dry lane ball

[boatman37]

So twice now in our 6 weeks of this league the lanes have been very dry. So far these 2 weeks have been my lowest series and I'm trying to find a solution for that. The first night this happened I had nothing to go to other than my spare ball so did the best I could with my Igniter. A couple of weeks ago I sanded my Black Widow Gold with a 1500 then a quick hit of Motiv 5000 polish. Threw it a couple of shots and not much difference. So today I put it back on the spinner and hit it with polish a little longer. Well tonight lanes were pretty dry again. Struggled with my usual balls so grabbed the BWG and it was perfect.

So new question...I also have my Squatch pearl that I really liked back when I was using it. So that got me to thinking (usually a bad thing for me but this might help me learn something here).

So here are the specs:

Black Widow Gold: 2.50 RG, .058 diff, pearl assym

Radical Squatch: 2.482 RG, .054 diff, pearl sym

Currently the BWG has a 1500 grit with a Motiv 5000 grit polish. The Squatch has a 3000 grit matte

I also have the Rhino pearl but it is drilled weak cause I initially bought it for 7 pins but it barely hooks at all so really don't want to use it.

So for very dry lanes should I be looking at assym or sym? If I do try the Squatch then I'd likely polish it too for those dry conditions. Another + to the Squatch is it has the IT switch grip where the BWG doesn't.

[Phonetek]

So twice now in our 6 weeks of this league the lanes have been very dry. So far these 2 weeks have been my lowest series and I'm trying to find a solution for that. The first night this happened I had nothing to go to other than my spare ball so did the best I could with my Igniter. A couple of weeks ago I sanded my Black Widow Gold with a 1500 then a quick hit of Motiv 5000 polish. Threw it a couple of shots and not much difference. So today I put it back on the spinner and hit it with polish a little longer. Well tonight lanes were pretty dry again. Struggled with my usual balls so grabbed the BWG and it was perfect.

So new question...I also have my Squatch pearl that I really liked back when I was using it. So that got me to thinking (usually a bad thing for me but this might help me learn something here).

So here are the specs:

Black Widow Gold: 2.50 RG, .058 diff, pearl assym

Radical Squatch: 2.482 RG, .054 diff, pearl sym

Currently the BWG has a 1500 grit with a Motiv 5000 grit polish. The Squatch has a 3000 grit matte

I also have the Rhino pearl but it is drilled weak cause I initially bought it for 7 pins but it barely hooks at all so really don't want to use it.

So for very dry lanes should I be looking at assym or sym? If I do try the Squatch then I'd likely polish it too for those dry conditions. Another + to the Squatch is it has the IT switch grip where the BWG doesn't.

With little knowledge of ball specs that I have, one question I feel I can answer with some intelligence. As far as the core I would have to say on dry Lanes there is no need for an asym core. By design they hook more and it would burn it's energy before hitting the pocket, so it would seem to me that you necessarily WOULDN'T want that right?

I dunno I could be way off, it's one of those things I don't know enough about to argue well.

[boatman37]

With little knowledge of ball specs that I have, one question I feel I can answer with some intelligence. As far as the core I would have to say on dry Lanes there is no need for an asym core. By design they hook more and it would burn it's energy before hitting the pocket, so it would seem to me that you necessarily WOULDN'T want that right?

I dunno I could be way off, it's one of those things I don't know enough about to argue well.

That was one of the questions I had. I know you want a lower flaring ball so it rolls over the same track, right? The BWG that I rolled the 249 on the very dry lanes is an asym. but it worked great. Stopped down today and grabbed my Squatch pearl from the storage room. Plan is to hit it with a 2000 then polish then the BWG with 3000 and polish. Maybe even 5000 and polish. We have a bye this Tuesday so hopefully the lanes are dry again so I can test them out. We still need to be within 50 pins of our average as a team to get he point but it's a good time to try it.

[six6guy]

Dry lane conditions that I have seen have driven me to a couple balls designed just for dry lanes, both are made by Motiv, one symmetrical and one asymmetrical. I should mention that I am a full roller and generally have more angle than I need, but I would think a 3/4 roller would see something close to the same.

