ball cracking

[Steven]

just writing to ask some opinions on this particular topic last night i went out to the gararge to find 2 of my bowling balls had cracked halfway around the ball and they have been sitting there for 2 months it is very rarely hot in there so i doubt its the heat they havent been bowled for 2 months and have never been exposed to the sun or to the hot water treatment any ideas why
ive heard ppl say some of their bowling balls have cracked from sitting on the floor too long and not being used any ideas why it could have happened there are like 8 balls in the gararge and 2 cracked i wonder why any ideas would be appreciated thanks

 

[Wal Brooker]

I was in the US in July for the US Senior Open at the Suncoast Casino. One of the talking points amongst the pros and also a topic in the local Regional Bowling news papers was the cleaning and associated cracking of bowling balls. It apparently has been found that if a 'modern' ball is cleaned using water the ball will actually absorb the water in a similar way that it does with oil. The problem is that not only a weight increase happens to the ball but the water can also be affected by severe climate changes.
The conditions in the US are usually more extreme than we have in Australia but may on occaision still apply. Water expands when it freezes resulting in the ball cracking to accomodate this expansion. Also water again expands when it boils or just gets hot (ie water in a car radiator). When hot, the water should still remain in liquid form but when it combines with the oil in the ball who knows what happens! I also have had a couple of balls crack while sitting on a rack in the garage and at the time I remember puting it down to heat. Hope this helps.

 

[RobbieB]

Seen this a few times, always with balls stored for a while. My guess is that the plasticiser migrates by gravity toward the bottom of the ball and weakens the top. You then get differential expansion of the core and cover as the temp changes, and a crack develops. Could be totally wrong, but it only seems to happen when a ball sits for a long while.

I don't think the soaking theory holds water.

 

[TommyB]

Sounds like you have to rotate stored balls like a good bottle of wine ehh Rob.....lol....not as silly as it sounds!!

 

[littlejoeyrimshot]

are they ebonites or storm?

 

[Samael]

Cold does it too, its not just heat, its any extreme temp can cause problems.

http://totalbowling.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=13133 have a look at that, ball was from the older generation of thick coverstocks and hadnt had a whole lot of games on it (probably less than 100 really). Wasnt cleaned with water, and they had only been sitting for a couple of months at best.

Interesting to note, balls in the bag plus those in cardboard boxes were fine. Only ball left exposed to the elements was the one to crack.

 

[Tiger]

Leaving them in front of a two-bar heater or fire for too long unsupervised in order to draw the oil out of a ball is not a particularly good idea either.
Given that we're in a rather cold-climate town, that's a reasonably popular method of cleaning gear here (before putting in the hot bucket of water for soaking), and I've known two bowlers in recent years to employ that technique and have reactives end up looking like the outside of an easter egg. :-s

Always keep an eye on it.