Faball Hammer Forum

[2handedrook12]

Can someone give me comparisons on the old school hammers? I have the Blue, Red, Purple, Black, and Burgundy. I want to know the differences in covers and some "trick" layouts for urethane.

[Juggernaut]

Can someone give me comparisons on the old school hammers? I have the Blue, Red, Purple, Black, and Burgundy. I want to know the differences in covers and some "trick" layouts for urethane.

 The Burgundy was the most aggressive. The "powder" blue solid was next, followed by the purple, the red, and the black, in that order.

 The purple had a different weightblock in it, more of a true "lightbulb" shape.

 As far as "trick" layouts, what are you thinking? Not too many special things you can do with a regular old urethane ball. Back then, there were really only a couple of things people did to them.

 One was moving the label around to shift the static weights to change the ratio of positive/negative weights. The other popular thing was the label/axis drilling that Wayne Webb used to use a lot.

[Impending Doom]

Only had the Burgundy, but with most of them only having a pin out of maybe an inch, pin down was IT!

[Gene J Kanak]

The pro shop I went to as a kid had balls rated on a 10-point scale in terms of hook potential. When it came to the Faball Hammers, they had them in the following order:
Burgundy (10); Purple (10); Dull Blue (9); Red (; Black (; Red Pearl (5); Blue Pearl (5); Pink (4).

[DrBob806]

I owned the Blue and Black Hammers, and they were awesome balls back in the 80s-early 90s.

The Blue was my heavy oil ball, and the Black was medium and light-medium. I recently took them out and practiced, and they still hit, just not enough ball for today's oil or volume of oil.

Like someone else wrote, the pin was maybe an inch, or 2 max from the CG. It was more about changing surface if you had to, than static weights back then.

[Gene J Kanak]

I remember when every rack was filled with Blue Hammers, Nitros, Cobras, and U-dots!

[bradl]

I owned the Blue and Black Hammers, and they were awesome balls back in the 80s-early 90s.

The Blue was my heavy oil ball, and the Black was medium and light-medium. I recently took them out and practiced, and they still hit, just not enough ball for today's oil or volume of oil.

Like someone else wrote, the pin was maybe an inch, or 2 max from the CG. It was more about changing surface if you had to, than static weights back then.

The only other thing I remember, and I'm trying to remember the justification my youth coach said at the time, but with straight up and down being over the poles of the core, the ball would effectively have to flip on its side during its roll, otherwise, the drill would be more perpendicular to the bulb of the core.

However, if you took the layout that you had, and flipped it 90 degrees, to where it was in line with the bulb of the core, you'd get a better roll out of the ball.

With the Blue Hammer being my first HP ball, my 15 year old naive self believed it, and had the PSO punch up my ball that way, with 3/8 side weight. Best rolling ball I've had, and followed that up with the same layout on my Blue Pearl Hammer.

That coach had to have been right about that layout, because those are still in my bag, with that same layout, with the only change being to add a thumb slug in where the original drill had none.

BL.

[Aloarjr810]

This is from Lichstein's 1994 Ball Guide

Hook power, on a scale of 1-to-15, with 15 the largest.


Model(Price)* Hook** Cover***
Construction

FABALL
Navy Reactive Hammer(3) 14 Reactive(75-78)
2-Piece
New pancake weight block reactive enables ball to skid through
the heads easilly. Used on Tour by high revolution players and those with
slower speed for medium to light oil. NEW
Burgundy Hammer(3) 10 Urethane(76-79)
2-Piece
The urethane model features the high density core that made the
Hammer famous. It is the best non-reactive urethane in the Faball line
for heavy oil.
Blue Hammer(3) 9 Urethane(76-76)
2-Piece
This ball is best for heavier oil conditions, but can be polished
up for less oily lanes. Jeff Phipps used the Blue Hammer exclusively to
average 247.89, a new league record.
Purple Hammer(3) 9 Urethane(76-78)
2-Piece
Designed to get through dry heads, but has stronger back-end
reaction than Blue Hammer.
Black Hammer(3) 8 Urethane(78-80)
2-Piece
The original Hammer, still effective all-around from dry to oily
lanes. Polishes up well.
Red Pearl Hammer(3) 7 Urethane(77-78)
2-Piece
The Red Pearl goes as long as the Blue Pearl, but turns harder in
the back. A short oil ball.
Blue Pearl Hammer(3) 7 Urethane(77-78)
2-Piece
Goes long with good back-end reaction. Good on short oil.
Original Hammer construction.
Pink Hammer(3) 3 Urethane(81-84)
2-Piece
Original Hammer construction, cover stock make this one best for
dry lane conditions.

[bradl]

This is from Lichstein's 1994 Ball Guide

Hook power, on a scale of 1-to-15, with 15 the largest.


Model(Price)* Hook** Cover***
Construction

FABALL
Navy Reactive Hammer(3) 14 Reactive(75-78)
2-Piece
New pancake weight block reactive enables ball to skid through
the heads easilly. Used on Tour by high revolution players and those with
slower speed for medium to light oil. NEW
Burgundy Hammer(3) 10 Urethane(76-79)
2-Piece
The urethane model features the high density core that made the
Hammer famous. It is the best non-reactive urethane in the Faball line
for heavy oil.
Blue Hammer(3) 9 Urethane(76-76)
2-Piece
This ball is best for heavier oil conditions, but can be polished
up for less oily lanes. Jeff Phipps used the Blue Hammer exclusively to
average 247.89, a new league record.
Purple Hammer(3) 9 Urethane(76-78)
2-Piece
Designed to get through dry heads, but has stronger back-end
reaction than Blue Hammer.
Black Hammer(3) 8 Urethane(78-80)
2-Piece
The original Hammer, still effective all-around from dry to oily
lanes. Polishes up well.
Red Pearl Hammer(3) 7 Urethane(77-78)
2-Piece
The Red Pearl goes as long as the Blue Pearl, but turns harder in
the back. A short oil ball.
Blue Pearl Hammer(3) 7 Urethane(77-78)
2-Piece
Goes long with good back-end reaction. Good on short oil.
Original Hammer construction.
Pink Hammer(3) 3 Urethane(81-84)
2-Piece
Original Hammer construction, cover stock make this one best for
dry lane conditions.

I agree with that order, with the exception that it completely left out the solid Red Hammer, which I thought was slotted between the Purple and Black.

BL.

[2handedrook12]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone! As far as trick layouts, I was reffering to the 90 degree flip and the Wayne Webb axis drilling. I'm hoping to learn the small differences so I can separate them a bit more. I would use them on tricky medium patterns and on short patterns. I'm hoping one of these can be polished to ignore the fronts but still maintain the smooth, predictable arc that urethanes tend to have. When you say 90 degree flip, how would the symbol sit? Is it esssentially like swinging the cg?

[Juggernaut]

  If I remember correctly, Mr. Webb used to position the ball so that the pin was on the grip side of the fab label. Then he would position the label on his axis point, and drill out any excess weights until the ball was statically "legal".

 There was also a "leverage" drilling that was popular that put the label over on the positive side of the ball, then added a weighthole 9 inches from the grip center through the cg/label.

 If I am correct about the person using the term "90 degree flip", then it would likely be somewhere between these two drillings.

 A friend if mine who bowled a few PBA tournaments, and says he knew Del Ballard, also says that Del set him up a Blue hammer once. He was having trouble with the ball finishing incorrectly, and said thar Mr. Ballard told him to drill one with the pin just above the thumbhole and have 1oz "thumb" weight when done. My friend did so, and said it was a "hook/set type reaction.