Motiv Venom Recoil - asymmetrical - The breakpoint shape is a smooth arc (almost flat) toward the rack and the asym kicks it into a better (steeper) angle just before the rack. I play this ball just outside the remains of the oil at say 8-15 board. When it finally overreacts I just move left (both feet and eyes) a board or so. I mostly use this ball for leagues when the lanes get fried.

Motiv Supra Enso - symmetrical - The breakpoint shape is a traditional angular arc shape but it has great forgiveness. I play this ball more inside and don't touch dry lanes until mid lane or so. I mostly use this on tournaments after the oil is played out.

[boatman37]

So tonight I threw my Squatch on the spinner. Hit it with 3000 then 5000P then Motiv 5000 polish. We have a bye tomorrow and hoping for dry conditions again to test it out.

BTW-what I did was sanded then used cleaner then polish. Should I follow that up with cleaner again? What process does everyone else follow after polish?

[RobLV1]

Just my opinion, but I think polish is a really bad idea. Yes, polish gets the ball further down the lane, but polish also is more reactive to friction. When you use polish, you create more of an over/under condition for yourself. A 5000 surface is little enough to get the ball down the lane, but it does not over-react to the dry.

[boatman37]

Just my opinion, but I think polish is a really bad idea. Yes, polish gets the ball further down the lane, but polish also is more reactive to friction. When you use polish, you create more of an over/under condition for yourself. A 5000 surface is little enough to get the ball down the lane, but it does not over-react to the dry.

I have only tried polish twice now. First was with the Rhino and I hated it. Figured it was worth a shot with the BWG and it worked great last week in the only game I used it. But I get what you are saying cause I swore it off after trying it on the Rhino but it's a completely different ball than the BWG. Hoping for similar conditions tonight since we have a bye so I can try it again. We still need to be within 50 pins of our average to get the points so not like I can throw the game away but want to get more data with itto see how I like it. If I do see the reaction you mention then I'll try just the 5000P without polish. I have rarely seen them this dry but this is twice in 6 weeks. Before pulling the BWG out I tried moving in closer to the center to find oil but that wasn't working either. Can't remember now what the issues were but the result wasn't any better than me leaving corner pins with the Igniter

[bowl1820]

So tonight I threw my Squatch on the spinner. Hit it with 3000 then 5000P then Motiv 5000 polish. We have a bye tomorrow and hoping for dry conditions again to test it out.

BTW-what I did was sanded then used cleaner then polish. Should I follow that up with cleaner again? What process does everyone else follow after polish?

Sanding, polishing and cleaning.
If your going to sand your ball, You don't particularly need to clean it first. The sanding is going to remove most everything from the surface anyway especially if it's a course girt.

The only caveat might would be if the surface is very dirty, You know lot's of visible grime etc. You might clean it then so you don't get that grime in your pads, especially if your using the finer girts.

After sanding yes you could clean it (After sanding thats when I use Clean'N Dull, Because the pores are opened up better.), It would help remove any abrasive particles that might be on left on the surface.

As for polishing (Note: Most polishes are just liquid abrasives, their not like a wax putting a coating on the ball that wears off or that can be stripped off. The only caveat would be the ones that include things like slip agents.) the final girt your surface will be at after use will all depend on what the under laying surface girt is.

So if you sand to say P5000 and then polish, The final surface grit will be way smoother!

And yes polish can give you a more of a over/under reaction, This is because a smoother ball surface has a larger footprint on the dry surface of the lane than a sanded one and when on the oil there's little or not much "tread" to bite through the oil to the lane surface so it slides more.

A lot of players don't like polishes because they are harder to control and apply evenly too get consistent results, so be careful when using.

After polishing it is a good idea to clean the ball, so you remove any residues left from the polishing. Plus check and clean your finger/thumbholes to remove any polish that has get in too them.

polishes are useful, You just got to know when they are needed.

