Bowling Ball Cleaning and Maintenance

[bowl1820]

Here's from the org. instructions for Clean'n Dull.

For best results, apply small amount to a clean towel. Apply light pressure in a circular motion, doing 1/4 to 1/2 the ball at a time. Remove with a damp towel, then dry towel & repeat on remainder of ball.

[Brother_jd]

So I figured i would try something new to get the oil out of my ball. My wife's hair dryer. I put it on low heat and it worked wonders. Took about 30 mins.

[Perrin]

Tried the warm water bucket and dish soap thing this weekend.

Hopefully it works out well

[Greenday]

Anyone have suggestions for which any-time cleaner to use between games? My pro shop guy gave me a bottle of Tac-Up for my duller, stronger balls, but I wasn't sure if that's what I should be using for balls like my Frantic or Tropical Breeze. I don't want to use something that's going to make them super grippy, just something to take the oil off the cover but will still keep it shiny.

[Perrin]

Tried the warm water bucket and dish soap thing this weekend.

Hopefully it works out well

well it helped a bit but not much.

I finally broke down and used the dishwasher on the light wash cycle with sanitizing and heated dry turned off.


Worked wonders. brought the coverstock almost back to OOB reaction. If I had the equipment to actually restore the surface back I think I would have gotten back to OOB reaction.

[GoodGravy]

I bowl about 12 games a week, and got a new ball (V.G. Nano Pearl) about 2 1/2 months ago or about 10 weeks. So, long story short, 120 games later, my 'new' ball went from major back end movement to almost nothing. I use cleaner after every session (3-4 games) and wipe my ball after almost every shot, however, the oil finally built up to make the ball almost useless.

So today I pulled out a couple of desk lamps and just set them near the ball and after just a few minutes the oil was just running down the sides of the ball. Now I have done some a lot of research on line about how dangerous it is to 'cook' your ball in an oven or use your dishwasher and you should have your ball professionaly cleaned in a revivor, but running to the pro shop all the time is just not practical. Between my wife, kid and myself, I am building up quite a collection of reactive coverstock balls and I am getting desperate to figuring out a way I can do this at home.

I'm headed back to the lanes tomorrow to see if my little desk lamp trick worked...keeping my fingers crossed....

[billf]

I bowl about 12 games a week, and got a new ball (V.G. Nano Pearl) about 2 1/2 months ago or about 10 weeks. So, long story short, 120 games later, my 'new' ball went from major back end movement to almost nothing. I use cleaner after every session (3-4 games) and wipe my ball after almost every shot, however, the oil finally built up to make the ball almost useless.

So today I pulled out a couple of desk lamps and just set them near the ball and after just a few minutes the oil was just running down the sides of the ball. Now I have done some a lot of research on line about how dangerous it is to 'cook' your ball in an oven or use your dishwasher and you should have your ball professionaly cleaned in a revivor, but running to the pro shop all the time is just not practical. Between my wife, kid and myself, I am building up quite a collection of reactive coverstock balls and I am getting desperate to figuring out a way I can do this at home.

I'm headed back to the lanes tomorrow to see if my little desk lamp trick worked...keeping my fingers crossed....

Have you seen the threads on de-oiling with dish soap? It works. Also, use high quality floor dry from the automotive store and put the ball in it for 24 hours. Both will pull the oil out without heat. As for heat; why is it safe for the shop to put it in an oven but not the owner? I have baked mine at 130° but make sure you put a drip tray under the rack and rotate the ball often to prevent marks.

[GoodGravy]

Great point on 'why is it safe for the shop to put it in the oven and not the owner'!!

I have had a couple of guys from the local bowling alley that I would consider trustworthy sources tell me the same thing about hot water dunking and dish soap. As an interesting side note, I saw that Hammer has a ball cleaning tank called the Wave that they are now using also.

Gonna give the hot water thing a shot!

[Greenday]

The Wave ball cleaner is pretty awesome. I saw a bunch in action while in Reno. Looks super awesome!

I still wish someone would come up with a ball oven/washer/etc. that'd be cheap enough for personal purchase.

[ecub]

I saw someone's review on The Wave. It's messy and uses chemicals. Plus lighter balls would float. I still like my Innovative Revivor oven. Yes, it is expensive. You can do 2 bowling balls, and the pads are $10 for a pack of (I think) 20. I found out you can re-use the pads, if you let them dry. I ran out of pads once, and used one that had been sitting around for over a year or so. Cleaned it off like it was brand new.