Okay, so the other day, I had this kinda weird idea. I wanted to see if I could make a volleyball that wouldn’t totally fall apart after a few hits. I’ve seen those cheap ones explode, and it’s always a bummer. So, I thought, “What if I used…wood?” Yeah, I know, sounds crazy, but stick with me.

The Great Experiment

First, I grabbed some scrap plywood I had lying around in the garage. It wasn’t super thick, maybe like a quarter-inch? I figured thinner would be better for shaping. Then, I remembered I had some old timber pieces from a tree that fell in the yard last year. These were way thicker, like an inch or two. I thought these could be the “ribs” of my wooden volleyball.

• Step 1: Cutting the Plywood

I used a jigsaw (which, I admit, I’m not super great with) to cut out some kinda curved shapes from the plywood. Imagine orange peels, but bigger and flatter. It wasn’t perfect, but I figured it didn’t need to be. I ended up with six of these.

• Step 2: Shaping the Timber

This was trickier. I used a saw to cut the timber into strips. I ended making like curved pieces. My idea make it more easier to bend. Took some time and a lot of sawdust.

• Step 3: Gluing and Hoping

I started gluing the plywood “peels” to the timber “ribs.” Lots of wood glue, lots of clamps, and lots of hoping it would actually hold. I left it overnight to dry. It looked…interesting. Like a weird wooden pumpkin, maybe?

• Step 4: The “Rubber” Part

Here’s where the rubber came in. I didn’t actually use a real volleyball’s rubber. Instead, I found some of that thick, rubbery shelf liner stuff – you know, the kind you put in drawers to keep things from sliding around? I cut it into strips and glued it over the whole wooden mess. It was messy, and the rubber stuff didn’t want to stick super well, but I got it on there eventually.

The Results

Okay, so the final product…it wasn’t pretty. It looked like a lumpy, rubber-covered wooden ball. But, it was SOLID. I bounced it a few times, and it didn’t break! It definitely didn’t feel like a volleyball – way too hard, obviously – but it held together.

Would I recommend trying this? Probably not. It was a fun little experiment, but definitely not practical. I learned a lot about working with wood and glue, though, and it’s always good to try something new, even if it’s a little bit crazy. I mean, a wooden volleyball? Who even thinks of that? Well, I guess I do now!