BallReviews
Equipment Boards => Other => Topic started by: lilpossum1 on August 11, 2017, 11:10:44 AM
-
I bowl on old wood lanes and in trying to find a solution for late tournaments when the lanes are torched. I fight above ground ball returns so moving deeper than center arrow is impossible on the right lane and this house is known for having dry zones where you can sometimes see The ball check up in the heads. I have tried the urethane route and, although it does tame flying back ends, urethane reads the lane early and does not solve the problem. Not to mention it had a hard time carrying corner pins when I have to open angles up even a little bit. I am considering a really weak resin drilled weak and polishing the dog piss out of it to try to get it through the heads, or plastic with a strong core. Thoughts?
-
If it's old wood lanes and they get torched, I'd look at the Track Spare+. I've had some times where my Storm Mix was almost playable and if it had a core it probably would have worked pretty well
-
I've had success with my old black widow spare for these conditions with success; super clean with just enough motion to make it back ( the famous black widow core, along with playing tighter angles in front of me).
-
Maybe try a pearl urethane like the new or old Purple Hammer? New Blue Hammer is also basically a very weak resin that goes very long. Doesn't hit as well as the purple though.
-
PLASTIC WITH A DECENT CORE:
1. Taboo spare (If you can find one)
2. True Blood
3. Black Widow spare ( Be careful. There exists a version that only has a pancake core in it too)
4. Track Spare + (Old one was orange/white/black. New one looks like a Mako to me)
There are a couple of urethanes floating around out there that are special. They are the old Pink Hammers, and the Visionary Ogre urethane. Both very hard and shiny, built specifically for dry lanes, but both can be very hard to find anymore.
-
Plastic or pearl urethane will be able to keep you safely around the 1-3 but you will potentially be sacrificing carry. With that being said, there are times when 190 is a good score.
Myself, I'd rather gamble by giving myself a chance to make up some ground on the field. I would be looking at a ball with a High RG & Low Diff core, weaker Pearl cover and pin 5"+ from PAP to allow me to lean on what little remaining oil there is towards the middle of the lane but still kick out the corners. For me this ball would be an Alley Cat, Rhino or Slingshot.
-
The Fanatic BTU Pearl might be a great option. It reacts like a pearl urethane, with a little more kick, but hits like resin. I bowl a second shift scratch league every year and this one might save me...
-
lilpossum,
Most current urethanes on the market are of the older, very early rolling variety. If you have enough ball speed to use them, you probably wouldn't be posting this question.
BUT
Have you tried the Blue Hammer?
It is claimed to be urethane, but it is really, in my opinion, a resin-urethane blend. For me it handles less oil than the current weakest resin on the market, the Tropical Breeze Pearl, and that's with the stock 4000 grit surface. Polished, I have yet to find enough dry to use and I have low speed and am rev dominant.
One other suggestion:
Have you tried any of the slip agent polishes, the ones that reduce the backends and the hook of balls? They're hard to find these days with every one looking for bigger hooking balls but they're still there.
2 of them are Valentino's UFO and Neo-Tac's Control-it.
Rapid oil absorption is one of the major factors that allow resin ball to hook so much. These polishes not only polish the ball they also contain slip agents that partially clog the pores of the resin reducing the ball's ability to hook.
So they go longer from the polish, but they hook less and they have less backend.
They do work.
Both these products have recently been discontinued so they're harder to find but they may be able to help you. FYI for a short while Brunswick marketed Control-It under its own name, so a pro shop may still carry Control-It under the Brunswick label rather than the Neo-Tac label.
-
I currently use Vise 8000 Slip Agent (hydrocarbon based) on my 6yo son's ball which due to his low ball speed will hook even plastic off the lane sometimes (in either direction lol). The stuff is awesome (amazing how much straighter his ball goes) and readily available but its one strength and weakness is it wears off fairly rapidly so you may need to apply after each session. Then again retarding a ball's hook until the next time you can resurface it like some of the older silicon slip agents has its pro cons as well. Would actually prefer it for his ball but not mine.
