Buddy of mine is a big hammer guy. He keeps telling me his equipment is dead no matter how many times we put it through the rejuvenator. he's looking at getting either a daredevil trick, sure lock, or no rules. anybody have MANY games on them how quickly does storm/roto stuff "die"...i know nothing dies like a hammer haha i tell him that all the time! and yes he cleans his equipment regularly, and rejuvenates it. hes just sick of rejuvenating hammer every month lol

Very few people I know say storm stuff dies dumb fast. I hear motiv is good for longevity also

i'll be the first to admit im a hammer HATER so my opinion on them dieing is bias. i know what u mean though the guys that have a vested interest in 1 brand always seem to bash another company vs say what's so good about their company

i'll be the first to admit im a hammer HATER so my opinion on them dieing is bias. i know what u mean though the guys that have a vested interest in 1 brand always seem to bash another company vs say what's so good about their company

Personally I love Faball.  Sometimes Ebonite gets it right but not near as often as Visionary does.  Oh how I would love a NIB 15# Ogre Urethane or even a Genesis Judge LE (Faball Black Hammer in all but name).

Ball death is most pronounced in aggressive solids no matter what brand.  Death is probably a misnomer, but it is only partly due to oil absorption. A lot of the problem is the formulation of the shell.  Many of the most aggressive tend to lane polish very quickly.  This has a big impact on reaction.  Not sure any brand is worse.  Every Roto solid I have owned seemed to die quickly.  Also Ebonite solids.  Brunswick PK 18 and Activator held up the best, but activator solid not as well as the pearl.  I suspect something similar with Hammer.  My Cobalt Vibe held up incredibly well. 

As for somebody's comment on urethane.  I guess I would say you can't kill something that is already dead.  Nobody appreciates urethane as a tool more than me, but there are reasons resin replaced urethane overnight, and those reasons are still valid. 

KBS clean... I must investigate this now.

>Nobody appreciates urethane as a tool more than me, but there are reasons resin replaced urethane overnight, and those reasons are still valid.

I will agree that unless you are 2 handed you aren't going to average 230 more than likely with urethane.  But honestly I would rather average 185 and never throw a game under 170 than average 200 but throw 150s occasionally.  Consistency and never missing single pin spares are more important to me than stringing strikes but accepting wash outs and splits.  Especially since with my style I will never be able to chase the oil with the rev monsters anyway.  Old enough now I can accept will never be PBA material but do I ever get a kick out of a nice easy suitcase release getting my Faball where it needs to be and crushing the pins even with a 13mph on the overhead ball speed.  To each his own.   House hack and proud of it I guess.  Lofting over the gutter cap yeah that ain't me.

There might be a difference in batches.  I have had both Alpha Crux and Phase ll.  Crux lane polished quicker and lost its reaction quicker than Phase for me.  The other side if the coin is that lane polish isn't always bad.  Best example for me was original Virtual Gravity.  Much better ball for me after it lane polished.  More recently I had a similar experience with Lucid.  Going back a few years, Cell, Infinite One, and Theory were just the opposite.  They stopped hitting for me after 30-50 games.   

Also, I recently had some experience with the wave machines for oil extraction.  Used it on Alpha Crux and IQ tour.  In both case immediate improvement was very noticeable, but short lived.