[boatman37]

Well threw the polished Squatch in warmups about 3x all from out around the 7 board. I think all 3 were pocket strikes. Looking good! Lanes were pretty wet tonight. Game started and I started with the Uppercut in near the 10 board. Kept leaving corner pins. Ended up trying a bunch of stuff including the polished Squatch and no luck. Realized near the end of the night that my release just wasn't right. Will leave the Squatch alone and maybe try it again if we get real dry conditions. I hadn't used that ball in over a year so no biggie to not use it

[boomer]

As for polishing (Note: Most polishes are just liquid abrasives, their not like a wax putting a coating on the ball that wears off or that can be stripped off. The only caveat would be the ones that include things like slip agents.)

I would just note to double check.

If you're meaning bowling polishing agents, sure. I'd likely agree because bowling companies should (SHOULD) know not to put waxes like carnauba in them.

But a lot of people will grab 3M products or other products . . .


SO - it's worth checking the ingredients to make sure they don't have waxes (typically carnauba) in them. Not really disagreeing with you, just putting a caveat in there. :)

[Phonetek]

I would just note to double check.

If you're meaning bowling polishing agents, sure. I'd likely agree because bowling companies should (SHOULD) know not to put waxes like carnauba in them.

But a lot of people will grab 3M products or other products . . .


SO - it's worth checking the ingredients to make sure they don't have waxes (typically carnauba) in them. Not really disagreeing with you, just putting a caveat in there. :)

Isn't wax basically what used to be in those old Luster King machines?

[bowl1820]

Isn't wax basically what used to be in those old Luster King machines?

The Lustre King machines typically used a buffing compound (Standard, Highly Reactive and the Lustre Sheen compound) not a wax per se, there were also some compounds made by other companies like DBA Blue Genie (one of the Genie products though I think it was called green Genie. You never wanted to get that on a resin ball, it killed them dead they wouldn't hook at all and you had to sand it off.).

Now before the resin era there might have been a actual "wax one" I can't say for sure, I never seen one. (The oldest machine I've seen was one that used 3-4 plastic brushes to brush the old rubber balls clean. that and the old machine that would wash the ball first and then polish it.)
"
Now there was a wax (at least they called a wax, In fact that was the name "Ball Wax") that I liked for Urethane and plastic balls. You couldn't use it on a resin ball though it would plug the pores up.

And yes you should check any product you use to make sure they don't contain any wax's or silicone's. Now there a lot of 3M products that can be used and a lot of bowling products are made by 3M or their products just rebranded.

[Phonetek]

The Lustre King machines typically used a buffing compound (Standard, Highly Reactive and the Lustre Sheen compound) not a wax per se, there were also some compounds made by other companies like DBA Blue Genie (one of the Genie products though I think it was called green Genie. You never wanted to get that on a resin ball, it killed them dead they wouldn't hook at all and you had to sand it off.).

Now before the resin era there might have been a actual "wax one" I can't say for sure, I never seen one. (The oldest machine I've seen was one that used 3-4 plastic brushes to brush the old rubber balls clean. that and the old machine that would wash the ball first and then polish it.)
"
Now there was a wax (at least they called a wax, In fact that was the name "Ball Wax") that I liked for Urethane and plastic balls. You couldn't use it on a resin ball though it would plug the pores up.

And yes you should check any product you use to make sure they don't contain any wax's or silicone's. Now there a lot of 3M products that can be used and a lot of bowling products are made by 3M or their products just rebranded.

I haven't seen any ball cleaning machines in years. With ball spinners so easy to obtain for anyone serious, it's a pointless thing to have. Especially since they'd end up doing more harm than good with people putting the wrong type of ball in them.

Now if they made a machine to where you could choose the grit you wanted for a couple bucks it would probably be popular. Problem is people who didn't know how it worked would be putting plastic ball in there expecting a mirror shine and they'd come out dull.

It's best to leave ball care to the PSO's and people with their own spinners. It eliminates a lot of headaches and makes the PSO's more money.

[bowl1820]

Now if they made a machine to where you could choose the grit you wanted for a couple bucks it would probably be popular.


They've had that for years now it's called the Storm Surface Factory.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPdJ698vioQ