Is wiping the oil off the ball after every shot overrated?

[sprocket]

Billf, in order to have 15 flare rings that you can see, you would have to have 15 revs before the ball hits the try. That's a TON of revs. I not doubting it can be done and if there was enough separation between the rings they would go all the way around the ball. In that case, my argument fall apart.

I was thinking more along these lines: Imagine if they had Throwbot throw 1000 balls all with the same rotation and the flare DIDN'T go all the way around the ball. Imagine the oil was never wiped off the ball. Re-oil after every five games. The oil rings would just cross exactly over the oil rings already on the ball. Would the oil lines mushroom out and spread due to saturation or would the ball simply not pick up any more oil after X number of shots? I suspect the latter. Of course there will be flare rings you don't see because they occur in the dry back end of the lane. Will they remain dry for the whole 1000 games or will they pick up oil from the bow tie area on the ball? That I don't know. I don't really KNOW anything but I don't like to accept things as true just because that's what we've always believed. I totally believe that a ball saturated in oil will react poorly, but I also believe that a dirty cotton towel can spread the oil on the ball and eventually saturate it.

So have ANY studies ever been done on the effectiveness of wiping the oil off the ball verses not wiping the oil off the ball? How about cotton towel verses microfiber? What about a quick spin on a bowler's CLEAN shirt verses using a DIRTY bowling towel?

[billf]

I don't know either and I'm usually the antagonist questioning everything. But I would think that a clean shirt would beat a dirty towel any day lol
Yes, I'm slightly rev dominant, even at 20+ mph lol I've been working on cutting down the rev rate even more but will admit to enjoying messing with my scratch league's two-hander. I love letting it rip, getting more speed and revs (and pin action) than he does. I only enjoy it because he constantly yells about how great his revs are, etc., etc., etc. Typical young guy I suppose, more mouth than sense.

[J Anderson]

Billf, in order to have 15 flare rings that you can see, you would have to have 15 revs before the ball hits the try. That's a TON of revs. I not doubting it can be done and if there was enough separation between the rings they would go all the way around the ball. In that case, my argument fall apart.

I was thinking more along these lines: Imagine if they had Throwbot throw 1000 balls all with the same rotation and the flare DIDN'T go all the way around the ball. Imagine the oil was never wiped off the ball. Re-oil after every five games. The oil rings would just cross exactly over the oil rings already on the ball. Would the oil lines mushroom out and spread due to saturation or would the ball simply not pick up any more oil after X number of shots? I suspect the latter. Of course there will be flare rings you don't see because they occur in the dry back end of the lane. Will they remain dry for the whole 1000 games or will they pick up oil from the bow tie area on the ball? That I don't know. I don't really KNOW anything but I don't like to accept things as true just because that's what we've always believed. I totally believe that a ball saturated in oil will react poorly, but I also believe that a dirty cotton towel can spread the oil on the ball and eventually saturate it.

So have ANY studies ever been done on the effectiveness of wiping the oil off the ball verses not wiping the oil off the ball? How about cotton towel verses microfiber? What about a quick spin on a bowler's CLEAN shirt verses using a DIRTY bowling towel?

My guess is that in your thought experiment is that as oil is absorbed along the track rings the rate of absorption slows and the oil spreads out on either side of the rings. At some point the ball effectively becomes saturated and the amount will be negligible. Because of the track flare you will still have some reaction but it will be much different than the original reaction. Even using a dirty towel that is leaving as much oil as it takes off, and spreading the remainder around will slow down the process of saturating the ball with oil and the change in reaction will be more gradual.

By the way, the reason I started wiping off my bowling ball was that all the shirts that I wore while bowling were getting a permanent stain from resting the ball against my abdomen while setting up.

[Old lefty]

I think your on to something here....they really should do a study as to how much oil a ball picks up and at what point does it repel because of saturation,I'm still going to wipe my ball between shots because (a) it's now habit (b)I feel the more oil I can keep off of the ball the longer it will last and (c) my WIFE just hates oil stains on my shirts....hahaha.

[swingset]

Here's another reality - if everyone just let the balls go, even if it made the ball better somehow, you'd see maintenance problems on the machines and returns. That oil all over all the belts, wheels and everything would be a real headache to the operators.

That's already a problem on some leagues with a lot of older bowlers who don't maintain their equipment.

[peterfa]

No one has mentioned that the towel swipe also removes dirt from the shell of the ball. The swipe removes both oil and dirt (dust) that the oil attracts to the coverstock.

[TCJ]

Wiping the ball off for every shot is a routine for me. If I fail to do so, it breaks my routine. Because of that I will use a towel on it regardless of whether or not there is a lot of oil on the lane, and hence, the ball, or if it's a strike or a spare ball. Also, as a sometimes two-hander, I want the ball as free of oil as possible because my left-hand is being used as support on the backswing. If my hand gets really greasy, sometimes it will slide off prematurely and cause me to drop the ball.

[Hammer]

Don't worry about the oil on your ball. Leave it on there then you won't have to worry about washing the bowling towels. Maybe at the end of yoyr bowling season you can wipe the oil off then. Also what you should do is go into the pro shop and tell the shop operator that his oil extractor oven is over rated and doesn't really do anything to the ball to make it work better on the alleys. No need for all that ball
cleaner fluid to clean the oil off of bowling balls. You should just never clean your ball even if the oil on it is dripping off onto the floor.
Hey, a ball like that with a bunch of oil on it will work real good on dry alleys. It should skid real nice before or if it hooks to the pocket.
Just think of the money you will save on bowling towels, ball cleaner and trips to the pro shop to clean the oil off professionally. You have the right idea.

[swingset]

Don't worry about the oil on your ball. Leave it on there then you won't have to worry about washing the bowling towels. Maybe at the end of yoyr bowling season you can wipe the oil off then. Also what you should do is go into the pro shop and tell the shop operator that his oil extractor oven is over rated and doesn't really do anything to the ball to make it work better on the alleys. No need for all that ball
cleaner fluid to clean the oil off of bowling balls. You should just never clean your ball even if the oil on it is dripping off onto the floor.
Hey, a ball like that with a bunch of oil on it will work real good on dry alleys. It should skid real nice before or if it hooks to the pocket.
Just think of the money you will save on bowling towels, ball cleaner and trips to the pro shop to clean the oil off professionally. You have the right idea.

Hey, that has me thinking - a non-wiper with an oil soaked ball should ask the front desk for a discount on his games. He's actually depositing oil from last week back onto the lanes. He's saving the house some duckets on that stuff and it's not cheap.

[sprocket]

OK, you guys are picking on me now.

Let me give one final analogy and then I'll drop the subject. Let's say I spill some oil on the garage floor. Should I wipe it up? Yes, and I should probably follow it up with a good degreasing at some point.

How should I wipe it up? How about if a take a dirty rag I have around the shop that already has oil soaked into it. Maybe an old cotton t-shirt. How would that work? It wouldn't work well at all because it would just smear the oil around and pick very little up. It would put oil in places on the floor where it wasn't before. It just moved the oil around. I would be far better off with a clean rag specifically designed to clean up oil.

So how many bowlers use dirty towels of the wrong material to wipe off their bowling balls? When is the last time YOU cleaned your bowling towel? Is the towel made from the best material it could be for removing oil?

Using a dirty towel to spread oil around the ball makes as much sense as using a dirty t-shirt to wipe up oil off the garage floor. The results won't be very good.