Long term Ball storage and cracking

[bowl1820]

Came across a interesting blog post by Jeff Richgels about balls cracking and a article in the Fall 2008 edition of Pro Shop Insider written by Rich Jacobson.

Click here for The 11th Frame: The Ebonite article that tells you how to keep resin balls from cracking – and how I got it wrong

Click here for the Ebonite Article

The main points of Rich Jacobson's "Ask Ebonite.com" article were that while there are other factors in balls cracking, the main reason for it happening during long term storage were gravity and leaving a ball in a static position for a long time.

The recommendation to help reduce the chance of cracking is to rotate the ball a quarter turn every few weeks.

The second factor is open air exposure, which has to do with the curing process of the balls. While the ball surface is fully cured when it leaves the factory, They will still continue to cure for month or even years.

The recommendation to help reduce the chance of cracking is to store the ball in a ziplock bag or wrapped with plastic wrap or a plastic bag. You want as tight a fit as you can get, to insulate the ball from the outside air and store at room temperature.

Thinking about it, balls do typically have a plastic bag around them when they come from the factory.


While this won't stop cracking totally, it could help reduce it.

[foreverincamo]

Never thought about wrapping a ball up like that. I store mine at room temp all the time. My wife left her ball in the trunk in all this high heat, and when she pulled the ball out there was a puddle of oil under it.

[foreverincamo]

My Columbia Messenger Titanium cracked a month ago, and the crack is now all the way around the ball and is 11/2" deep . It was stored in the closet for 10 years, and when I had it plugged and redrilled it cracked on the first shot.

[bowl1820]

here's my Slant HD as of the other day, it started cracking last year just after I got it and it's still going! the core starting splitting.

[foreverincamo]

My Messenger isn't that bad yet, but I'm hoping to extract the core someday. Be cool to show the kids