For all the posters on this thread:
Ebonite has recently come out with a recommendation that when giving your bowling balls a hot water bath, you should NOT use any type of cleaner/detergent/degreaser - just plain hot (not boiling) tap water. Their research has shown that when a degreasing agent is used, the oil extracted from the ball stays mixed in with the water, and some of it ends up back in the ball. When plain water is used, the extracted oil separates to the top, and does not find its way back into the ball.
I have seen the results of a plain water bath. Last week, after returning from the Ebonite seminar where the above recommendation was made, the owner of the shop where I work placed his Angular One in a hot water bath. When the ball went in, the surface was shiny, due to the oil (surface had been 4000 abralon, not polished). When the ball came out of the bath, it was no longer shiny, and it felt extremely tacky, like when it was new.
On edit: At the seminar, Ebonite recommended the hot water bath first (I'm sorry, I don't remember after how many games, but when you see the ball start to lose its reaction). Then, when the ball requires further treatment, Ebonite still recommends that you use the Hook Again system to extract the excess plasticizers that have come to the surface.
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RW (THB)
Edited on 2/6/2007 9:41 AM
