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Author Topic: What do I have?  (Read 3728 times)

NewInBox

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What do I have?
« on: March 11, 2009, 06:36:11 AM »
I am new to bowling and when I switched from a straight ball to a hook ball a friend gave me an old Green ball he picked up at a garage sale. I am trying to determine what the hook rating on it is. I have seen pictures of the burgundy Fab Hammer sanded urethane ball and it looks exactly like that only it is green. I do know I enjoy bowling with this ball but I am upgrading to something closer to a Rogue Cell or Storm Dimension, anyway, is this ball the exact same as the burgundy one or does the ball rating differ? Thanks for any input.

 

Gene J Kanak

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2009, 02:43:56 PM »
Most likely, you have an oil-soaked Faball dull Blue Hammer. They started off light blue in color but often turned sea green with age. In any case, I'm 99% positive that Fab used the same cores and cover formulations in all of the solid urethane hammers (not sure about the pink one) and just changed the out-of-box grit ratings to alter how early they hooked. I'm pretty sure the burgundy had the most aggressive cover of all of them, so, when both were brand new, the burgundy usually would've wanted to grab the lane a touch sooner than the dull blue and cover a few more boards overall. I know there are experts that know this for sure, but I'm fairly certain I'm right on this.
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NewInBox

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2009, 03:11:26 PM »
I have cleaned the ball and buffed it with a scotchbrite pad so i am postive it is green, aside from that it is the same as the burgundy ball complete with the hammer emblem and bulls eye. Thanks

pocketsmasher51582

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2009, 03:13:38 PM »
Not to sound like an expert or any thing mean I dont think going from urethane to an extremely agressive ball like the Rogue Cell or Dimension is a good idea.  

You should probably look more for a mid range ball than go right for the top of the line.  I have a couple balls for sale if your interested in trying something first before buying a brand new ball.  

Let me know.
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NewInBox

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2009, 03:30:30 PM »
I have thrown a Cell for a couple games and a Virtual Gravity and am totally hooked on hooking. It was a big adjustment but in a couple frames I had it pretty well figured out and was starting to string together some decent strikes. I would rather fight the learning curve and buy the one ball instead of buying a midlevel ball and then having to upgrade again in a few months because I wanted more action on the ball.

boomtown24

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2009, 03:32:19 PM »
Straighter is greater!

NewInBox

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2009, 03:39:48 PM »
Wow I sound cocky there...... I do not mean that in a couple frames I was ready to hit the pro circuit but I was bowling as well or better than I do with my normal ball. I am not a great bowler yet I am only throwing a 155 to 160 average since switching to the hook ball.

Gene J Kanak

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2009, 03:45:40 PM »
If it has the bull's eye on it, I'm 99% positive it's urethane. I think they started altering or removing the bull's eye once the reactive stuff came out. If it is urethane, it's either a color blem or the aforementioned dull blue. Fab never made a green urethane ball, right?
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NewInBox

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2009, 03:58:14 PM »
Ok well thanks for the information, I know I have searched Google for days looking for a green one and never found any mention. Maybe I can get some pics up and post them. Just another quick question Didn't Hammer put out a FABall replica could it be something in that line?

Gene J Kanak

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2009, 04:06:39 PM »
I don't remember hearing anything about a replica. Ebonite did release two Pure Hammers (black and burgundy). Those were very, very mild reactive balls with the traditional hammer core. The intent was to create a ball that mimiced the classic urethane Hammer roll on today's conditions. That may be what you'd heard about, but neither one of those balls was anything close to green. If you truly want input on what you've got, I'd just go ahead and post a pic when you have the chance.
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hm

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2009, 10:36:16 PM »
Hello,

Hammers were made in Baltimore for about 20 years and I saw some test balls that were a dark shade of green. As I recall, the test balls never had the standard multi ring label, but had a single small open circle indicating the center of gravity.

NewInBox

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Re: What do I have?
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2009, 08:32:53 AM »
I have to apologize. I did a little background research on the previous owners of this ball and found out that it was a Blue ball originally. It sat in the back of a pickup truck for and entire summer and got bleached to a nice Sea green color.  I have done some work to the surface of this ball to get it to grip better and I can still swear that the green runs deep but it was or it started life as a blue faball hammer.

Edited on 3/16/2009 8:35 AM