Surface questions

[boatman37]

So my Hammer Black Widow Gold still has the OOB finish. I clean it after each league night. The lanes have been very oily this summer. I have been throwing straight down the first arrow and it turns in near the end of the lane but if I miss to the outside just a little it won't come back. If I try going inside I can hit the pocket but not getting any carry. Maybe try something that reads the lanes a little earlier? Later? More backend? What would I try as far as finishes?

[bowl1820]

So my Hammer Black Widow Gold still has the OOB finish. I clean it after each league night.
If by that you mean you've never had the surface refreshed (sanded and/or polished in anyway) since you got it, then no it doesn't have the OOB still on it. The surface changes a little bit everytime you roll the ball down the lane. Plus Playing down first arrow all the time you would be in a much dryer part of the lane and the surface would change even faster.


The lanes have been very oily this summer. I have been throwing straight down the first arrow and it turns in near the end of the lane but if I miss to the outside just a little it won't come back. If I try going inside I can hit the pocket but not getting any carry. Maybe try something that reads the lanes a little earlier? Later? More backend? What would I try as far as finishes?

The HBWG had a OOB of 500/1000 Abralon Polished w/ Powerhouse Factory Finish Polish. You could start there have the ball surface freshened up and see what kind of reaction you get, If you wanted the ball earlier then just don't add the polish and see what happens and go from there.

[boatman37]

It was resurfaced once but after about 15-20 games because we thought there was a crack in it. Turned out it was a scratch. I probably have about 75-100 games on it now. I did notice if I wiped it down before my shot it would react a little stronger. I normally don't wipe it down. Seems like if I throw the 2nd arrow the ball has too straight of a line and doesn't get the carry it should. If I throw 1st arrow it comes in harder down lane so I have more of an angle when it hits.

I have a used Storm Sync that I got from another lefty that isn't drilled for me and it has more backend than my BWG. I don't think I need more length as it stays about on the 5 board most of the way down lane but to get it to hit the pocket I am standing really far left so it is almost angling the ball in now.

Maybe I will try resurfacing back to OOB. It did seem to work better back then.

Geeezzzz this is different than 15 years ago. Back then you bought a ball and used it every shot for 10 years....lol.

[Stormed1]

With that number of games I would also get it deoiled

[JerseyJim]

I'm not sure what type of maintenance you do to your balls. Do you clean them with a decent ball cleaner after every set? That does make a difference as well.

[boatman37]

I'm not sure what type of maintenance you do to your balls. Do you clean them with a decent ball cleaner after every set? That does make a difference as well.

I clean them at the end of every night. Can't remember the cleaner I use but got it from the PSO.

[Amyers]

Cleaning is good it needs to be done but it won't keep a ball from needing de oiled or resurfaced. everything wears. It's also possible that your bowling a longer or heavier pattern now.

[ALazySavage]

Agree with the board about the surface changing every time you throw the ball as well as the maintenance practices. My question is do you currently have the same arsenal that is listed in your signature? I say this because if your arsenal consists of two polished balls you may want to play around with the surface preparation of the BW Gold after you finish the ball cleaning. I would think something like 3000 solid to start and then adjust to see if any non-polished finish fills out your arsenal better (allowing the ball to read earlier with heavy oil and not be as skid/flip). The beauty is if you don't like the reaction you can always bring it back to a polish after.

[boatman37]

Agree with the board about the surface changing every time you throw the ball as well as the maintenance practices. My question is do you currently have the same arsenal that is listed in your signature? I say this because if your arsenal consists of two polished balls you may want to play around with the surface preparation of the BW Gold after you finish the ball cleaning. I would think something like 3000 solid to start and then adjust to see if any non-polished finish fills out your arsenal better (allowing the ball to read earlier with heavy oil and not be as skid/flip). The beauty is if you don't like the reaction you can always bring it back to a polish after.

There does seem to be more oil now than the winter league. I have a visible oil track after each ball that I never had before. No matter how hard I looked I couldn't see oil. Now I am wiping it off. I do throw way too hard too (about 1.5-2 MPH faster than most others in our league. The board shows about 17.5-18.5MPH at the pins).

So yeah, still the same 2 balls listed but rarely ever use the Brunswick. I get almost no hook at all from it. This week is my week to sit out but I still go down with my pom-poms to cheer my team (not literally...lol). Maybe I will take my BWG and drop it off to have it resurfaced and if they have a de-oiler have him do that too. Or maybe I just order my own pads and polish? I don't have a spinner so it would be manual labor...lol.

I have a Storm Sync that hooks alot more on the backend but it is 16lbs (my others are 15lbs) and it isn't drilled for me. Maybe I will see what he has on the shelf that might read earlier. A guy from our league was killed last weekend in a motorcylce accident so they are raffling off a ball tomorrow night. I bought a ticket so who knows.

[boatman37]

So talked to the PSO and found that the Storm Sync was in too bad of shape to bother redrilling and as we talked he told me he had an undrilled Brunswick Kingpin he had bought for himself but went a different direction so he made me a good deal on that. Should have it drilled and ready to use tomorrow night so we will see how it goes. I still plan to experiment with the BWG surface changes but it does have a few good nicks in it so figured it was time for a new one anyway.