Bowling Balls

[JBCustomPens]

Hi everyone,

What specifically are bowling balls made from, mostly the majority? Thanks.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

The outer shell of the bowling ball can be constructed with a variety of materials such as rubber, polyester, and urethane. Most are a combination.

 

[nava1uni]

You should talk with Bruce 119. He makes blanks out of recycled bowling balls. they make cool pens and other things.

 

[Paul in OKC]

Just [icked up a dark green swirly one at an estate sale for a buck last week. Haven't cut it yet to try to straighten, but......I have gotten one ball that did not straighten well, cracked too much to use.

 

[JohnU]

I had the same problem Paul. I tried to bend them to quickly and broke them. I have some very very old ones I think are ebonite but I havent cut them yet. I hate that part. lol

 

[bruce119]

They are he!! on a saw I destroyed 3 saws that summer I made those blanks. It is a LOT of work chopping up bowling balls. And they are all different I swear some of them the core is made with a mix of concrete and iron. I had sparks flying when I cut them. Some straighten when heated most cracked leading to the reason for chopping them in small pieces and casting them. But as I said toooooo much work.

Good Luck

 

[Paul in OKC]

I am fortunate to hae access to a large horizontal cut off saw at work, and recently aquired a 7x12 horizontal metal cutting saw at home. I don't cut right through tthe center, just a little off, holding the ball between boards with a spacer at the back side of the jaw. Works great =8^). I will probably heat these up a little longer just see if that helps.

 

[workinforwood]

Good thing you don't cut through the center Paul, because some of the bowling balls have a ceramic ball inside the core which is slighly off center to make the ball turn as it rolls. You cut into that and even a metal blade will be toast in seconds. Some of them are definitely like concrete inside. The amount of dust created alone is not worth it. If you have a new ball, the skin is real thin. If you can find the really old balls from back early 80's and older, they have thicker skins, thick enough that you can actually cut blanks and I even had one where I scored a couple big enough for bottle stoppers. The skin material is certainly similar to a urethane resin. I don't know exactly what it is. When I cut the new alumilite CC it smells just like the outer shell of a bowling ball.

 

[Paul in OKC]

Yep, I have passed over some balls due to the thickness.

 

[workinforwood]

Yep, I have passed over some balls due to the thickness.

:tongue::biggrin: