resurfaced my arsenal

[boatman37]

Picked up 2 new CTD pads from a fellow bowler the other day. He buys in bulk then sells them to whoever wants one...lol. So now have a 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, and 5000D (which he said is 4000 if used dry). So anyway hit the Kingpin with the 2000 and it looks alot like it did the day I bought it. Hit the Black Widow Gold with the 3000 (hit it with the 2000 a couple months ago). And hit the Brunswick Black Rhino Pearl with the 5000d. Did all of these dry manually (no spinner). So will see Tuesday how they work out. No polish on any of them.

[RobLV1]

Don't forget that "resurfacing" includes bringing the surface up through all of the steps on a ball spinner. What you are doing is more of a touch up to the top surface. Make sure that you actually do the entire resurfacing every few months to preserve the life of the ball.

[boatman37]

Don't forget that "resurfacing" includes bringing the surface up through all of the steps on a ball spinner. What you are doing is more of a touch up to the top surface. Make sure that you actually do the entire resurfacing every few months to preserve the life of the ball.

Sounds good Rob. I bought the Kingpin around June and probably have about 75 or so games on it. I was pretty happy with how it was rolling so a 'touch up' is probably pretty good for it. The BWG I hit with the 2000 probably about 7 or 8 games ago (I don't use this ball that much but went all 3 games with it last week). When I hit it with 2000 I had to move about 2 boards to the right as it read the lanes a little earlier but had less backend. The Rhino hardly ever comes out of my bag but I hit it with the 2000 the same time I did the BWG but only threw it about 5 times. Just wanted to see how the 5000 looked and to clean it up a little but do want to try all 3 this week in warmups to see the difference.

Been thinking of making a spinner for home here. I was pretty sore after doing those 3 balls so if I need to ramp up starting with 500 then I will definitely need a spinner.

[Eddy]

Sounds good Rob. I bought the Kingpin around June and probably have about 75 or so games on it. I was pretty happy with how it was rolling so a 'touch up' is probably pretty good for it. The BWG I hit with the 2000 probably about 7 or 8 games ago (I don't use this ball that much but went all 3 games with it last week). When I hit it with 2000 I had to move about 2 boards to the right as it read the lanes a little earlier but had less backend. The Rhino hardly ever comes out of my bag but I hit it with the 2000 the same time I did the BWG but only threw it about 5 times. Just wanted to see how the 5000 looked and to clean it up a little but do want to try all 3 this week in warmups to see the difference.

Been thinking of making a spinner for home here. I was pretty sore after doing those 3 balls so if I need to ramp up starting with 500 then I will definitely need a spinner.

I bought an Innovative 1/2 horsepower spinner for about $230. Well worth every penny. I prefer highly polished balls and having a spinner is invaluable for this, considering our pro shop charges $5 a pop to get a simple shine. Doing it myself, I can get a glass-like finish. GET ONE NOW!

[boatman37]

I bought an Innovative 1/2 horsepower spinner for about $230. Well worth every penny. I prefer highly polished balls and having a spinner is invaluable for this, considering our pro shop charges $5 a pop to get a simple shine. Doing it myself, I can get a glass-like finish. GET ONE NOW!

Thanks Eddy. Will check into that. Not ready to buy one yet but hopefully next spring.

[vdubtx]

Nice, nothing better than having a nice fresh surface on your equipment. :cool:

I use a Donkee ball spinner at home. Works great and has 2 speeds. Think I may need to service it though as I think it slips when I put a bit too much pressure on the ball when polishing.

[boatman37]

So back to what Rob said about starting at 500 and working up. When I read the description for my Kingpin it states 500 and 1000 Siaair. Does that mean they start with 500 then go to 1000? The Black Widow Gold says 500/1000 Abralon polished? The Rhino says 500 polished but it is the shiniest of the 3? Or does the grit not matter when it comes to shine? Does the amount of polish dictate that?

[bowl1820]

So back to what Rob said about starting at 500 and working up. When I read the description for my Kingpin it states 500 and 1000 Siaair. Does that mean they start with 500 then go to 1000?

YES

Basically what you do to return a ball to the OOB surface is You start sanding (In this case) with a 500-grit pad and sand firmly for about 30 seconds on all four sides. Then you take a 1000-grit pad and then Sand lightly for about 5 seconds on all four sides.



The Black Widow Gold says 500/1000 Abralon polished?

This would basically be the same thing except after the 1000 grit pad you would then apply a polish.


