Giving the ball a bath

[SpinDoctour]

Quick question i want to give my BW a hot bath to draw the oil out. The problem is i have switch-a-grip thumbslugs. Would the hot water melt the glue or plastic? If not what would you plug the holes with. thanks

[bruinboy07]

I actually seal off my finger holes with electrical tape for bath time (which does okay... usually minimizes water in the holes), but, and I don't know where I read or to whom I should give the credit, someone recommended using Silly Putty to cover the holes up... said it does a better job of sealing it off, and no sticky residue afterwards. Seems reasonable to me, but never tried it. You might give it a shot if you're concerned.

Another thing you can do if you're concerned about melting the rubber or plastic is to use warm water instead of hot... same effect, but nicer on hands and probably rubber/plastic parts. If the water is so hot that it hurts your hand when you scrub the ball, it's probably not going to be all that great on rubber either.

Just my two cents.

bruinboy07

[hammeredinkansas]

Just gave my BW a bath this past weekend. Used 2 teaspoons of Dawn and hot tap water. I didn't cover the holes (didn't know I was supposed to), but had no ill effects what so ever. Used the ball last night and my grips and thumb slug were not even lose. The only downside was when I tried scrubbing before the water cooled down a little...ouch! The water needs to have some temp to it to get the pores to open up and let the oil out. My dad puts his in the dishwasher (which I do not recommend at all and gets much hotter than tap water) and his grips have never fallen out or even losened up. If you give your ball a Dawn bath, be sure to rinse several times (I did it 3 times) to make sure you get all the soap out. By the 3rd soaking rinse, the water should remain clean and clear. I recommend doing the bath thing after 30 or so games. Be sure to follow every bowling session with a thorough cleaning with Ebonits'e Powerhouse Energizer or another good quality product.

[bruinboy07]

Actually, depending on what kind of glue your driller uses to put the pieces in their places, Crazy Glue (chemically known as cyano-acrylate) breaks down in heat. So, it is possible for you to melt the glue with too much heat. Only reason I know this is because I give my ball a bath after every outing and I lost one last week... during a tourney... yeah, it sucked. And this was my BW which I just had re-fitted with inserts about two weeks ago. So try to stay away from ultra-hot water. Hot water does lift the oil better, true, but it doesn't need to be all that hot. In fact, most of the work is done by the soap and not the temperature of the water. So as SpinDoctour pointed out, hot tap water is perfect. Unless you're like me with your water heater turned to almost inhumane temperatures, you should be swell with that.

Hope this helps.

bruinboy07

[TenPinSniper]

You dont have to submerse all the way to the finger holes.

[SCapizziJr]

i have just started the bath thing a few months ago and havent had any problems not plugging the holes. the hot water cleans the tape in the ball:D

[USAFbowler]

when i bathe mine, i always put it in a plastic bag, works the same, but i use simple green to get the oil that couldn't get out of the bag. but works the same.

[bruinboy07]

Wow... there's something I never even thought of...

So, just so I can understand this, you put the ball in a plastic bag, seal off the top, and then submerge it? What about all the oil that collects in the bag? I presume you dump it out and clean the bottom of the ball real well, cuz it's basically going to be sitting in a puddle of oil, no?

I'm definitely intrigued... please tell me more about this process...

bruinboy07