Bowling Lanes

The first 15 feet of the bowling lane gets replaced after so many years of use because of all the abuse it takes. They either replace it with another maple section or a new composite material. The sections that are torn out are either thrown in the trash or in our case loaded onto a truck and sent to California. You see my good buddy Al had seen in IN STYLE magazine that Allyssa Silverstone had bought a dining room table made of a recycled bowling lane from Big Daddy's Antiques (who sells at the Rose Bowl swap meet). And paid $4200 for this table, but the legs on the table looked cheesy. We could build some really cool legs and build them into dining room tables, sell them for half that and it would still be a win win. If I was willing to let him store them in my yard he would pay to have them shipped out here. And so we did.

An 18 wheeler arrived at my house the day before Thanksgiving 2007 with 64 sections 14 feet long. We rented a forklift but found that my gate was 12 feet wide and the lanes were 13 feet long. We stacked all the lanes on the driveway so the long haul driver could get back on the road. My 16 foot flatbed trailer was brought out and we loaded 6 lanes at a time onto the trailer, backed it up into the yard, drove in the forklift, unloaded the lanes and re stacked them on a concrete slab. 1x3 was placed in between each of the lanes for air circulation. It took us all day to accomplish the task.

Al came by one day and cut 3 lanes to use for a deck on the back of his house. But then just got busy with work, as I think we all seem to do. And thus the lanes sat....and sat....

Each time I called, he had too many pokers in the fire.

What to do???

Come the following November 2008 I called him up and said this Thanksgiving will be the 1 year anniversary to this project. And we've done nothing. And now I want to get it out of my yard. He had spent $8000 to purchase and ship them to California. Sending them to the dump would mean loading them into a big roll off can...big money, paying the dump fee, even bigger money. Each lane weighs approx. 500 lbs.

Why not try and sell them on Craigslist, I thought.

With everyone going green and digging the retro theme, it's gotta be a win win.

recycled bowling lanes, 42"wide, 14 ft long, 2 1/2" thick, some with arrows and dots $150

Dan arrived one evening after work, he wanted them for a bar top in an art gallery. But if I buy one as a sample my partner will most likely come back and buy the whole lot of them. 60 sections... Wow, that would be great.

Dan brought a skil saw and cut the lane down the center so He could load it into his big van properly. As I slid the last of the piece in through the back door I closed the door and heard a two chirp sound. I hope we didn't just lock your keys inside, I said. We did. As your girlfriend is driving up a tow truck with yellow flashing lights is out front, guys with flash lights in the backyard, takes some explaining.

The next guy had called me weeks prior when I was trying to sell them for $300 but his wife was having a baby and we was unable to come by. Understandable.

When he did come over I had lowered the price to $150 and he was stoked. He was looking to use a large section for a kitchen island in an old home he was building and use the fall off for the mud room.

Curtis is looking to build some tool benches for his motorcycle shop in Hollywood. They specialize in old Triumphs as all the old guys in the business are dying off now. We are looking to carry on the work these old guys were doing. But when the lanes they had chosen were not quite long enough they offered, how about $200 for 2. I said how about you meet me half way at $250? Ok...and the deal was set. But cutting them was a different matter, a nail or two was hit and dulled the blade. One guy said, we need a big chainsaw. So as a joke I walked out to the garage and grabbed my Stihl 066 with the 36" bar on it. Will this work? I asked.

Wow that thing is huge, they said. Instead we used my new Porter Cable circular saw, christmas present, ruined that blade too.

Herb arrived with his 2 sons but when he saw the wood needed to be sanded and refinished, he passed.

Scott & Christy drove up from Marina Del Rey, looking use several for a kitchen counter top. But then decided not to one thay saw how heavy they were and just go with one for a front porch. They hope to come back and buy more.

Ron and his partner (business partner not love partner) build custom guitars and have a 2 year waiting lsit. The loved the maple wood and knew thwy could build some really cool work tables out of them. wwwthornsguitar.com

They had some trouble cutting them in half but they had a great sense of humor and it made it all worth it.

