First Time Sanding

[grumpter]

I have been looking at countless videos on maintaining my ball and have purchased the Abralon pads for my ball as well as my fathers. OOB mine is listed as 500/2000 my fathers is 500, 500, 500, 4000. So just get the pad wet and sand with each grit for about 20 seconds per half of the ball? Is that all there is needed or are there steps I am missing? DO I need to worry about polish or taking off too much surface of the ball?

[classygranny]

Most refinishing is done based on a 4-sided cube or a 6-sided cube. I prefer to use the 6-sided version as I seem to get a better overall finish. Bowl1820 has posted a link to this...search for this post "The 6 sides of a bowling ball" chart.

Others will jump on here with more knowledge than I have to assist you along the way.

[grumpter]

I had run across that chart somewhere over the last few weeks but didn't pay much attention to it as the sport is so new to me. The bottom four images are self explanatory as you can see both the finger holes and thumb holes. For the top 2 I am going to assume the thumb hole is directly on the back side, middle (left to right) of the ball?

[GrumpyCatFace]

Based on what I’ve read, you’ll never get close to the desired grit with wet sanding. It has to be done dry. Just use a regular ball cleaner when you’re done with each grit.

[RobLV1]

Based on what I’ve read, you’ll never get close to the desired grit with wet sanding. It has to be done dry. Just use a regular ball cleaner when you’re done with each grit.

I've never seen anyone, PSO or Professional Bowler use a dry pad. Just sayin'!

[GrumpyCatFace]

I've never seen anyone, PSO or Professional Bowler use a dry pad. Just sayin'!

I’ll have to dig for it. It was either on here, or bowlingchat... somebody got ahold of a ball scanner, and tested sanding wet/dry. He got a very small change wet, and nearly matched the desired grit with lightly sanding dry. Using a lot of hand pressure got a weak result as well.

[GrumpyCatFace]

Sorry, it was BTM. Here you go: https://www.bowlingthismonth.com/bow...s-your-number/

[RobLV1]

There is another issue that is often referred to in discussions on sanding: do you really want to inhale particles of resin material to perfectly match an existing surface? Most PSO's and bowlers don't!

[GrumpyCatFace]

There is another issue that is often referred to in discussions on sanding: do you really want to inhale particles of resin material to perfectly match an existing surface? Most PSO's and bowlers don't!

I did have questions about that lol. I’d like to know if they’re particularly harmful.

[J Anderson]

Sorry, it was BTM. Here you go: https://www.bowlingthismonth.com/bow...s-your-number/

Thanks! It was an interesting article to re-read

Back to the original question. Sanding a ball, whether by hand or with a spinner, doesn’t take very much material off. Feel free to experiment with different grits, with and/or without polish. If you don’t get the reaction you want, try something else.

By the way, I have seen bowlers dry sand in a pinch, but sanding dust and human lungs don’t play well together. Whenever you can, opt for wet sanding.