Are you confused about how to remove oil from a bowling ball? Don’t worry! You’ve come to the right place. We will clear you all confusion!
After many courses of games, your bowling ball will absorb oil and dirt from the lane. Initially, it will make a visible oil-ring around the ball surface. If you don’t clean the ring as soon as possible, then it will be ended up absorbing by its resin coverstock. Thus, make the ball alter its reaction to the lane, and you’ll be unable to get the same response as before. Your ball will be harder to grip and make you more challenging to throw. Taking proper care of your bowling ball will prolong its life.
There are lots of effective methods you can use to get the oil out the ball to keep the ball at its maximum effectiveness for as long as possible. The most effective and easy way is to use a bowling ball rejuvenator to remove oil from bowling balls. If you don’t have one, I suggest you use Pyramid Phoenix Personal Bowling Ball Revivor as it is the best oil extractor currently in the market.
Before that, you need to know when you should clean the ball. It will help you to maintain the ball’s condition. You can clean the ball at home, or you could take it to a Pro-shop, or you can have your oil extraction machine.
When to clean the ball?
When you’re playing on oily lanes regularly, you may need to pull the oil from your ball after every fifty to seventy-five games. On better-regulated lanes, you need to resurface your bowling ball after every seventy to hundred games. So, wait until the significant number of games!
4 effective ways to bake the oil out of your bowling ball at home:
Bowling ball is easy to clean by yourself. With the right cleaning agents, you can easily remove oil from a bowling ball; it may be a bottle of spray or hot water bath.
1. Ball cleaner spray:
One of the most natural methods is to clean the ball with the ball cleaner sprays. To make a ball cleaner spray take equal parts of simple green rubbing alcohol and water; mix it in a spray bottle. Spray the ball and wipe it with a towel in between every shot to remove the visible oil ring on the ball surface. It will help to wipe down the oil before absorbing it by the coverstock. It is one of the best bowling ball cleaners. If you don’t have one I recommend you buy this best cleaner spray.
2. Clean the Ball with Rubbing Alcohol
Cleaning with rubbing alcohol is a quick way to remove oil. Here is a small process for you to clean the ball with Rubbing Alcohol
- Prepare a bucket of water and mix rubbing alcohol in it. The ratio of water to rubbing alcohol should be 4:2.
- Dip a towel in the solution and wring the towel.
- Sweep the ball with the towel.
- Let it rest in a secure place.
Like that, you can de-oil from the bowling ball at home.
3. Immersion method at home (DIY Method)
DIY methods are one of the most effective ways to remove oil from your ball. Now we will describe to you how to remove oil from a bowling ball in the immersion method at home by following some simple steps-
Step 1: Firstly, you’ve to fill a bucket with hot water. Hot water will help you to elevate the dirt from the ball surface as oil is lighter than water. You can mix some cleaning agents or dishwasher with water into the bucket to get the best result. I recommend this one as a bowling ball cleaning dishwasher. Proper cleaning agents will help you to remove the dirt from all over the ball surface. Make sure you’re giving the balls enough time to work into the pores.
Step 2: Take your ball and place some waterproof masking tape over the finger holes. Make sure the hole is fully covered with a tap, and there is no gap. If water gets into the ball’s finger holes, it may alter its performance. So it’s essential to ensure that the tap covers every fingertip.
Step 3: Now soak the ball into the bucket. Soak your ball in warm water for sufficient time so that no dirt is left in the ball’s cover. Soaking time should be twenty or thirty minutes.
Step 4: After soaking the ball for about more than twenty minutes, take out your ball from the bucket and place it in your bowling ball rack. To prevent the ball surface from dripping water into the finger holes, you should keep the tap until drying.
Step 5: Now take a soft towel or rag to wipe the ball. We suggest you choose a microfiber towel because a microfiber towel can soak oil seven times more than linen towels. When the ball is completely dry, remove the tap. Repeat the procedure and dry it again to remove any remaining moisture. Now your ball is completely clean and ready to go back in the lane!
4. Pro-shop services:
It’s not easy to pull off the oil from the ball surface with your hand. Even though you’re a regular bowler, it is not necessary to own a specialized ball cleaning machine of your own. It’ll take half an hour to get the ball a deep clean from the Pro-shop.
So, if you don’t have enough time to spend, then a pro-shop bowling ball cleaning service will be the last option for you. It can save you time and effort. The Pro-shops have all of the needed equipment to get the ball out of oil properly. Bowling ball oil extraction machines have primary tanks of water that heat to open the pores of the ball and remove deeply entrenched oil.
Pro-shops are facilitated with high-speed ball spinners and varying grits of screening pads. A high-speed spinner can easily prepare the surface of your bowling ball with water, and screening pads of varying grit can screen the ball surface to any desired texture. The revolving spinner of the machine helps to heat the ball surface through friction. It opens the pores of the ball. Low grit pads will also help to open the pores of the ball quickly. While the pores are open, cleaning agents will help to soak the oil and dirt out of the ball surface. Then they apply any final surface preparations or polish according to your choice.
Pro-shop services are relatively inexpensive. They professionally clean and polish your ball may ensure a thorough cleaning; also, they can point out the damages that you may not have noticed before.
Some Pro-shops may have bowling ball oil remover oven, which virtually bakes the oil from the pores of bowling balls. These ovens can clean saturated oil from the ball surface. Then they screen the ball on the spinner to add your desired surface texture or grit finishing by following final finishing techniques. You don’t need the baking process frequently, like general surface preparation such as the ball spinners, pads, and cleaning and polishing agents. Moreover, they are the available expert in bowling ball oil extraction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Baking a bowling ball will be a good idea if you are going to do it from the Pro-shops. If you want to bake it at home, then we will suggest you maintain the heating temperature. The heat may bake the resin from the cover of the ball along with the oil. We recommend you not to use immediately after baking because too hot or too cold may crack the surface from the ball. After baking, let it cool down to room temperature. The cracked surface may alter the ball action.
We suggest you clean your bowling ball after every six games. Properly Cleaning of your ball can help you to maintain its condition. According to manufacturers, your ball will face little damage after every fifty to seventy-five games. For that reason, you have to resurface the ball to get rid of the oil. It will regain its initial reaction to the lane after resurfacing. The best idea is for you to let the pro-shop do the deep clean and resurface the ball.
Pro-shop services are relatively less expensive. If you want to do a simple surface clean or change of your ball, it may cost 5 to 10 dollars. Resurfacing may cost you a little more. Depending on the type of services you want, it may cost you 5 to 30 dollars to resurface your bowling ball.
A plastic bowling ball is made of polyester. It absorbs very negligible amounts of oil. Plastic ball picks up the oil from front or mid lane and transferred it to the dry part of down the lane.
Wrapping up
Every bowler has their favorite method of cleaning their bowling balls. In this article, we tried our best to cover all the possible ways of how to remove oil from the bowling ball.
If you want to maintain its condition and initial lane reaction, you have to clean and resurface your bowling balls regularly. Proper cleaning and polishing can help you to bowl like a champion.
