Coverstock death is a thing of the past.  I mean it really is.  We have learned that all bowling balls absorb oil.  Some absorb it at a quicker rate than others.  Once the ball get's enough oil absorbed into the cover the performance of the ball goes down dramatically.  Years ago bowlers would of called this "ball death" and get rid of the ball.  Since then we have learned how to xtract oil out of the coverstock and re-gain the performance we had when the ball was new.

Ebonite got a bad reputation a few years back.  I think it started with the Ebonite Killer Instinct balls!  There was a huge drop in performance after about 100 games.  Many at that time didn't know about xtracting oil out of the balls coverstock to regain performance.

Still to this day Ebonite still seems to have some of that bad rep.  I think it's because their covers do absorb oil at a quicker rate than other companies equipment does.  However, their coverstock performance is really good.

So if you see a loss in performance from your BWP just give it a HOT WATER BATH to xtract the oil that's been absorbed!

Keep in mind what Shelly is talking about when it comes to lifespan.  Shelly is talking about how long it takes before the ball needs oil xtraction.

One of my favorite bowling balls of all time is the original No Mercy.  The NM seems to absorb oil very quick compared to most bowling balls.  I would give mine a hot water bath after every 50 games.  That's about how quick it took for the ball to start losing it's reaction.  After the hot water bath process the ball would react just like new!  I had one NM with about 300 games on it.  The ball still reacted like new after every hot water bath process.

It's kind of like cleaning a water spill with a dry rag.  Once the rag becomes soaked it needs to be wringed out.  Once a bowling ball gets oil soaked it needs to be wringed out with the HOT WATER BATH or other oil xtracting process.

Edited on 3/20/2008 8:50 AM