Do I Need to Clean and Bake my Ball?

[TonyInPortland]

A couple years ago I purchased a Nuball, which is "a bowling ball rejuvenator for end users in a home environment. " I was mentioning to my pro that since I got the Nuball, I probably didn't need to clean my ball directly after bowling anymore, as he had recommended, also selling me a product to do so. Obviously he has a stake in that, since he sold it to me, although I have since bought the cleaner online, where I could get it cheaper.

But when I do use the Nuball to de-oil my bowling balls, very little oil comes out. It seems like, for my nearly $200.00 investment, it should remove more oil than it does. Should I forego cleaning the ball right after bowling, to see if more oil comes out upon baking it? The pro implied I should not do this, but, like I said, it benefits him if I buy more cleaner.

If I wait, and only use the Nuball every few weeks, would this cause a problem with the ball, as far as losing the hook?

I rarely see any other bowlers cleaning their ball after bowling.

[1VegasBowler]

The plastic balls, pearls & urethane balls do not absorb oil like the reactive resins do. Wiping your ball should be more than sufficient for quite a while, unless you bowl 4-5 times/week.

Personally, I wipe them down after each frame with a leather shammy, and every 2-3 weeks I'll use That Purple Stuff to give them a good cleaning.

The Fanatic BTU and resin balls soak up oil like a sponge, and if cleaned by hand properly they don't need to be machine cleaned all of the time. Maybe every 3-4 months and that might be too often, depending on how much you bowl,

[RobLV1]

Cleaning the ball after each outing is definitely in your best interest. The fact that when you do this very little oil comes out after baking it proves that it is working. Rather than questioning your PSO's motives for telling you how to take care of your equipment, perhaps you should be questioning your own $200 "investment."

[Tony]

I rarely see any other bowlers cleaning their ball after bowling.

I suppose it depends on who you bowl with, I see quite a few guys who wipe the ball off, use a pad or use a paper towel every time they pick up the ball. I've also noticed they tend to be higher average experienced bowlers, coincidence ?
I also see quite a number of guys cleaning their bowling ball after they are done bowling, and there are more that do the cleaning at home.
Make a point of hanging around and observing after your next couple of league nights, you might see more bowlers cleaning their ball that you had remembered, but even it you don't doesn't mean you should stop, seems like what you've been doing has been preserving your equipment, so why stop. If you want to cut the cleaner expense I think there are a lot of bowlers that use a mixture of simple green and alcohol to make an effective low cost cleaner.

[Amyers]

Different balls absorb more oil than others. I do clean my equipment after every outing, resurface by hand my lower grit equipment (3000 or below) after every ten games, and resurface everything after about 50 or so. I don't own one of the deoiling machines but I'm not sure how effective they are, Some people rave about them some not so much I really don't think about needing one until I get about 200 games or so on a ball and usually the ones that have lost that much performance I'm considering replacing anyway. I'm not a guy who tends to hold on to balls for multiple years anyway.

[bowl1820]

I rarely see any other bowlers cleaning their ball after bowling.

and that is why so many bowlers complain about loss of reaction.

If you have good cleaning regimen, you can greatly extend the life of your ball and go a long time between de-oilings. It helps you maintain optimum performance all the time, rather than have the reaction tapering off until you de-oil it.


and yes the PSO is right, Not cleaning your ball just so it soaks up some oil so you can bake it out later is a bad idea.

[djp1080]

I use a converted food dehydrator as a ball rejuvenator and it works quite well. Most of my balls were made by Storm. Originally used the bucket of hot water treatment and it worked, but didn't like the idea of water getting into the holes.
Noticed that lane conditioner didn't come out of each and every ball. The Hy-Road, Optimus and Vivid soaked up lane conditioner more than others. My old Track 300T was a sponge, too.
I've followed a regimen for keeping my gear clean after each session and this has reduced the necessity of using the rejuvenator to nearly zero. I pay closer attention to the balls that showed more tendency for soaking up lane conditioner though. The Hy-Road has bled conditioner for over an hour in the rejuvenator once or twice and this ball still seems to work well even with lots of oil in its cover. Maybe that's why I like this ball more than most of the others. Great piece of equipment.
Like the others here I'd say that you should continue on cleaning your ball after each session and use either polish, compound or a sanding pad to keep that coverstock reacting like new.

[billf]

How often are you baking them? Less than 60 games is a waste of electricity.
Definitely clean your balls every outing. Even the ball manufacturers say this and it doesn't benefit them.

*****DO NOT BAKE A MOTIV BALL***** Not sure why but all five I've baked lost a minimum of five boards of hook. They also soak up the least amount of oil of any company I've seen so far.

[TonyInPortland]

and that is why so many bowlers complain about loss of reaction.

If you have good cleaning regimen, you can greatly extend the life of your ball and go a long time between de-oilings. It helps you maintain optimum performance all the time, rather than have the reaction tapering off until you de-oil it.


and yes the PSO is right, Not cleaning your ball just so it soaks up some oil so you can bake it out later is a bad idea.

Thanks for all the insightful replies. That basically answers my question. As far as the person who said I should make my own cleaner, I have thought of that, and I think I will do that once I run out of my current stuff.

[TonyInPortland]

I suppose it depends on who you bowl with, I see quite a few guys who wipe the ball off, use a pad or use a paper towel every time they pick up the ball. I've also noticed they tend to be higher average experienced bowlers, coincidence ?
I also see quite a number of guys cleaning their bowling ball after they are done bowling, and there are more that do the cleaning at home.
Make a point of hanging around and observing after your next couple of league nights, you might see more bowlers cleaning their ball that you had remembered, but even it you don't doesn't mean you should stop, seems like what you've been doing has been preserving your equipment, so why stop. If you want to cut the cleaner expense I think there are a lot of bowlers that use a mixture of simple green and alcohol to make an effective low cost cleaner.

As far as cleaning at home, I was under the impression that you should do it as soon as you are finished, the implication being that, on the drive home, the oil would absorb and not be on the surface any longer?