First off, I want to make clear I'm not strictly a Buzzsaw Fan as I once was. I've gotten some bad balls from Lane 1, namely the Blueberry and Golden Nugget. As for the XXXL, well it is a plastic ball used mostly for right side corner pin spares. Then I've gotten some great balls from Lane 1, namely the Emerald and Uranium. I also throw other balls like the V2 Pearl, AMF Angle Evolution Extra, Storm Depth Charge, and a Storm Triple X Extreme. I haven't drill the Extreme yet.
When I got the Emerald, I loved it and parked my V2 Pearl even though the V2 was still working. The Emerald performance encouraged me to buy the Uranium Pearl even though I had some second thoughts about the Uranium. Well, the Uranium turned out to be such a great ball that it became the first ball out of my bag. Then the Emerald died and I couldn't find any sanding/polish combination that would make the ball work so I put it in the closet and drug my V2 Pearl out as it still worked no matter what.....Next the Uranium died and I had to do the same thing with it as I did the Emerald....Put it in the closet and drag my old AMF Angle Evolution Extra out of closet.
The problems seemed to start when I made some span changes on the balls. What ever the pro shop did to the covers killed the balls and as already mentioned and no sanding/polishing combination would revive them. I tried Track polish, Storm polish, Black Magic polish, Ebonite polish, and nothing would work. After some conversations with Charlest, Strider, and LuckyLefty to see what they use, and discovering from them that they felt Ultimate Quick Cut 500 Grit was a good base polish plus it takes out sanding lines. All of these polishes can only be bought in quarts and I already had too many quarts of polish that didn't do the job so I talked my pro shop out of a sample of it. Also a sample of Columbia 2000 Grit Polish.
I then took my Emerald and Sanded to 600 (was previously sanding to 400 because that is what Brunswick sands their Pearlized balls to) and then I took a Meguires spounge that I bought at Wal-Mart made for polishing and put a glob of Ultimate 500 Grit Polish about the size of a quarter on it, turned on spinner, and worked this polish in on one side for approximately 15 seconds. I then took a flannel cloth also bought at Wal-Mart and burned this polish in. Next, I turned ball 180 degrees and did the same to the other side......Next I took the Columbia 2000 Grit Polish and put a glob about the size of a nickle on the spounge and worked it in the same way I did the Ultimate Polish......Last, (laugh if you like, but it seems to work)at the recommendation by Beans, I sprayed the ball with water and really burned it in hard.
Next, off to the Lanes I went. Two different houses......And..... Voila, my Emerald lives again!!!!! My Uranium is in pro shop now being plugged to change span and redrill. When I get it back, I will use the same sanding/polishing formula on it and see what happens.
Last, when I finished polishing the Emerald, it was so shiny I could have almost combed my hair using it for a mirror. I expected the ball to skid on thru the break-point as all balls this shiny in the past along with my "not much hand" and low revs did skid thru and wouldn't turn the corner until too late and they would also hit like a marshmallow.
Sorry for such a long story, but I was so excited to see my Emerald work again as it once did and hopefully my Uranium will do the same, that I just had to tell everyone what I did, the results, and hopefully give you something to try if you have a polished ball that doesn't work right.....just remember, go light on the polish like I described here.
--------------------
Retired and bowling on
Fixed Income Edited on 8/29/2004 5:44 PM