Heya gang... Just got the info on the new Hammer Black Urethane.
This looks like a ball to have in the bag for the shorter patterns & will be a true urethane cover.

http://www.hammerbowling.com/products/balls/mid-performance/hammer-black-urethane

i miss my original black hammer

Has anyone trIed to polish theirs?  Mine is way too early box and I wondered if they are as difficult as the old hammers.  The Blue was ridiculously hard to polish.

I was wondering the same thing. I'm on the fence on this ball. Waiting and hoping they re-release the pink next!

just a little more flare, yes, but really should not matter that much. The ball is still smooth in the backends. This ball is really growing on me the more that I throw it...

I have tried shinning mine up a little bit and it does shine up, but not glossy, which is good compared to the old days of urethane... the only way that I got my old urethane shiny was leaving it in the old Lustre King for 1/2 hour... don't see too many of those around anymore.

I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised on how good this ball actually rolls on the shorter / drier lane patterns.

I pre-ordered mine and paid the extra $5.00 for it too be 3000 grit no polish, only 2 more weeks too go till I'm getting even with houses that short oil THS.

Rather than polish, just take the surface up to 2000, 3000, or even 4000.  I think 500 box is too aggressive in todays environment.  If you are trying to control the back ends but still need that much surface, you would be better off with something like an Arson Low Flare solid than urethane.  The advantage of urethane is being able to keep the ball in front of you without covering boards.  At 500 grit you blow up the heads quickly and get forced in to adjustments that don't match up with urethane very well. 

Maybe you high rev, high speed guys can find more uses for such an aggressive shell than this admittedly low rev low speed stroker. 

I threw mind for the first time today. It was late this afternoon after all the activity with the senior leagues in the morning and the youth leagues in the early afternoon. I wouldn't call the condition dry, but it was certainly a chopped up and pushed down THS. It's exactly what I was looking for as a first test of the ball.
 
It was fun to throw. The 500 grit finish OOB definitely wasn't too much. I squared up over the 5 board, and had a nice controlled shot to the pocket. If I threw too hard, it was definitely a 5 pin, or on two occasions over the three games, a 5-7 and an 8-10. But after two games of adjusting speed and rotation to the ball, I threw a clean 235. 
 
It's definitely old school Urethane with a modern core. I can see this ball as a go to in those situations where the lanes get too squarely for resin. We're bowling on Kegel 'Eiffel Tower' in my sport league, which breaks down quickly. I'm hoping this new Black Hammer will be the answer when the mids go and I can't keep anything else right of the head pin.