How to Clean and Take Care of a Bowling Ball

The satisfaction you get from knocking all the target pins down with your ball is unparallel. That instant sense of pride and delight makes you look around to see if your friends or others there have noticed your big victory. Likewise, just one good bowling game can remove all your miseries for a day or two at the least.

Now, the game provides you so much pleasure and relief but what do you provide the game with? If you are a passionate bowler, you probably have your own expensive bowling balls. Well, having your own bowling balls is also a kind of contribution as it lets the industry be on its feet.

However, you cannot just keep replacing your bowling balls when the one in your possession loses its novelty. Yes, bowling bowls do give a worse performance as time passes but you can actually control how fast it loses its splendor and how much value you get from it.

The first thing you can do to give back to something that gives you pleasure is to take good care of it. And, mind you, bowling bowls do need care. If you are just a clueless passionate bowler wondering why your recently bought bowling ball is not giving its best, here is everything on how to clean and take care of a bowling ball for you. This will help, trust me.

Why You Should Should Clean Your Bowling Ball?

Before you get into knowing how to clean and take care of a bowling ball, you need to believe in the process. The only way to have faith is to understand why you should do it. Because you may be thinking that you do not expose your bowling balls to mud or any such dirty area but just the smooth, plain bowling surface so does it need cleaning? Here is why:

• The greatest enemy oil: If you pay attention to the bowling ball after each shot, you will notice that it is oily and also has oil tracks on it. While you may think that oil is not as dirty as mud or other things, you are wrong at that. If you leave the oil on the ball for long, the ball absorbs it.

As the ball absorbs the oil, it loses a lot of firmness on its surface and various other reactions make it lose its efficiency when rolling. Oil can do more harm than you expect it to is the takeaway here. So, when it comes to bowling balls, oil on it is your greatest enemy.

• Durability: Bowling balls are expensive and they do go through a lot of impacts, don’t they? Yes, they are made to be strong against the impacts but how do you know you are not crossing a limit with wrong shots and all? Furthermore, the material that makes the ball also has its preferences.

This is why it is necessary to take good care of the bowling ball by cleaning it regularly so that it stays in the best condition for as long as it’s meant to.

• Best Results: When you play with any equipment, it is not only your skills that show the direction of the game but also your equipment’s capabilities. The main gear when bowling is your bowling ball and if you want it to perform as well as it did on its initial days, you must take good care of it.

Cleaning A Bowling Ball Between The Shots

Big things begin with the smallest steps. If you want to take maximum care of your bowling balls, you have to begin right when you are playing with it. Apparently, each time you check the ball after taking a shot, you will see that there are oil tracks on it.

The first step to clean your bowling ball is to deal with these oil tracks after each shot. How do you do it?

• Take a microfiber towel.
• Wipe the ball with it over the oil track in a spinning motion.
• Repeat after each shot.

Deep Cleans at Home

If you want the best from a bowling bowl, you will have to do more than just keeping it clean while playing. In fact, you have to banish the oil as much as you can by deeper cleanses. You can deep clean a bowling bowl in the following ways at home:

1. Using a Cleaner Spray

Fortunately, there are bowling ball cleaner sprays available in the market which helps you avoid all the chemistry. You can just buy one of these, spray it on the ball and wipe with a microfiber towel. In fact, these sprays are quite quick at preventing the oil from being absorbed and causing havoc.

2. Using Home-ingredients

A bowling ball is expensive enough and if you are unhappy about buying a cleaner for it then you can use the Do It Cheap method. All you need is rubbing alcohol or dish soap and water. Furthermore, you can use these ingredients in two ways.

One way is to use rubbing alcohol and water mixture as a spray. You can sprinkle the spray on the ball and wipe it off with the oil using a microfiber towel. Apparently, you can use dish soap instead of rubbing alcohol as well.

The second way is a far deeper cleanse and includes the following steps:

• Take a bowl of water and heat it to around 140 Fahrenheit. Do not boil the water as it can cause cracks on the bowling coverstock.
• Mix a bit of rubbing alcohol or dish soap with the water.
• Soak the ball in the hot mixture for about 20 minutes. You will be able to see oil rising to the surface of the water.
• Take the ball out and wipe with a microfiber towel.
• Repeat the process until you are satisfied with the amount of oil that rises.

Taking Care Of A Bowling Ball – Expert Help

Sometimes even after taking good care of your bowling ball, you may find that cleaning it is beyond your worth. This is where you have to invest a bit more and seek professional help from a store. Now, you may think that you can do the process at home but really, do not even try. Here is what they can do and you cannot:

• Heat the ball: The repair or Pro shop will heat your bowling ball in an oven at a constant temperature of 110 degrees while a spinner rotates the ball. You cannot do this using your home oven because the temperature will not stay constant. Furthermore, you cannot manage a rotating set-up either.
• Continuous wiping when baking: The pro shop oven will have insulated casing providing the cleaner with the protection from heat and burns. Apart from that, the ball will be wiped while it’s baking.
• Absorbent pads collecting oil: Another factor that speeds and makes the process more efficient are the absorbent pads. They will be collecting the oil throughout.

Final Words

You see whether it is regular maintenance or periodic, you can choose to both invest more money or save it. If you take precautions like maintaining the cleaning process regularly then you will definitely save money. Furthermore, you will get the full value of the bowling ball you buy.

You really do not want to lose the potential of the bowling bowl you chose so carefully. So, actually, learn how to clean and take care of a bowling ball. Your bowling ball deserves the best treatment, therefore, provide it with it.