I had posed the question recently what the comparison of the bath vs. kitty litter method. Someone was kind enough to turn me on to this sort of "hair dryer" method. It is super simple.....Creates an even temp. around the surface of the ball...Extracts oil like you wouldn't believe. The only caution I would advise is to monitor the temperature not to exceed 130 to 150. Much hotter and I think you may be doing harm. I've attached the instructions I was given below. I went to a Petco and purchased a digital external aquarium thermometer for less than $10 so I make sure the hair dryer is not creating too high of a temp....Think of it after you read the directions....It is like a convection oven.....
"1) hair dryer
2) a box big enough to place the bowling ball in ( I use a 12.5 x 12.5 x 12.5 box from a office supply store )
3) pencil or marker
4) box cutter or scissors
5) cleaner ( your choice, but I use a mixture of 50-50 mix of all-purpose and water or a 60-40 mixture of water and acetone)
6) towels or rags.
First....once you find the box that is going to be used, take the end of the hair dryer and place the blower part of the dryer near the bottom of the box and trace the hair dryer with a pencil....now take your box cutter and cut out the circle you just made....if the end of the hair dryer doesnt fit, trim it so that when the dryer is placed in the hole its snug.
Place the hair dryer in the hole that you made and place the ball of your choice in the box....close the box and I usually place a towel over the top as sometimes you can feel air coming out and you pretty much want the box air tight. When I place the ball in the box, I have the dryer blowing on the side of the ball that touches the lane . Depending on how many games I have bowled depends on how long I leave the ball in the box, but usually after 15-20 minutes oil will start to bleed out of the coverstock. I will wait til there is a good amount of oil coming out of the coverstock, take the ball out, wipe with either one of the cleaners I mentioned and then place the ball back in there again and will repeat this process until no more oil is coming out. For the most part, I can usually go 20 games or longer til I need to do this process and a lot depends on the coverstock that a company uses as some will not release oil right away even though they have a lot of games on them.
Here are some pictures incase I lost you someplace :
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4344536 box with circle cut out.
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4344537 hair dryer inserted in cut out
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4344538 once ball is inside, close the box and turn the hair dryer on. I use med heat at a low setting."
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Jeff Podgorny
Schererville, IN, USA