Surface Changes/Arsenal Question

[RobLV1]

OK.. thanks. As for the original question the Fusion at 4000 seems to give me a nice step down from the Unruly and gives me a nice controllable motion. I put the Optimus back to 1500 Polish and will spend the week and weekend trying to see how they differ and if they can be played off of each other as is or with a surface change.

One thought I had was to raise the polish of the Optimus to Royal Compound or Royal Shine (2500 or 5000 polish) to see if I can get it to push longer and be more angular than the marvel. Thoughts?

Two thoughts here:

First, and I realize that this sounds kinda nit-picky, but it's really not, is for you to try not to think of any ball as a "step down" from any other ball (or step up, for that matter). Balls are not weak or strong, they are just different. With the way we are in are society, why would we want to use anything that's considered weak?

Secondly, I think that Amyers hit the nail on the head with changing the grit under the polish to get more separation between the balls.

[bobforsaken]

Two thoughts here:

First, and I realize that this sounds kinda nit-picky, but it's really not, is for you to try not to think of any ball as a "step down" from any other ball (or step up, for that matter). Balls are not weak or strong, they are just different. With the way we are in are society, why would we want to use anything that's considered weak?

Secondly, I think that Amyers hit the nail on the head with changing the grit under the polish to get more separation between the balls.

I understand.. I've read many of your articles.. I see the ball "strength" as how much oil it requires to read the midlanes properly and achieve roll at the proper time without rolling out. saying "step down" is easier than saying "a ball that I can move to when the thug unruly begins reading to early, and I need to extend the skid length" That is also what I'm trying to accomplish between the Optimus and Marvel Pearl. I'm not trying to get a ton of separation. Like with my 10 pin problem the other day I really just needed something to enter the hook phase a touch later but not as late as the Hyroad Pearl. (Not because its "weak" but because the volume of oil was too great to read the midlane until too late which resulted in hitting during the hook phase).

I believe naturally thy Optimus and Marvel are very close and the Optimus does read a pinch earlier. I really think the Fusion has that area covered so I"m thinking of having something just a little bit below that reads a bit later. What I may end up doing is keeping the Optimus at 1500 polish and Moving the Marvel to 4000 to create that separation. So it would be Unruly (4000), Fusion (4000), Marvel (4000), Optimus (1500 Polish), Hyroad (4000, or polish?), Hyroad Pearl (1500 Polish), Tropical Breeze (1500 Polish)

On paper it looks good to me. In terms of experiece, when I had the Marvel at 4000 before it was very good for me and still game me lots of length. The optimus at 4000 just seemed to have its angularity tamed way too much. This may be partially due to the layout which was done when my PAP was 5.75 x .75 up . (it is now 3.5 x 0 up)

[Amyers]

Whichever ball you would like to be more angular try 2000 grit for 30 seconds and 4000 grit for 20 seconds than light polish for 20 seconds using Storm Step 2 or similar. I've had some friends who used this on similar balls and really liked it. Do realize as you make this change the ball will read a little later and handle a little less oil.

[bobforsaken]

Whichever ball you would like to be more angular try 2000 grit for 30 seconds and 4000 grit for 20 seconds than light polish for 20 seconds using Storm Step 2 or similar. I've had some friends who used this on similar balls and really liked it. Do realize as you make this change the ball will read a little later and handle a little less oil.

Yes.. that's my goal. So if I understand you correctly doing the full steps of resurface 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, step two would react differently than the same ball doing just 2000, 4000, and step two? (with the second ball reacting a little later down the lane) Albeit this difference may be slight, I was under the impression that the final sand and polish would really effect the reaction and that the prior steps were more just to take out imperfections in the ball without spending 20 minutes with a 4000 grit pad. I guess I thought this because the "refinish" steps are just the last steps, where as the "resurface" steps are the whole gambit.

It makes sense in a way that 500 would give you deeper valleys that the rest of the sanding steps won't totally wipe away And those "peaks" just end up getting sharpened as you go up to finer grits.

[Amyers]

Yes.. that's my goal. So if I understand you correctly doing the full steps of resurface 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, step two would react differently than the same ball doing just 2000, 4000, and step two? (with the second ball reacting a little later down the lane) Albeit this difference may be slight, I was under the impression that the final sand and polish would really effect the reaction and that the prior steps were more just to take out imperfections in the ball without spending 20 minutes with a 4000 grit pad. I guess I thought this because the "refinish" steps are just the last steps, where as the "resurface" steps are the whole gambit.

It makes sense in a way that 500 would give you deeper valleys that the rest of the sanding steps won't totally wipe away And those "peaks" just end up getting sharpened as you go up to finer grits.

I think you answered your own question here. Each step puts its own set of grooves in the surface So if you start with your base layer at 2000 instead of 500 you get shallower grooves. The step 2 polish is a little less glossy than some of the others royal compound from Brunswick is similar. I tend not to use the real shiny polishes on balls with higher surface numbers finishes because they get too squirty on oil.

We are talking small differences here but sometimes those matter.