[decoycarve]

Anyone who has tried to get the outer casing off of Golf Balls probably knows how hard and dangerous it is. Heres how I have been doing it. Get an 1 1/2" copper pipe sweat fitting coupling. Cut a round piece of wood and insert it about half way into the copper coupling. If you have a wood Lathe you can screw it to a back plate. Press the Golf Ball into the fitting and bring the tailstop up to the other side. Use a parting tool or sharpen a nail as a tool. Set your steady rest at center of the Golf Ball. Spin the ball and cutt thru the outer casing. If you have a machinist lathe just chuck up the coupling and use a small cutoff tool to split the case. Clean and safe! If any one needs some done let me know its real easy and quick on the machinist lathe.
Goody

[MelNM]

Good idea Goody, if you don't have a lathe, another way is to get a PVC cutter, I have found it is lot safer quicker and it leaves no jagged edges, you can buy them at stores like Home Depot and Lowes.

[Just Carving]

I just cut two the other night using a coping saw with a 15 TPI blade. The first went easy until I went to pry the casing off and the ball split clean in half--it was a Wilson. A buddy told me they use a lot of adhesive on the Wilsons. The second was more successful--a cheapy. I cut it and pried the casing off. Then I carved a face in it. It wasn't too bad to carve in. I like basswood better though. The smell of the material--reminded me of floor tile adhesive--got to me--runny nose, headache, nausea, etc. I had to walk away every so often. So, that might have been my first and last golf ball carving.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I just use the coping saw too, put the ball in my bench vise and cut thru the cover then pry it off, goes pretty fast after you do a couple...