Man, you won’t believe the week I had figuring out this basketball pad idea. It started simple – wanna bang out some hoops in the driveway without wrecking my decent pavement, right? Figured some wood planks tossed down could work like those store-bought pads you see, but way cheaper. Sounded smart at the time.
The Big Mistake Starting Out
Looked online real quick. Saw folks mostly using pine or cedar. Nah, thought I. Too soft. Wanted something tough. Remembered that stack of thick beech timber chunks left behind when old Mr. Henderson’s workshop cleared out last spring – been sitting under that leaky lean-to for months now. Looks rock solid. Perfect!
So I dragged those heavy suckers out. Major mistake number one. Beech? Yeah, tough. Also crazy dense and heavy as heck. Each piece felt like lifting a small car.
Grinding Away (Literally)
Decided they needed a flat surface, obviously. Dragged out my ancient belt sander. Spent half a Saturday just wrestling with the first piece, trying to get it even remotely flat. Dust everywhere. Like, coating everything within 20 feet.
Problems popping up fast:
- The timber had soaked up rain unevenly sitting out there, kept warping slightly.
- My belt sander felt like it was gonna shake itself apart.
- Sanding such hard wood took forever and clogged the sandpaper instantly.
Shoulda quit right then. Stubborn streak kicked in hard.
Cutting It Down to Size
Wanted rectangles, like a proper pad shape. Hauled the pieces to my shaky sawhorse setup. Grabbed the circular saw. Major mistake number two. Setting the depth for such thick timber felt sketchy. First cut, the saw blade screamed. Smelled burning wood instantly. Beech’s density just murdered my blade and jammed the saw motor something fierce. Barely got halfway through one piece.
Swore a lot. Went rummaging for my rusty old hand saw. Took about an hour of sweating, straining, and sawing crookedly to get through one plank. Arm felt like jelly.
The Patchwork “Pad”
After way too much sweat, cussing, and near misses with power tools, I had maybe four vaguely flat, sorta rectangular pieces. They weren’t the same size, edges were rough as sandpaper, and they weighed a ton each. Tossed them on the pavement near the hoop anyway. Barely fit together.
Grabbed the ball.
- First bounce: Thud. Like hitting concrete.
- Second bounce: Went sideways off the uneven wood joints.
- Third bounce: Rolled right off a rough edge onto the pavement.
Utter fail. Worse than just shooting on the plain concrete. The ball felt dead. Wobbled everywhere. And trying to scoot those heavy planks around? Forget it.
What Actually Happened
Learned the hard way why nobody uses beech timber for this junk:
- Too dense = kills tools, terrible bounce.
- Too heavy = impossible to move easily.
- Too stubborn to work with basic gear.
All that work, mess, dust, and frustration for a result that was actively worse than doing nothing. Ended up shoving the beech chunks back under the leaky lean-to. Maybe someday they’ll be firewood. Store-bought pads exist for a reason, and “beach timber” ain’t it. Lesson thoroughly (and painfully) learned.
