Dishwasher Method of Oil Extraction:

[Fatboy8]

I just wanted to share my experience of using the dishwasher to remove oil from a "oil soaked" ball, and bring it back to life:

1. put packing tape over finger and thumb holes-OPTIONAL
2. put the dishwasher on air dry- YOU DON'T WANT HEAT DRY!
3. put the ball on the bottom rack
4. I don't use any soap. Haven't tried it, but it works great without it.
5. turn on the dishwasher and let it run it's cycle
6. after it was done, put it finger holes down on a towel, and let what little water that got in the holes run out.
7. take the ball back to the surface you'd like it at
8. take it to the lanes and score! looks great, performs great, what more could you want!?

You can take the surface down to about 320 or 500 and open up the pore before running it, or just leave it at it's current surface. I've done both, and it gets the job done either way.

Another method is just soaking the ball in a 5 gallon bucket of REALLY hot tap water, with some degreaser to help break the oil down. Both methods help extract the oil, and bring the ball back to life.

[ravenhammer]

Great description!
How does the dishwasher look after, any oily residue?

[JoshWithrow]

Great description!
How does the dishwasher look after, any oily residue?

Nope. The heat keeps the oil running like water... right out the drain!

[Fatboy8]

No reisdue at all. It all just goes down the drain, and the ball is squeaky clean to the touch.

[ravenhammer]

good to know

[Rowdy]

How do you KNOW all the oil is out of the ball using a dishwasher??? You don't. That's why the bucket method works better. Takes longer,sure. But you KNOW all the oil is out of the ball.

[JoshWithrow]

How do you KNOW all the oil is out of the ball using a dishwasher??? You don't. That's why the bucket method works better. Takes longer,sure. But you KNOW all the oil is out of the ball.

You can see the difference. Look, your bucket cools down. The hot water gets cooler. What makes it work so well is keeping the water at a constant high tempurature.

Also, in the bucket there is no agitation. Nothing to knock the oil off the ball. So what you end up doing is wiping the ball off after pulling it out of the water, but you never get 100% of the oil before it begins getting absorbed into the ball again.

So you can settle for a mediocre cleaning in a bucket, or you can efficiently and more thoroughly clean your ball better by introducing it to a warmer, more consistent warm environment for a larger amount of time.

[Rowdy]

Well,the agitation part comes when I stick my hand in the bucket and give the ball a spin.(Thank God for permanent nerve damage,can't feel my fingers anyway) A dishwasher runs for a specific period of time,right? I keep the ball in the bucket for hours. The water only stays in the bucket for 15 minutes.tops. The water is still steaming. Then it gets replaced with a fresh batch of hot water. The ball stays hot,belive me. I keep going until the ball is "dry" to the touch in the bucket. No more oil for sure. I guess the only way to find out if the dishwasher method really works is to run a ball through the dishwasher and then reheat the ball to see if any more oil comes out. A worthy weekend project.