Happened a couple weeks go.  Took a ball out of the car to move to my locker at the lanes, and it had a crack (or more descriptively, a slice) almost all the way around it. Always thought a "cracked" ball would have a jagged irregular break in it, but this was more like someone slicing open a tomato.

Was quite surprised as I had never had this happen to me before, and the ball was in a heated closet for the last year, then moved to the car for only a few hours. Temperature was in at least the low 30's, so not exactly extreme conditions or circumstances.

Only reason the tomato --- oops...  I mean the ball is still in one piece is cause the slice changes position by a few degrees as it circles the ball and its end is about 2-3 inches away from it's beginning.

Anyway, the ball is/was a Storm Secret Agent. I do have have plenty of other
equipment, but still used it occasionally, so my main regret is that this ball is so unusual in terms of it's specs, that there isn't much chance of replacing it (if I felt the need). I've accepted that it's gone and that's that, in terms of usage, but so far haven't been able to justify tossing it in the dumpster (or leaving it on the rack at the bowling alley, etc...).

Which brings me to the point (finally!) of this post.  Is there any kind of purpose or good cause or something or somebody that could benefit from this ball?  Whether it involves giving it to someone or some organization or finding a new role for it? 

I don't want it taking up space in my bowling closet, and yet placing it anywhere else in the home will draw the ire of my wife who has never been thrilled about the 25+ other balls spread among two closets. 

Also live in a Condo, so placing it in the garden as some kind of furniture or accessory isn't an option.  And despite this post, am considering just tossing it out with the trash.  Just figured I'd ask first, in case anyone has any ideas.

Thanks.

My kids took my cracked Track Heat, and drew all over it, and make it an awesome Father's Day card/ball/awesome conversation piece.

Use it as a "starter log" for outdoor burning of yard debris. Surprising how easily a bowling ball will catch fire, and how long it will burn. Makes for one roaring fire.

Not sure if putting those chemicals in the air is a good idea.  Don't stand downwind.

Sliced myself open something good on a cracked ball once. You could make a heck of an arrow head. Otherwise it is pretty useless. I have heard of someone hollowing out half of a pearl ball so it was just the coverstock and using it as an awesome accent light. But that sounds like more work than its worth to me.

This guy makes jewelry from old bowling balls.  http://matt-cole.com/  I think he takes donations.

yes this guy, but the website is down

I put them in my mom's yard for decoration.  The dog thinks they are fire hydrants lol.  RIP Ebonite The One.  You are The One according to my dog.

Quote from: GasMask on September 04, 2016, 08:30:54 AM

Well I had a couple of cracked balls sitting around, letting them just keep cracking. Finally decided to chuck them out, so got the hammer and chisel out.

The first one was my old Cell, put the chisel in the crack and gave it a tap. The ball and core split clean in half.

The next was my Meanstreak beatdown, I put the chisel in the crack and gave it a tap. Pop half the ball came off the core, the filler had seperated from the core.

The core was still in the other half, I had to pull out the thumb insert and chip a small piece off by the core.

Then  the core popped out. So I finally got a whole one out.

The core weighed about 4 3/4 lbs.

The thing is to get it to seperate from the filler, let them sit outside for a long time and they keep on cracking and the filler starts to pull away from the core some. I then bounced it a few times on the concrete bfore taking the chisel too it.

WOW. That is indeed amazing! Its also looks funny with the grips on hahah


I have indeed noticed the filler has been separating more and more the more I leave them in the car under the sun. Its so uncannily fibrous

Did you pre-saw the shell to get a straight line? The cracked ones I have have straight cracks on about a third of the ball, and the rest is curving around in spiral, but the cracks dont match back end to end and almost go all the way around, and if they did, the ends would not match either, maybe off by like 2 inches or so.

 
If your balls were in a similar condition, What type of chisel and hammer did you use? Did you alter them before hammering? how many hammers did it take? You mention a tap? you must be hulk or my rubber mallet isnt doing it. Get a heavier steel hammer? What else do you recommend?

One of my balls I actually happen to throw around into concrete, but I guess it landed near the crack and it probably made things worse by breaking off pieces of the shell and now whole side is just filler and the rest is still the shell. Its a Two-face ball!

Thanks a lot for the pictures and confirming the method works. I cant wait to finally get a core out!

Yard art. Check out bowling ball lady bug in a search engine.

With the recent pokemon craze, I was thinking about painting one to resemble a pokeball for the boys.