Wow! what a can of worms you just opened!
I've been "playing" with surfaces quaite a lot the last 3+ years since I got my spinner. While I have tested every polish and liquid, I have tried a few.
Oddly while my common sense tells me it does not matter, I have found more than a few polishes to
apparently work best on the brand of ball for which it was developed. This goes completely against my practical side. Examples:
1. Ebonite's Factory polish work GREAT on Ebonite balls sanded to 800 grit, exactly like the instructions tell you. (I assume it also works on 4000 grit abralon cause that's what they do to the One.)
2. Track's Magic Shine works GREAT on top of/after an application of Track's Clean and Sheen and after a 600, 800 or 1000 grit sanding. Otherwise, I find it a little on the difficult side to apply and finish off neatly. (I could be doing it wrong.)
3. Brunswick's High Gloss polish works WONDERFULLY (I love it!) on Brunswick solid and pearl coverstocks, sanded anywhere from 400 grit all the way up to any Abralon grit, even 4000. I've also found it work well on many other brands of coverstocks. Only on Storm balls have I found to be not the best.
The BEST thing about it is it has no grit in it. The grit to which you sand it to before applying the polish, is the grit you get when you finish - you just get good but not unreasonable length. (Black Magic also says their Black Magic polish has no grit in it, but I stopped using it after my balls began showing reduced overall hook and backend, when I applied a fairly normal level of polish, approx 1500 grit. I believed it was clogging the ball's pores like car wax does. )
4. Legends polish is/appears to work on Legends balls with fairly little effort. It seems to have grit in it, but very little, compared to some others, like Storm's Xtra Shine and Ebonite's Factory finish. I tried it on a few other brands and while it generally works well, I think it is best used on Lanemasters/Legends brand balls. I just haven't got the good results on other brands that I get with using it on Lanemasters balls.
My absolutely favorite polish is Storm's Xtra Shine. It works on EVERY ball company's surface, particle and plain resin. I can get almost any level of shine I want, starting with virtually any level of grit or polish. I apply as much as I need for as long or as short to get where I want.
However, My favorite low level (if 1000 grit can be considered low level) polish is Track's Clean and Sheen. It gets the ball to about a 1000 grit polish, often called a "compound polish". If you start off with a ball, anywhere from 320 to 800 grit, C&S will get you a great intermediate level of shine halfway between a dull ball (say 1000 - 2000 grit) and a true high gloss polish.
Particle polishes:
I have tried very few of these, mostly because I find that sanding (using either ScotchBrite, sandpaper or Abralon) the ball first and then applying w regular bowling ball specific polish gets me the change I need every time. Remember that currently, except for Brunswick particle, most companies' pparticles are relatively soft. Even Brunswick says theirs can and will be affected by wet/dry silicon carbide sandpaper. Only on older Brunswick particle balls do I use Trizact. I even used Xtra Shine on Legends diamond particles and got the reaction I was looking for.
Regarding repeatable finishes:
My assumption was that, since we have no mechanism to measure the reflectivity index of balls, you need to get used to the degree of shine that your eyes see. I have tried to insure I start certain brands off at certain levels or degrees of grit and then apply the proper polish.
My guess: Don't forget that not only do coverstocks change but different cores and different drillings will also affect the final length you get after refinishing a ball. You may think it is different because you see a slightly different ball reaction. So maybe you believe the finish was not the same as your previous one. (
)
Cleaners:
I like
- Legends cleaner (comes free with the balls)
- Brunswick's Remove All
- Ultimate's Black Magic Rejuevenator (says it's for particles; I use it for everything.)
2nd to the above 3 is Neo-Tac's Liquid Nitro.
The best DEEP, oil-sucking cleaner(s) is(/are) Track's Clean and Dull and its replacement, Clean and Tacky. They require a specific regimen with 3 towels (apply, water removal and dry towel removal); so I only use them at home once a month or so or when required OR to begin a resurfacing job (apply it with a 220/280 sandpaper or a 320 grit Scotch-Brite pad).
FWIW I hate combination cleaner & polishes. If I want a ball cleaned, I do not want it polished. If I want it polished, I will have cleaned it first; then I will polish it. With cleaner/polishers, you never know what degree of shine you have applied. So I no longer use products like Neo-Tac's Renew-it.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see." Edited on 7/5/2006 10:15 AM