-
I currently use Vise 8000 Slip Agent (hydrocarbon based) on my 6yo son's ball which due to his low ball speed will hook even plastic off the lane sometimes (in either direction lol). The stuff is awesome (amazing how much straighter his ball goes) and readily available but its one strength and weakness is it wears off fairly rapidly so you may need to apply after each session. Then again retarding a ball's hook until the next time you can resurface it like some of the older silicon slip agents has its pro cons as well. Would actually prefer it for his ball but not mine.
Thanks, HackJandy, for pointing out that Vise makes a slip agent polish. I didn't realize it.
If it wears off rather quickly, it probably does not use silicon as the slip agent.
UFO uses an organic slip agent and it lasts about 20 -25 games and is easily removed by a light sanding with a 4000 grit pad.
On the other hand, Control-it does use silicon and it does not wear off quickly. In fact to remove it you need to use a very dull sanding pad, like 360 or 5000 grit.
I have not yet tried Vise's slip agent polish yet. Their cleaner is very good and highly recommended. I just ordered a bottle.
-
Go with the Lane #1 bullet....the weakest resin ball I've seen, I actually use it as my spare ball...and it does hit very hard. Someone is currently selling a 15 pounder on ebay, check it out..extremely weak with good hit and carry.
Brad
-
Go with the Lane #1 bullet....the weakest resin ball I've seen, I actually use it as my spare ball...and it does hit very hard. Someone is currently selling a 15 pounder on ebay, check it out..extremely weak with good hit and carry.
Brad
Hyper-mild ball; good choice if you use 15s.
-
Don't discount a Purple Hammer. A ton of titles in the past year have been won with that ball. Some really good balls for the truly torched stuff are the Track Spare +, Tropical Breeze, and BTU Pearl. They will get down the lane like you need and still dig enough to carry on the dry.
-
Could also try the Teen Masters PBA Skill 3.02 urethane ball. Minimal flare but more roll than a typical 3-piece.
I use the plastic version of this and love it.
I'd say the ball is weaker than a polished Blue Hammer, but stronger than the 3-piece Storm Mix.
http://www.teenmastersbowling.com/pbaskillballs.html
-
Don't discount a Purple Hammer. A ton of titles in the past year have been won with that ball. Some really good balls for the truly torched stuff are the Track Spare +, Tropical Breeze, and BTU Pearl. They will get down the lane like you need and still dig enough to carry on the dry.
I am suspicious of the new Purple Pearl Hammer because a friend has tried it several times and for him it's super early and a large hooking ball. His ball speed is in the 15 - 16 mph range; so he's not slow. It is still an old world urethane with a pretty grabby coverstock, besides being a pearl.
The new Blue Hammer gets significantly greater length and requires much less oil.
-
Yeah I agree the blue is better for the burn, just heard the purple hits harder but suspected its too early (own blue but not purple, grass always greener). Curious to try my red razor finally as its urethane but with very high RG (think significantly greater than 2.7) so it might have the length and will probably carry better than the blue but we shall see. Its supposedly pretty strong too so might need fresh oil. Have a feeling if going Faball route for serious burn you need the red pearl or maybe even the pink.
-
Charlest, I do agree. I wasn't sure if the "new" Blue Hammer is still in production. That ball "glazes" up a bit to skate through burn on even the oldest surfaces. Very good pick. I know you and I were both fans of the Powergroove Dry/R. I still have a NIB. It never gets dry enough in Vegas for any of the stuff that I was forced to throws on the "fresh" back in the northeast/DMV area.
Last year when we got some true "burn" for a few months in league I was throwing older balls like Vortex II Pearl, Thunderstruck Pearl, Ti-Messenger Pearl. Because of the flare, I was still 5th arrow, but the older covers gave me the length and the control and I picked them all up for $20-25 each through Facebook groups. They've all won their money back 10-20x over with the value vs. taking a gamble on a $150-180 dry lane ball after drilling/inserts/tax.
-
DP3,
I don't know whether or not Hammer has discontinued the BH; but am still seeing it available on several internet web sites.
Based on my experience with it, I'd say it was, in all practicality, a super-mild resin, weaker than the current acknowledged weakest resin, the Tropical Storm, nee Breeze. Officially, Hammer calls it a urethane, while Storm also calls the TS a resin.
