Should the Red Alien be polished or dull

[MICHAEL]

I can't remember if it came dull polished or simi polished? Anyone know and what grit sanding is recomended? I now have a new plastic ball, thanks to
bowlingboard.com and I would like to get it back to where it was out of the box. (or as close to it) as possible. Our bowling estab uses a pretty standard house pattern on oil... suppose to be a pretty easy pattern. there have been many 300 games throw on it this last winter.

[bowl1820]

The O.O.B. on the Red Alien was 1000 Abralon.

[MICHAEL]

If,,,, a ball is shipped dull, (like I think the Alien was out of the box), does it hurt the properties of the ball to polish it, or go back and forth between the two??

[billf]

It won't hurt the ball but will alter the reaction. That's why we do it though, alter the reaction to fit our needs for a pattern or set of lanes.

[MICHAEL]

billf,,, do you think it might put the kick at the end back in the ball! It use to kick like a mule, and dive into the pocket real nice at the end. ((We always have fresh oil on the lanes before we bowl, house pattern). To coin and old song, (its lost the loven feeling)!! It goes down the lane and has very little hook at all. If polish helps bring it back to life then I will give it a try! I know dull is not working at all for the Alien!

[billf]

Polish usually adds length before it hooks so that probably won't help. What steps and grits were used to sand it? I would use 250 then 500 and then finish with 1000.

[MICHAEL]

Billf I will talk to the pro at NKC AMF, and see what he thinks about your idea, thanks for the advice!!

[MICHAEL]

maybe a stupid question but why start out with a course rough 250, and then 500,,, ?? why not just use the 1000 only?

[billf]

Just like when sanding wood, paint or metal, the course grit strips the deeper dirt, grime, etc and as you move up when wet sanding it smooths out the surface. The course grit opens the pours up allowing more gunk/junk to be removed before the finer grits bring it back towards factory finish. Some ball manufacturers actually recommend sanding with the final grit in between full resurface sessions.

[MICHAEL]

VERY interesting!! Thanks for the knowledge!!!