I'm cheap..I set my ball in a small bowl, covered with a rag in front of a sliding glass door. After 30 min to an hour, wipe off the oil, turn it 1/4 turn and do it all over again. You'll be surprised how much oil this will take out. I do this about every 10-15 games. I've heard some people use the dishwasher, not sure I'd want to try that, but have heard it said it will work as well.
Good luck.
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AZ Guy aka: R & L Bowlers Pro
rlbowlerspro@cox.net

I did a little "research" myself as to what exactly is coming out of a bowling ball...  This was done in response to a couple of questions I had read here on the site, Ebonite's insert advertising their hook-again system, and my own personal interest.  I posted on the other site as this one had been down for a bit.  Here is what I found:

Does Oil Really Come Out of a Ball?

I had been asked this question a number of times and to be honest, I thought I knew the answer,
but really didn't know. It seems reasonable to think that becasue a bowling ball soaks up oil, upon
heating the ball would "sweat" out oil. The liquid that comes out has a mild odor, but feels like oil.
Well, I decided to find out for myself...

I took a fuze Igniter that had approx 150 games on it and threw it in my rejuvenator. After the cycle,
I pulled the ball out...it was covered with the greasy substance, thought to be oil. I rinsed the ball
off with a solvent to remove the substance and collected the liquid. I happen to be fortunate
enough to have access to some high tech analysis equipment, a gas chromatogram coupled with a
mass spec detector. I preped the sample and ran it for analysis. To my surprise, the collected
liquid contained only trace amounts of oil (probably what was left over on the surface from league
the previous night). The major component of the liquid was a relatively large acid compound. After
some research, I found that this component was likely the plasticizer used in the manufacturing
process (plasticizer is added to the urethane mixture in order to create surface roughness and
small pores in the surface...thus making it a reactive urethane). There also were a small amount of
ester compounds (maybe a side product from the urethane formation), which gave the liquid a
slight odor.

So based on this, I have to give Ebonite credit for their findings (the insert in the July 2003 BTM
magazine) where they introduced their "Hook Again" product. Here they also claimed that
plasticizer build-up (and not oil absorption) was to blame for loss of reaction. The only
discrepance now is on how to remove it. Heat definitely seems to work, but ebonite claims it
weakens the material and may lead to cracking... their product absorbs the plasticizer at room
temp...

Personally I own and use a rejuvenator and have never had any trouble with cracking and/or core
separation. The only time I have ever heard of this happening is when people do stupid things
such as heating a ball in a oven at a high temp... or heating a ball 10 times in a 3 day period...or
heating a ball, then leaving it outside (winter) thus causing it to cool extremely fast... I think if you
use some common sense, you don't have any trouble...
 
 
Interesting huh?

S^2


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I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

George Carlin

Well stated Ric...  I'm not supporting or bashing any one company... I'm just saying that my results at least appear to be consistant with what ebonite had found.  When you look at the big picture, it really doesn't matter what comes out as long as it helps to restore some of the reaction.

On a side note, after restoring and resurfacing the fuze ignitor, my team mate shot an 800 series with it last night.... 299, 275, 228  previously he could barely get a decent reaction out of the ball...


I have never personally used the hook again system.  I have always had good results using the rejuvenator....

S^2
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

George Carlin


Edited on 12/21/2004 11:46 AM