For the last 2 seasons, thankfully, I have had no need to use the BH, but I still keep it around, just in case. I have used an older ball that is slightly stronger than the BH but weaker than my Tropical Breeze Hybrid, an AMF Orbit Extreme. The Orbit, which I got from Ebay about 2 years back, does handle a ton of dry and I use it at 4000 grit, not the stock polished finish. It also truly has a urethane type of backend even though I drilled in on the stronger side.
The Orbit has a small differential on the order of .024", if memory serves. During this times I had a Messenger Ti Pearl, but it is stronger and needs more oil than all those I've mentioned so far. For me, it required/was useful in true medium-light oil conditions.
-
I was fortunate enough to find a single drilled Natural, in great condition, to use as my new dry lane ball, as my blue hammer can sometimes turn a little too hard off the dry boards, even for me.
You really do have to pay close attention to the definition of a try 'dry lane ball'; More complicated than one would think; it never helps when balls on the so called 'lower end ' are designed to be more aggressive than the avg low end performance piece.
-
Can always get one of those old rubber balls with a hardness in the 90s for the house that doesn't believe in lane oil. My opinion is if a house is too dry for my blue hammer (polished and slip agent to hell) probably don't want to bowl there because will tear up your equipment. Like that house that bowlingzuki guy on youtube rolls all those old gems at.
-
Like that house that bowlingzuki guy on youtube rolls all those old gems at.
Yea, can you say "Swing shot" with a Manhattan Rubber?
Sheesh.
-
Like that house that bowlingzuki guy on youtube rolls all those old gems at.
Yea, can you say "Swing shot" with a Manhattan Rubber?
Sheesh.
In 1967, I could; In 2017, I cannot. "NO, YOU CANNOT!"
-
The Fanatic BTU Pearl might be a great option. It reacts like a pearl urethane, with a little more kick, but hits like resin. I bowl a second shift scratch league every year and this one might save me...
This is one I'm really hoping to keep an eye on. Hopefully people buy it around here. If not... might be a real nice buy off the clearance rack later on. ;D
-
After reading all this, I am thinking about the track spare+ more and more, as it is true burn. Or the widow spare. Any key differences between the two? Also, unofficial thoughts on turtle wax as it as silicone (I believe) to act as a slip agent. Polishing the ever living ________ out of my pitch black doesn't quite make it clean enough when I decide to use it. I know it may not react at all at that point, but that just may be what I am looking for
-
After reading all this, I am thinking about the track spare+ more and more, as it is true burn. Or the widow spare. Any key differences between the two? Also, unofficial thoughts on turtle wax as it as silicone (I believe) to act as a slip agent. Polishing the ever living ________ out of my pitch black doesn't quite make it clean enough when I decide to use it. I know it may not react at all at that point, but that just may be what I am looking for
I used car wax once and destroyed the ball. Had to throw it in the garage. It wouldn't hook on anything.
I'd suggest trying Vise Slip Agent polish.
-
Neo-tac has the Glide. Is that roughly the same as control it?
-
Neo-tac has the Glide. Is that roughly the same as control it?
No, that's just a polish with extra fine abrasive.
-
Well I tried it as I am as stubborn as a bull and I wouldn't mind turning my pitch black into a spare ball only worse case scenario. It still hooked off of a 10 pin. After league was over, I threw it a few shots through where we had been playing and the ball did seem to skate through the dry heads and mids, but had a hard arc in the back end. Granted my speed was down some as I had my bowling shoes off and was just walking up to the foul line to throw a couple test shots as an afterthought. I may keep the pitch black in my bag with this surface, and still pick up a spare+. I liked what I saw.
-
Yeah even though I own a significant number of urethane pieces I still insist on carrying a plastic viz a ball spare ball. Tried using my blue hammer as a spare ball for awhile and just wasn't as comfortable with it and hate missing non split spares more than anything else. Also did the no no of getting a 1lb lighter spare ball which with a pancake core means its basically worthless for a first ball but now so used to it I can snipe clean games left and right. I think of it as my putter and so it deserves a place in the bag.