safe to me. Very nice project being done well. I'm looking forward to seeing it done.

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

150# is just a guess, but feels like it won't up end.
Mrs Clause is chomping at the bit, too.
Thanks
Royce

 

[royce]

Wow, looks great so far!

Thanks much Krokodil

Royce

 

[royce]

Crazy impressive. Doing that dado cut for the copper to sit in I bet is a huge amount of work. Looks very well executed.

Did I miss what you are going to do for a top coat? With that copper lip all the way it is a perfect candidate for a epoxy flood coat!

Also, have you thought about adding the natural greenish/blue patina to the copper? I am total fanatic of that look. Its easy to accelerate the process, and then clear coat it.

Just thoughts, the clean copper looks is also a very nice touch.

Thanks for posting.

Tarbellb,
While the copper border would lend itself very well to epoxy, Mrs Clause has requested the finish be similar to the underside of a footstool I made a couple weeks ago.
Here is a pic of it.
I too really dig green or blue copper.
Those clocks you posted are so cool.
In the past, I've found that any patina on copper is rather fragile and won't hold up to wear, very well.
With that in mind, I was thinking of leaving the oxidation as it is now and trying to blend the brighter parts into it.
Given time, I think the areas where elbows rest on it will polish some and give an effect of oxidized in some areas and polished others.
Thank you much
Royce

 

[royce]

Now then, I came home this afternoon thinking I would start the finishing of the maple.
Mrs Clause thought it would be a good opportunity to QC her project.
She noticed 4 sets of screw holes right down the center of the top and asked what we, meaning me, was going to do about it.
I started testifying about how this was going to have a crude, rustic, tortured finish and how we, meaning me, was just going to leave them.
So, as you can see in the pics she wasn't having any of that **** and they were to get plugged.
I took the time of glue curing to get the feet milled to dimension.
Now need to treat the edges and bore for bolts.

Royce

 

[Hchrist]

You'll be pissed when Mrs clause covers your (our?) extra work with a table cloth[emoji15].
This is the, "steam punk" style right??? What ever it is, it is outstanding.
And to think about how proud I was when I "repurposed" a broom handle. I glued a couple of 8" 2X4 pieces in a cross with a lap joint, drilled a hole in the middle and stuck a short section of the broom handle into the middle and made a stand for spare rolls of crappin wrappin[emoji12]. Just kidding. I saw this idea on Pintrest. Just kidding again, I can't stand pintrest. This gives me an idea! How about a stand like that coated with "Chalk paint"? He he[emoji16].

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

 

[j p smith]

Royce what an awesome table!