Quote from: JazlarVonSteich on May 17, 2018, 08:46:34 AM

The purple hammer came out long before the black widow urethane, so the latter has been in the works for that long? Find that hard to believe. It seemed like more of a response to the hot cell.

In terms of strength, strength is measured front to back - not by overall hook. It's also a measure of the volume of oil it can handle. If the cover is stronger on the purple pearl, why is it rated 3.5 on Hammer's site, while the black is 4? On any PBA telecast I've seen, they've also had the black rated higher. The widow is also rated 4, which suggests it is using the black hammer cover - which I'm pretty sure I saw noted prior to its release.

The fact that Butturf used the purple hammer does not prove its strength. It may just be that he prefers that ball for his game and/or it matched up better on that oil pattern.

I have to keep the Purple at 2000 grit to use it on house shots.
The Widow I can keep at stock 500.
If I take the Widow up to 2000, it is just a spare ball.
That is how strong the Purple is.
But, the Widow, with that Gasmask core at stock 500 grit has much more shape and hook than the Purple.
You can open your angles up with the Widow because of the huge flare of the core and low grit.
But the Purple is a control ball that will let you go down and in.
The Widow and Purple are a nice combo to have.
You can go down and in with the Widow on the fresh and the Widow will take oil off the lane and dry it up and then when it starts checking early go to the Purple and you can keep the shot going.
I don't see any pros using the Widow though, but I do see them using the Purple.
Here is a direct quote from Mitch Beasley Technical Services Director of Ebonite International Inc.:
"The Black urethane has the weakest Urethane cover, with the Purple being the strongest and the Widow being a close second in strength."
Also there is a facebook urethane tech talk video from David O'Sullivan who explains how the three Hammer urethane balls compare to each other.
You can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/david.osullivan.585/videos/10101574004071661/
Basically he says the Purple is a full arrow stronger than the Black, hooks more and has more continuation through the pins.
He says the Purple, for short patterns for him has too much backend, so he starts on the fresh with the Black and once it creates carrydown and gets lazy in the back, then he switches to the Purple.

This is pretty much spot on from what I see.  The black hammer is really good going straight up the lane on short patterns.  Its really early and urethane smooth on the backend.  The purple hammer hooks 4-5 more, is more downlane, and better after they transition and you have to go around the lane a little more.  And when I mean around the lane, still playing right of 13-14.  Its not resin by any means, however I have seen some guys with soft hands and alot of axis rotation make it really flip downlane.  I can't do that with my ball speed.

The BW urethane for what its worth hooks 4-5 more than the purple hammer but is alot earlier and not good playing farther left.  I prefer the BWU playing straight up the lane just like the black hamme when and I can't get my black hammer to hook enough.  If I have to move in, I'm going to resin.

Well, I just ordered one 8-)