Bowling Alley Shafts???
- Thread starter pletho
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bowling alley
Only thing i can think of is it's probably very old,,,and reliable. The rest of the quality still has to fall into the shaft quality for you to be able to use it. May not have a high yield of good shaftwood out of it..
Bill
Only thing i can think of is it's probably very old,,,and reliable. The rest of the quality still has to fall into the shaft quality for you to be able to use it. May not have a high yield of good shaftwood out of it..
Bill
It's just wood. I have a few pallet loads of unused bowling alley maple from Brunswick, about 60 years old. Picked it up from an old guy who used to work for Brunswick building & maintaining bowling alleys. The yield of usable wood is about the same as any other source, a few good ones to a lot of not good ones. When I use them in the cues, I don't mention where they came from because they aren't special or any different. Bowling alley wood is great for bowling alleys, and is cut & milled & shaped for the lanes. But for cues, only some of it is good. Wood cut & milled for cues is better for cues.
For cues, I'd rather have 1"x1" shaft squares cut from quarter sawn lumber that was milled parallel to grain, dried past 6% & then properly stress relieved. With bowling alley wood, you really have no idea how old it is, how it was dried, whether or not it was stress relieved, etc. The stuff I have was not stress relieved. But most bowling alley wood is used, meaning it has been glued, clamped, & nailed together to hold it straight & flat. Once all that is removed, the wood will eventually find it's happy place & that is rarely straight. Don't get me wrong, bowling alley maple CAN be good shafts. But it's not a big yield & it's nothing special over normal maple you'd get from the lumber yard. I'd suggest doing some research on maple & any lumber in general and learn a little bit about it. Understanding the material will give you a much better idea about how to pick wood for your cues. There's nothing mystical about it. The old bowling alley wood is just a cool story to attach to the wood, and some folks might believe it adds some kind of significance or playability characteristics. Simply not the case. Once you cut it & turn it, it's brand new again.
For cues, I'd rather have 1"x1" shaft squares cut from quarter sawn lumber that was milled parallel to grain, dried past 6% & then properly stress relieved. With bowling alley wood, you really have no idea how old it is, how it was dried, whether or not it was stress relieved, etc. The stuff I have was not stress relieved. But most bowling alley wood is used, meaning it has been glued, clamped, & nailed together to hold it straight & flat. Once all that is removed, the wood will eventually find it's happy place & that is rarely straight. Don't get me wrong, bowling alley maple CAN be good shafts. But it's not a big yield & it's nothing special over normal maple you'd get from the lumber yard. I'd suggest doing some research on maple & any lumber in general and learn a little bit about it. Understanding the material will give you a much better idea about how to pick wood for your cues. There's nothing mystical about it. The old bowling alley wood is just a cool story to attach to the wood, and some folks might believe it adds some kind of significance or playability characteristics. Simply not the case. Once you cut it & turn it, it's brand new again.
SPOT ON qbilder.......just another URBAN MYTH......if you think BRUNSWICK used nothing but the shittiest maple for their bowling alley you are living in YA-YA LAND. :groucho:
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This is an excellent post and i'd like to thank you for clarifying what the term "bowling alley" wood means.
James
That's a very interesting post qbilder.
I would have thought it better, the logic being that after 60 years of aging in who knows what environment all the wood that was straight and nicely grained for a shaft would unquestionably make a great shaft, even if it is a low yield.
I don't really know that much about wood, and it's nice to have someone cut through the marketing.
I wonder what your thoughts are about lakewood?
I would have thought it better, the logic being that after 60 years of aging in who knows what environment all the wood that was straight and nicely grained for a shaft would unquestionably make a great shaft, even if it is a low yield.
I don't really know that much about wood, and it's nice to have someone cut through the marketing.
I wonder what your thoughts are about lakewood?
This mysticism is why I recommend folks take the time to learn about wood as a material, without cue related folklore tainting their opinions. The way wood works is a pretty well documented science, even taught in universities. But you can buy some books or read some online articles about it & get a solid understanding of it.
Some bowling alley pieces will make awesome shafts. But not because of age or the fact that they were in a bowling alley. They make great shafts just because you found a good piece of wood. That's all. The quality of the wood begins with the tree's genetics and growing conditions, then how it was milled, then how it was dried. There's no such thing as "seasoning". It's either dry or not. It either has internal stress or it does not. Time is not actually a factor. When we hang wood for long periods, it's not "seasoning" anything. It's waiting to see if there is some internal stress that will cause distortion, warp. If it does, we make a thin cut & hang again, hoping the stress is gone. The only thing time has to do with it is how long it takes the stress to overcome the strength of the wood and move it. A lot of stress will move it quick. A little stress might take a while. Stress can be accentuated by climate, too. Dry vs. humid, hot vs. cold, etc. It's a science, not a magic show. Learning it will inevitably make your cues better because you'll know how to choose it, and know how to work it, and even better you'll know whether to use it or not.
As for submerged timbers, I am not totally aware of the differences. Supposedly there is a cellular difference. I do know that the ones I have tried vary greatly from piece to piece, not unlike normal wood. But that's as much as I can comment.
If the bolwing alley was built in the early 1900's out of first harvest logs, that'd be good to look at.
Very interesting.
I was under the impression that it was implied that the wood was "old", in other words tended to be from older growth forests, and hence was more likely to have a higher ring count than more recent woods.
