Black Hammer handles a little more oil and has more of an arc motion. Purple Hammer gets down the lane a little more and is smooth towards the pocket. Has a nice "lane change" motion.

When I was throwing 15 lbs, I had a black hammer and rebel tank. Now throwing 14, I decided to go purple hammer instead and it basically fills the spot of the rebel tank. Might be a tad stronger, but I have not thrown both to see.

Thanks! I thought that the pearl urethanes were probably all fairly similar, although without seeing many (any?) of them in action I didn't have much to base that on. Seems like my choice should basically boil down to whatever I can get at the best price.

Due to surface prep, I see quite a bit of difference between the two. The Black Hammer is at box (500 grit), so it really reads quickly. The Natural Pearl is at 4000 plus polish, so it is much cleaner up front, and I feel like it has more left at the pins. They're both excellent options in the appropriate situation though.

That is a pretty vast difference. Good to hear that the Natural Pearl works well for you even with polish though.

I really appreciate all the replies. I tend to over-analyze everything about certain purchases and bowling balls might be at the top of that list so any additional information is nice.

I have been in the process of creating a urethane arsenal for my doubles league.
It is a house shot, about 42 feet with good volume.
My three ball arsenal is:
Strong: Visionary Midnight Scorcher 320 grit. (Rarely needed!)
Medium: Hammer Black Widow Urethane 500 grit. (The ball for the Fresh)
Weak: Hammer Purple Pearl Urethane at 2000 grit. (Transition ball)

Comparing the Purple to the Widow, the Widow is several boards stronger and is much earlier. With Purple, if I want to use it on the fresh I need to target 7 at the arrows and tip it out to no further than 5, preferably 6 with soft speed and the ball will get up the lane and then hook and come across strongly into the pocket.

The same shot with the Widow can hook early or die out.
So Purple is a ball down option when the Widow and other reactive balls have broken down my down and in shot and I am forced inside with my Widow. Going to Purple at this point I can stay outside rather than move in.

Purple hooks later than Widow and with the very high RG and low Diff and two piece construction, it hits very hard!

Make no mistake, Purple is still a very strong and early ball, but it is much later than Widow.

Below is a video showing my practice session with Purple. You will see that it has trouble with misses inside or shots too much in the oil though sometimes it can hit real hard on or inside of second arrow. But if it skids too long then it will not roll up.
So it needs friction as compared to the Widow which can be in the oil from the start and roll strongly through the oil.

So in this house I can set up for a down and in shot with my Widow playing around 9 board and once the Widow starts going high, pick up the Purple and pretty much use the same down and in line with only slight adjustments of feet and maybe target a tad more right if the volume is still a touch high for it.

Purple Pearl Video:
https://youtu.be/2D2F-3z4Cj4

IMO, the Slate Blue Gargoyle is one of the very best urethane balls ever made, I'd buy it if I were you (I already have one).  --  JohnP

Thought hard about it but have lots of urethane I hardly use as it is (love my Ogre but hardly throw it).  With my style don't match up with them at all at least for big scores especially on conditions I mostly see (heavier oil).  Plus now up to 25 balls.  Is a great ball though I have heard but have to be honest and say if had to choose glad to have the Ogre.  The colors and how hard that ball is just plain cool as hell even if Gargoyle is a better first ball.

A final note on the Purple Hammer.
The Purple actually has a stronger coverstock than the Black Widow Urethane, but due to the low Diff, high RG core, it has less overall hook.
When developing the Widow, Hammer tried to use the Purple coverstock, but with the huge Gasmask core, the ball hooked far too early and had the wrong shape.
So they used a slightly weaker coverstock for the Black Widow Urethane and the stronger coverstock for the Purple.
I recently did a new video of the Purple Hammer at 1000 grit.
It allowed me to play a little further left:
https://youtu.be/3Grv8dnCGPw

So no chance of a Purple covered Widow? That would be disappointing if so. The way that cover handles newer oils is absolutely amazing.

Quote from: nord on May 15, 2018, 07:04:40 PM

A final note on the Purple Hammer.
The Purple actually has a stronger coverstock than the Black Widow Urethane, but due to the low Diff, high RG core, it has less overall hook.
When developing the Widow, Hammer tried to use the Purple coverstock, but with the huge Gasmask core, the ball hooked far too early and had the wrong shape.
So they used a slightly weaker coverstock for the Black Widow Urethane and the stronger coverstock for the Purple.
I recently did a new video of the Purple Hammer at 1000 grit.
It allowed me to play a little further left:
https://youtu.be/3Grv8dnCGPw

Where did you get this information? I thought the Black Widow urethane used the same cover as the Black Hammer. The Black Hammer is definitely earlier and smoother than the Purple Hammer. I have them both drilled the same way. The Purple is not really stronger. I also think it covers more boards because it is cleaner due to the pearl urethane cover. Still early like urethane, but further down lane. I can't see the purple cover being earlier than the black cover. More overall hook, probably.

Does it have to be weaker just because it isn't as early? Historically, most pearl urethanes were much less overall than their solid counterpart. I don't find that to be the case wirh the Purple. It's cleaner, but more overall.

Think about it for second,
The Black comes out of the box at 500 grit.
The Widow comes out of the box at 500 grit.
The Purple comes out of the box at 2000 grit.

I took my Purple down to 500 grit once and tried it and it hooked instantly and died out before it got 2/3's up the lane.
But the Widow, with its huge flaring low RG core at 500 grit I could get up the same lane fine.

Based on that effect I contacted Hammer directly and they confirmed the information I already shared, the Purple has the strongest coverstock of all the urethane balls they make.
The coverstock on the Widow is next in strength and the Black is last.
They told me they tried to use the Purple cover on the Widow and it was far, far too strong with the big Gasmask core and would not shape.
So they took that strong Purple coverstock and turned it into a higher grit pearl.
The Purple is a wonderful ball.
My other urethane balls will score up after three games but the Purple after tons of games still looks like it is brand new, not a score mark on it.
Plus it handles oil like very few urethane balls ever could.
Check out Jakob Butturff using it on the Dick Weber pattern and just killing it:
https://youtu.be/hGK9e8JMJC8?t=4698

Seems fair to me. It holds its surface way better.

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.