Well, I was the third customer in the entire United States to buy a Blend10 bowling ball, and so far I am very pleased.
As I reported in another thread, "OSW" stands for "Old School Works", and Bill Hall thinks there is a demand from players like me who don't rip the cover off the ball and send it rocketing down the lane at 18 mph+. I'm actually around 12-13 mph and 225 revs, so a classic stroker.
The first OSW is a symmetric ball with a 2.503 RG and 0.035 differential. It comes OOB at 1500 polished and looks a lot like my old Raven Quantum. Under the sunlight you can see some sparkles. And although it looks like a polished solid, it's actually a pearl. He took the old Columbia 300 Pulse core, modified it a bit, and added a new coverstock. If you want an old school ball motion with a new school cover, then this would be a good ball for you. I know the Pulse was a popular ball so imagine an updated one.
I watched Blend10 customer #1 get his straight from the shop and throw the front 9 on a freshly oiled house shot. He had much more revs and speed than me -- a down and in player. Customer number #2 was an excellent young woman bowler who was more a tweener, and she killed it.
I bowled for an hour-and-half on the same pair they did and moved three boards the entire hour. Not nearly as many strikes as them, but I was happy. This ball is smooth and does not over-react on the dry.
Like I said, if you like old school then you will like this ball. I took it out again on a fresh shot and put it up against my Melee and Gold Rhino Pro. The pin down Melee rolled sooner and had a little more pop on the backend, but the OSW is every bit as much a control piece as the Melee. The Gold Rhino Pro (1000 polished) with the same drill was very similar to the OSW, but the OSW has more backend and better recovery from the outside. What strikes me about this ball is it rolls very heavy but the ball motion is smooth and predictable.
I suspect this ball is very similar to the Lane #1 Retro Buzzsaw THS, not only in stats but in ball motion. I need to try the two out next to each other.
Pictures of all three balls attached.