The Rhino says 500 polished but it is the shiniest of the 3? Or does the grit not matter when it comes to shine? Does the amount of polish dictate that?

Here you would just do 500 then polish.

The grit under the polish is important, the combinations of grits and polish used are what produce the peaks and valleys on the surface that comprise the final surface texture.

Using polish can be tricky, there different ones of varying grits etc. and it takes a little practice to get your surface just the way you want.


Something to know is a true "Resurface" is where you remove all the track, nicks, gouges and surface blemishes to make a ball look like new again. That's not done that often. You don't see that kind of resurfacing done much these day, except if a ball has been damaged or a used ball plugged for resale.

What you see most often now is just refinishing, Basically refinishing is where your returning a ball too it's OOB (Out of Box) surface and/or doing minor surfaces adjustments.

Now bringing the ball "surface up through all of the steps on a ball spinner." That can mean two different things.

It use to mean starting with the lowest grit needed then going to the next highest (with that next grit not being more than double what the one before it was), then the next and so on until you reached the final grit you wanted.

Then that changed now we have specific steps you use. Like 500/1000, 500/1000/2000, 500/2000/3000 etc. etc. Plus there are steps where you skip grits like go 360/1000 or 500/2000

Just be aware of that.

here's some info that might be of interest

This is my bowlers grit chart. which show some of the different step methods
http://home.earthlink.net/~litefrozen/downloads/bowling_grit_chart_v2.pdf

[Stormed1]

From Brunswick's site on the Rhino 500 Siaair / Crown Factory Compound / Crown Factory Shine. Crown factory compound has grit in it which takes the ball to 1200-1500 depending on pressure used and the Factory shine suppsedly takes it to 5000

[boatman37]

Thanks. Saw those finishes listed on ball sites but never understood what they meant exactly. Makes sense now. I buff and polish my boat with different compounds so that part makes sense.

We were cancelled out Tuesday due to power outage so didn't get to see how my 'finishing' worked.

[Eddy]

This is my bowlers grit chart. which show some of the different step methods
http://home.earthlink.net/~litefrozen/downloads/bowling_grit_chart_v2.pdf

Thanks for this. Some good info for a polish/sanding junkie like me.

[JerseyJim]

I've been using the CtD pads every few weeks on my arsenal. I haven't touched the Ludicrous yet, but I have brought the Quick Fix back to 4000, and sanded the Katana to 5000 grit. I picked up a kit from Polishyourball.com to do it at home. It seems to work well. I have to post a picture of the Katana at 5000. It has a nice sheen to it like it was polished. It picks up a bit sooner than the polished surface.

[boatman37]

I've been using the CtD pads every few weeks on my arsenal. I haven't touched the Ludicrous yet, but I have brought the Quick Fix back to 4000, and sanded the Katana to 5000 grit. I picked up a kit from Polishyourball.com to do it at home. It seems to work well. I have to post a picture of the Katana at 5000. It has a nice sheen to it like it was polished. It picks up a bit sooner than the polished surface.

Can't wait to try mine since touching them up. I had a mid 190's average with my old Cobalt Rhino 15-20 years ago with a nice smooth arc. When I came back last year I threw that Sync and it was different than anything I had ever thrown and I thought I did pretty good with it so told the PSO I wanted something similar so he sold me the BWG. It was similar but not as much snap on the backend but I never really caught on with that ball. Then got the Kingpin and it was very similar to my old Cobalt Rhino. I can't tell if it lost some of it's roll but hoping this touch up helps me out. The first 6 weeks with it I was averaging 191.3 my first 6 weeks with it (22 games). After that I fell to about 160's. Not sure if the ball fell off or if it was me so hoping this touch up brings it back.

[boatman37]

Well can't say for sure that touching up the balls made the difference but tonight was a whole different thing. Finally hit my stride tonight. Lanes seemed a little drier but could have been the ball finish. I ended up having to move in to about the 7 or 8 board at the end of game 1. Kept hitting high all of game 1 and moving wasn't helping throwing 1st arrow. Moved in a little to get some oil and started hitting the pocket hard. Converted spares too and don't think I can attribute that to the new finish. My average was 171 before tonight. Tonight rolled a 201, 2326, and 198 (635 series). Used the Kingpin all night (2000 CTD finish) but did throw the BWG and Rhino in warmups. Also was 3/4 on 7 pins tonight where I am normally about 1/4.

[Florida Bowler]

A 2326?! Holy schnikeys! Gotta love typos.

Nice series. I'm guessing the finish helped a lot.

