S
Scotty H
My first post here. Shame it coudlnt be about something good...
I recently bought a second hand Ebonite Big Time Sanded. This ball was in near perfect condition and has only had a very small number of games bowled on it.
It was amazing to begin with and hooked very crisp and sharp. It would skid then snap and come in really hard. But recently (after say 30 games or so) it has began to really tame down a lot.
I have tried cleaning it, originally with just warm water and a bit of detergent (rinsed off very carefully of course) and the ball came up nice and tacky. Then I got some of the Storm Reacta Clean? (or something like that) which is a particle ball rejuvinator/polish. And that cleaned it up a treat. Came up feeling the cleanest its ever been since I got it.
So this is where I wonder whats wrong with it. I bowl this ball as my 'wet lane' ball and it worked a treat to start out. But I am now noticing that my old school Storm Eraser PBT is now hooking better and more consistently than my Ebonite. That doesnt seem right to me. Same shot. Different outcomes.
I would normally stand on about 25 board and shoot over say 10 and it would come back into the pocket (occaisionally too high on head pin) and then by the end of the 4 games I would be standing at around 30 - 33 and keep shooting over 10. This seems to work for me. But now it seems that the only shot I can make work is standing right on 20 board and shooting a sort of 'tramline' shot down the right gutter and then it comes back. I assume that is only because of the fact that its a dryer part of the lane and its always going to hook better out there anyway.
I have been thinking about what could have caused this gradual decline in the performance of the ball. I can only put my finger on a couple of possiblities.
1. Ball was left in the car in the sun for 1 day while I was at work.
2. Detergent may not have been rinsed off well enough.
On those points, I would think that the hot car woudlnt do too much damage as it was slowly heated up, and then slowly cooled down. Not sudden changes of temperature which I know is bad for most things.
And as for the detergent, I made sure that I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed to get all of the detergent off it. It was only a mild dishwashing liquid and it was a very small amount applied to a scrub brush. So it wasnt ever even applied directly to the ball. Always with a lot of water and then rinsed off almost strait away. Also following that, I used a proper particle ball cleaner and it didnt improve a whole lot (only marginally).
Can anyone offer me some advice regarding this particular type of ball, for example if anyone out there has owned one of these and had similar problems. Perhaps its just my shot thats changed... But I doubt it. I have been bowling at my best (brought average up to 193) the last few weeks since I got this ball. But its starting to go pear shaped.
Please help. I am hoping not to have to get a new ball. I already paid a bit of $$ for this one.
Cheers,
-Scott
I recently bought a second hand Ebonite Big Time Sanded. This ball was in near perfect condition and has only had a very small number of games bowled on it.
It was amazing to begin with and hooked very crisp and sharp. It would skid then snap and come in really hard. But recently (after say 30 games or so) it has began to really tame down a lot.
I have tried cleaning it, originally with just warm water and a bit of detergent (rinsed off very carefully of course) and the ball came up nice and tacky. Then I got some of the Storm Reacta Clean? (or something like that) which is a particle ball rejuvinator/polish. And that cleaned it up a treat. Came up feeling the cleanest its ever been since I got it.
So this is where I wonder whats wrong with it. I bowl this ball as my 'wet lane' ball and it worked a treat to start out. But I am now noticing that my old school Storm Eraser PBT is now hooking better and more consistently than my Ebonite. That doesnt seem right to me. Same shot. Different outcomes.
I would normally stand on about 25 board and shoot over say 10 and it would come back into the pocket (occaisionally too high on head pin) and then by the end of the 4 games I would be standing at around 30 - 33 and keep shooting over 10. This seems to work for me. But now it seems that the only shot I can make work is standing right on 20 board and shooting a sort of 'tramline' shot down the right gutter and then it comes back. I assume that is only because of the fact that its a dryer part of the lane and its always going to hook better out there anyway.
I have been thinking about what could have caused this gradual decline in the performance of the ball. I can only put my finger on a couple of possiblities.
1. Ball was left in the car in the sun for 1 day while I was at work.
2. Detergent may not have been rinsed off well enough.
On those points, I would think that the hot car woudlnt do too much damage as it was slowly heated up, and then slowly cooled down. Not sudden changes of temperature which I know is bad for most things.
And as for the detergent, I made sure that I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed to get all of the detergent off it. It was only a mild dishwashing liquid and it was a very small amount applied to a scrub brush. So it wasnt ever even applied directly to the ball. Always with a lot of water and then rinsed off almost strait away. Also following that, I used a proper particle ball cleaner and it didnt improve a whole lot (only marginally).
Can anyone offer me some advice regarding this particular type of ball, for example if anyone out there has owned one of these and had similar problems. Perhaps its just my shot thats changed... But I doubt it. I have been bowling at my best (brought average up to 193) the last few weeks since I got this ball. But its starting to go pear shaped.
Please help. I am hoping not to have to get a new ball. I already paid a bit of $$ for this one.
Cheers,
-Scott
