Never mind. I checked my BB again and found more loose pennies and started poking. I'm now fairly certain it was not going to work and have peeled all the pennies off -- didn't take long, did it? LOL

I can't find the stuff to lean the residue off with, so one more trip to the store and I hope to finally be goin on this "easy" project. Holy Mole.

I would have used Plumber's Goop. It does a great job of attaching copper to glass and copper to plastic, so I would think it would do a good job of pennies to a bowling ball.

When you say you cleaned it well, did you get the wax off? Soap and water doesn't usually get all the wax. The best way to get the wax off is by using rubbing alcohol or a 50/50 mixture of water/vinegar....the wax could be the reason you are having trouble with so many adhesives.

Hope you have better luck in the future.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Bowling Balls

Only one adhesive that was good disn't work and that one has apparently had mixed results wth other folks -- the liquid nails. The GEII I had was bad - it didn't set at all. A day later, the pennies still slid around and when I put some of the GEII on a piece of test ceramic tile and just left some on a piece of wood to air dry, neither one dried there either -- so at least that one wasn't due to wax. I did see plumber's goop for the first time at HD today -- I didn't know anything about it. I'll look into that as well. I have 5 balls to work on.

I still have to get the residue from the liquid nails off before I can get going again. I may not get to do that until the weekend.

I admire your determination. It will be worth it in the end! ~: )

I originally started my bowling balls using liquid nails and after two winters everything came off, except for the liquid nails...still stuck to the ball and I haven't figured out how to remove it so I can reuse the ball.

I have since switched to the GEII with much better success. I have had one tube out of a dozen that was no good. I buy the large tubes that you use with a caulking gun. Less stress on the hands and carpal tunnel, if you have it. I would definitely take the no good tube back and exchange it for a new one. Another good thing about the GEII is that it dries clear, unlike the Liquid Nails and maybe other stuff too, where if any squishes out, you will see it and it is difficult to remove. With the GEII you can use an exacto knife to cut away the excess around the pennies.

I bought mineral spirits to clean the ball. The tube says to use liquid nails remover or mineral spirits. I haven't cleaned the ball yet, but I poured some over the penies in a can and the dried stuff is softening up and seems to be coming off. When I'm reay to glove up and go clean the ball, I'll scrap them too. Sounds like a good time to retire a toothbrush.

I think I like the 2 layers of pennies and decided after I started that I would like to try one with the bottom layer tails up and the top layer heads up. Has that ball been outdoors? I can't decide whether I like the bright copper or the verde patina better. I may need more BBs!

The GEII holds the pennies to the first layer of penies as well? The liquid nails would definitely hold the pennies together (can't budge the two I tested, no how, no way) and what I got is clear. We have band UIL cotests this afternoon and tonight until 11 or so, and I got a whole 4 hours of sleep last night. A sane person would go take a nap now that the kids are at school, but I really want to get a start on this BB, and I need to do laundry, and there's this puppy we found on the street I have to keep an eye on. Yeah, a sane person might not have been so easily suckered.

Lovesrocks
That is the best looking BB I've seen! Love the look of the pennies.

No, the ball hasn't been outside yet. I polished it up real good with some copper cleaner and I think I want to seal it up first. Pennies aren't pure copper, so unfortunately they don't verdigris as nice as pure copper. The ones I have seen only have a bit of green and then mostly brown-grayish. I think the sun on the shiny pennies will be pretty cool. Just my opinion though.

I did 2 layers of pennies because I didn't like the ball showing throw in the tiny gaps between the pennies. There is actually more than 2 layers, once I got started, I decided I liked the look of it being uneven all over. I did not have any trouble with the GEII holding the 2nd layer of pennies to the first at all.

Thanks for the info on the mineral spirits on the L.N. I may have to try it on the old ball and see if it will loosen it enough to scrap it off. I hate to have that ball go to waste!

Thanks for the additional information. I'm also torn between grouting the one I'm donating and doing 2 layers ungrouted. I figure that if I make it shiny, someone else can always decide to let it got verdi (I saw a photo of one that had sprayed with a solution of Peterson's plant food and let sit 2 weeks indoors -- it had a lot of green and was pretty too).

While I'm here, I'll tell you that I discovered what seems like an easier way to shine up pennies. I put them in a bowl with Barkeeper's Friend and hot water and let them sit -- swishing them around now & then. The ones that arent' too dark will shine up quickly, The darkest and oldest ones may take longer. I had a few that required some individual attention, but I was able to do 2-3 rolls of pennies at a time. I used a mesh colander to drain and rinse them, dumped out on a towel and dried with another one on top.

Running late for a band event at the school....I'll probably try cleaning the ball tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Just a report back on my clean up efforts. I put the glued penies in a can pulled from the recycling bin and poured just enough mineral spirits to cover them. I swirled them a few times and finally took them out and washed them in hot soapy water and rinsed. I only had one or two that had anything still stuck to them, and that came right off when I wiped it with my finger. The two pennies that had been so solidy stuck together required me to use my fingernail to pry them apart, then the glue peeled off.

Bepfre I washed the pennies, I took a rag and dipped it in the mineral spirits they were soaking in. I rubbed the glu spots on the ball. SOme of them wiped right off. The others softened up and scraped off with a razor blade. Then I wiped it off some more to make sure I got any residue. It all went much better than I had feared. Now on to regluing.