[boatman37]

A 2326?! Holy schnikeys! Gotta love typos.

Nice series. I'm guessing the finish helped a lot.

Ugh....236....lol. Whether it was me or it was the finish just hope it continues...lol

[Florida Bowler]

Whether the finish helped or not, you still had to make the shots. Keep it up!

[boatman37]

So I know this is alot of speculation but I bought the Kingpin July 17th (or at least that was my first games with it). The first 22 games after I bought it I averaged 191 then had a 635 last night after touching it up with the 2000 CTD pad. So those 25 games I am averaging 193.80 (my league average was 172 before last night). Of those 25 games 11 were over 200 and the 24 games in between those I only had 2 200's.

I'm sure not all of it was the ball but I do wonder if I had been trying to compensate for the ball? I didn't do anything different last night with my approach, release, or speed. It's possible it is just coincidence and I had a lucky night but can't help but wonder with the fresh finish on it, then looking back at my scores when it was new....hard to overlook that.

Is 25 games enough to make that big of a difference in a ball? My average in between those first 25 games and last night was 168.20. That's about a 25 pin difference.

Speculative question? Sure. But a few weeks ago I was seriously considering quitting completely. It just wasn't fun being low man every week and being as bad as I was when I used to be a mid 190's average years ago. I know I am better than the 170's I have been averaging and after 10 months back I'm no further ahead than I was last January when I first came back. I will say I have learned alot here. When I left in 2002 there were no forums to learn about things. I probably would have never done any ball maintenance. I rarely ever even used to wipe my old ball down and I used that ball over 10 years (Cobalt Rhino). Some of this knowledge seems to be sinking in now so hopefully I can keep this up. We will find out next week.

[J Anderson]

So I know this is alot of speculation but I bought the Kingpin July 17th (or at least that was my first games with it). The first 22 games after I bought it I averaged 191 then had a 635 last night after touching it up with the 2000 CTD pad. So those 25 games I am averaging 193.80 (my league average was 172 before last night). Of those 25 games 11 were over 200 and the 24 games in between those I only had 2 200's.

I'm sure not all of it was the ball but I do wonder if I had been trying to compensate for the ball? I didn't do anything different last night with my approach, release, or speed. It's possible it is just coincidence and I had a lucky night but can't help but wonder with the fresh finish on it, then looking back at my scores when it was new....hard to overlook that.

Is 25 games enough to make that big of a difference in a ball? My average in between those first 25 games and last night was 168.20. That's about a 25 pin difference.

Speculative question? Sure. But a few weeks ago I was seriously considering quitting completely. It just wasn't fun being low man every week and being as bad as I was when I used to be a mid 190's average years ago. I know I am better than the 170's I have been averaging and after 10 months back I'm no further ahead than I was last January when I first came back. I will say I have learned alot here. When I left in 2002 there were no forums to learn about things. I probably would have never done any ball maintenance. I rarely ever even used to wipe my old ball down and I used that ball over 10 years (Cobalt Rhino). Some of this knowledge seems to be sinking in now so hopefully I can keep this up. We will find out next week.

I have seen a short video about how quickly the surface texture of a ball changes with use. I don’t remember the details, but I think there was a measurable difference after a single game, and by 10 games it was to the point that a little maintenence was needed.

[Stormed1]

it's a video by Jayhawk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMwsO2JCZxY

[boatman37]

it's a video by Jayhawk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMwsO2JCZxY

Thats interesting. Thanks!

[boatman37]

Well back to the struggle. 4 of the 5 of us struggled tonight. Lanes were tough. Hit my mark pretty consistently but no carry all night. Only had 9 strikes all night but was decent with my spares again. I tried everywhere from the 1st arrow to the 3rd arrow and still no carry. Finally at the end of game 3 I went back outside and finished with 4 strikes to salvage a 184. Had 1 strike in game 1, 3 in game 2, and 5 in game 3 (finished with 4 in a row).

Can't blame the ball. Lanes were just tough. If I had to guess I'd say our whole team only had maybe 40-50 strikes on the night. We have a 199 average bowler and game 3 he didn't have any strikes. He ended with a 523.

[boatman37]

The Kingpin was 500/1000 OOB. I used 2000 a couple weeks ago so to take it back to OOB I hit it with 500/1000 today. Not sure how it will react next week but we will see. Didn't touch the BWG since last time (3000 no polish) so if I don't like the way the Kingpin rolls with the 500/1000 then I have the BWG to fall back on for that night but if the 500/1000 is the same as actually was OOB then it should be good.