Sold 2 more lanes to a physics teacher and his son from Phelan near Mt. High. They just grabbed two lanes right off the top of the pile, dropped the tailgate on the Ford F350, strapped them in, nailed on a red flag and off they went.

Will from Hollywood was picking up a matteras for another friend when He stopped by to buy 2 lanes. I know that feeling I have had several pick up trucks over the years and always seem to get sked to help friends out. He also droped the tailgate down, slid 2 lanes in and drove off.

Paul came by with a mid size Checvy truck and wanted 3 lanes. Can we put them onto the roof rack? he asked. I thought he was crazy, but they did it. He hopes to use them on a job making cool kitchen counter tops.

Aaron from Simi Valley arrived one day after work, his young son in tow. He had rented a U-haul trailer for 1 lane, but the one he grabbed seemed to be seperating slightly, so I offered him a second piece for free. @ for the price of 1, I said. We managed to slide the 2 of them into the trailer at an angle and all was good.

Al called... Go ahead and sell the lanes for what ever you can, and keep the money. Or we can run free ad and the people coming over can load them all. We wont need to rent a forklift and pay any dump fee's.

I dropped the price to $100 per section and lanes sold like hot cakes.

John B 2/12/09

Wants to buy 10, but he wants the ones on the bottom as they appear the flattest. But also wants a forklift to do so. He decided to just get 1 for now and try it out, I gave him 2 for the price of 1.

Jeff J 2/13/09

stopped by and do a look over. Can I pay you now for 3 lanes ? I will then have a truck come by next week to pick them up. I was like; sure. Who does that in today's world. Pays someone with cash, no reciept, no invoice, just all trust.

2/14/09

Jeff called and asked if he could send a check for an additional 7, could I hold them too until his truck arrived, sure I said.

2/19/09

Loading 10 lanes with 4 guys was next to impossible. I won't do that again.

The truck he sent over was too big to pull into the backyard. Jeff didnt come either, he sent 2 guys over instead. After carrying 3 lanes across the yard, I was DONE. So we loaded them onto my big flatbed trailer, 3 at a time. Drove next door to the CVS parking lot and transfered them into the big box truck. But even still, loading them was just as difficult. Saul used the hydraulic lift gate to slowly scoot them into the truck one at a time.

2/20/09

Brett; a pilot form Port Huneme drove out to get one, this will make a great work bench.

2/26/09

Roger W from Blackjack Ranch Winery picked up 3 lanes. He told me that when the Santa Barbara bowling lane closed he bought up all the old lanes and made some great bar tops with them. But Roger forgot to bring his tye down straps, luckily Stock Lumber is just down the street.

2/26/09

Pat picked up 1 lane, he brought over a truck from Santa Clarita Studios and a whole crew of guys. Maybe I can get him to take all of the fall off pieces.

2/28/09

David T and his wife drove all the way out from Ridgecrest with a rented trailer and bought 4.

Dan was right behind him and bought 2.

Another guy showed up and offered to buy up the rest of them; 16 total, including 2 warped ones plus delivery for 1400 as a package deal. Sure I said. But after he went home and told his partner of the great idea, ( his love partner not business partner) he called and canceled.

3/8/09

Scott & Berkley

Looking to build some cool stair treads amd landing for a house they bought in Thousand Oaks. Just wait till he tries and make all those cuts.

3/14/09

Eric and his girlfriend came by this morning in an old 1971 chevy pick up truck also from Craigslist. We managed to slowly slide 1 lane right into the back of his truck.

4/8/09

The last of the pile looks a little worked, lets put in a free ad and jst get rid of them.

50 e mails later that evening, some I just deleted, others I sent a reply. This Saturday at 10, come over, first come first served. The next night another 40 emails. People must love free.

Al wanted 2 for himself and the rest can just go away.

Jo Ann was fearful that some 90 people would show up on our door step looking for the freebie. But it worked out just perfect.