Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Seeking advice about a new bowling ball
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Old 01-29-2016, 07:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoseman View Post
"Newer lane surfaces"...different kind of oil or what?
The surface is synthetic, unlike the wood lanes that we grew up bowling on. Though we used rubber and plastic bowling balls back then, a bowler could get the ball to hook for a number of reasons. A couple of those being less oil to the outside of the lane, or a deep track worn into a certain area of the lane that most people used. Those areas provided friction for the ball to "grab ahold of" thus creating a hook of some sort.
The newer synthetic lanes by nature do not allow for a high degree of friction, unless there is a very minimal amount of oil applied to the lane. The newer bowling balls today are resin or composite resin based, with either a symmetric or asemetric weight block. Under a microscope, the surface would be very porous, thus creating friction and a hook to some extent.
The old rubber ball that Tomwed has does not have a porous surface. Matching a non porous surface to a synthetic lane surface with a decent amount of oil, that is a recipe for a straight ball and not a whole lot of fun.