I was under the same impression about the lake woods. I learned about that before I was interested in cue woods. From what I understand the "special" thing about it is that it is old growth wood, likely to have higher ring counts etc.
I never thought anything more of it than the suggestion that these might be potential sources of old growth wood.
Very interesting thread.
I was under the impression that it was implied that the wood was "old", in other words tended to be from older growth forests, and hence was more likely to have a higher ring count than more recent woods.
I was under the same impression about the lake woods. I learned about that before I was interested in cue woods. From what I understand the "special" thing about it is that it is old growth wood, likely to have higher ring counts etc.
I never thought anything more of it than the suggestion that these might be potential sources of old growth wood.
Very interesting thread.
I have cut trees from virgin forests that had less than 10gpi, and have cut trees from regenerated forests with tight grain. That's not the rule, but it happens. Something I have noticed when cutting trees is that the larger, more massive trees in the forest have the widest grain, fastest growth. The smaller trees tend to have the tightest grain. In maple, particularly, I have all but almost quit cutting trees over 18-20" diameter in the deep forests because that is the point at which they poke through the canopy & once that happens, rapid growth comes with it. You can see the core of the cut face with very tight grain, and very easily see exactly the age where the tree found sunlight because the rings immediately become much wider. Through experience I learned that 18-20" diameter seems to be about the size where the height is beginning to reach sun.
With older forests, all of the trees are bigger, therefore pushing the canopy higher. With a higher canopy, a tree must grow longer & larger to reach the top, meaning way back when, a 30" tree might have tight grain all the way across. So yeah, the lake wood shafts 'might' have a better chance of having tight grain, but it's not a sure thing. It still all depends on the particular tree it came from. I recently was informed of a giant old growth maple coming down in a winter storm. It's a virgin forest & the tree was growing on the NE side of the hill, a very steep slope. I know the tree well, have been watching it for several years, wondering what it must look like inside. I will take pics when I cut it. I suspect it will have 10-12 gpi in the butt log, which will progressively get tighter grained towards the top logs. The top log might have closer to 30gpi, depending on taper. Or I might (hopefully) be surprised & it have 30gpi at the base. Will post pics when it's cut.
With older forests, all of the trees are bigger, therefore pushing the canopy higher. With a higher canopy, a tree must grow longer & larger to reach the top, meaning way back when, a 30" tree might have tight grain all the way across. So yeah, the lake wood shafts 'might' have a better chance of having tight grain, but it's not a sure thing. It still all depends on the particular tree it came from. I recently was informed of a giant old growth maple coming down in a winter storm. It's a virgin forest & the tree was growing on the NE side of the hill, a very steep slope. I know the tree well, have been watching it for several years, wondering what it must look like inside. I will take pics when I cut it. I suspect it will have 10-12 gpi in the butt log, which will progressively get tighter grained towards the top logs. The top log might have closer to 30gpi, depending on taper. Or I might (hopefully) be surprised & it have 30gpi at the base. Will post pics when it's cut.
It was my understanding that while submerged, the oxygen that is within the wood leaches out and is then replaced with mineral deposits....allegedly making the wood more stable....hence the funky brown coloring.
I can not attest if this is truly fact, or just great hype....maybe a little of the two mixed together.
I do know that there is a love/hate relationship with many concerning the lake submerged woods...some love them, others think they play dead. I would have to agree tho, that in the end, it's still just wood, and it's going to do what it likes despite what we might do to attempt to tame it.Great thread btw!
I have enough pallets for about 2000 or 3000 shafts, not sure yet.
Most of the bowling alley is very clean and it came from Canada. In some boards it says Canadian Maple, made in Canada.
I have the lake Michigan maple squares, as well some standard squares from various sources to compare.
I like the hit of the bowling alley better and the weight I get out of those squares as well.
On the first batch I sold I learned quite a bit from it. Sent out stuff that I thought it was good and after a few lessons learned, on this second batch I sold, I probably threw away at least 40% of the wood.
I have squares that not even with a magnifying lens you can count the growth rings... That does not matter, because the squares I like the best are between 12/20gpi. They are more stable, don't warp.
I have turned quite a few AAA and they are turning out good, no warpage so far.
Most of the wood I have here is from 1948, well aged but like Eric said it might move. Just because it is old does not guarantee a warp free maple square.
Good thread! Always learning from you folks
Most of the bowling alley is very clean and it came from Canada. In some boards it says Canadian Maple, made in Canada.
I have the lake Michigan maple squares, as well some standard squares from various sources to compare.
I like the hit of the bowling alley better and the weight I get out of those squares as well.
On the first batch I sold I learned quite a bit from it. Sent out stuff that I thought it was good and after a few lessons learned, on this second batch I sold, I probably threw away at least 40% of the wood.
I have squares that not even with a magnifying lens you can count the growth rings... That does not matter, because the squares I like the best are between 12/20gpi. They are more stable, don't warp.
I have turned quite a few AAA and they are turning out good, no warpage so far.
Most of the wood I have here is from 1948, well aged but like Eric said it might move. Just because it is old does not guarantee a warp free maple square.
Good thread! Always learning from you folks
MAN 'O MAN !! AZ'ers are great. So much knowledge and good information.
This is a great thread and should be read by anyone interested in cues.
Kudos to qbilder for taking me and lots of others to school on this subject. Thanks. :thumbup:
This is a great thread and should be read by anyone interested in cues.
Kudos to qbilder for taking me and lots of others to school on this subject. Thanks. :thumbup: