The reason soaking balls worked back in the day is because the only weight block in the ball was a "pancake" that was there to account for the loss of top weight from drilling finger holes. The cover was more important than the core until the advent of two piece balls. Balls were soaked in everything from alcohol to acetone to ketones. So long as they balanced on the dodo scale, they were legal until the rule changes.
@@ripvanrevs I had the rubber one as well and I thought I might buy one to use as a spare ball when they reissued it. Then I found out it was urethane.
@@lockedonlaw When was it reissued? I remember a "Vintage LT48" about 10 years ago that was reactive. He said this one was an original, so it's rubber.
Back in the day the Mercury Marine plant (owned by Brunswick) in Fond du Lac, WI sold the LT-48 to employees for $25. The original had a "secret" additive in it. Crushed walnut shells. The ball would track out and when sanding the ball on a spinner to get rid of the track, it would ruin the effectiveness of the walnut shells. Sanding it made the crushed walnut shells to smooth. Only old guys like me remember this.
The soaker days were early to mid 1970s. The Brunswick Crown Jewel, plastic ball, was soaked in toluene. Kevin McCune’s grandfather, Don, was notorious for soaking.
@@RubikMaster2010 my dad when he was growing up watched Earl Anthony on tv and he found out then when I was like 5 in 2005 he said Earl Anthony used a yellow dot if memory serves me correct one dull off tv and dry up his area then use a shiny one when on tv playing the same line both not soaked .
Earl Anthony did not throw a soaker. The two big culprits were Don Johnson and Don McCune. Don Johnson went from being among the top bowlers to bowler of the year in like 1972 while McCune went from being a middle of the pack guy to bowler of the year in 73.
Nails....I had a guy in a small non-sanctioned league I was running a couple years ago who brought a ball in that was "very noisy" going down the lane. After a couple nights when we bowled against him, I rolled his ball down the return to get it our of the way and my hand hit something "not right". I look down...nails. This ball had nails pounded into it and the heads were even with the surface. They were put into about a 20yr old ball and into spots that made them extremely hard to see. When I confronted him and told him they need to be removed, he said it was his dad's old ball and he was a pro back in the day... I couldn't believe what I saw... There were a good 10-12 in there that were out there in the days of wood lanes just cutting into that lane surface.
I think the reason you are seeing the plastic ball hook so much more has a lot to do with a dynamic core versus a pancake block in the LT-48. Yes, it makes that much of a difference. They used to mill a spot to test for hardness below the surface to get a supposed accurate reading. That LT 48, as others have noted, was a soft rubber compound and not a urethane ball if it's an original issue. I had that and the green polyester Tommy Hudson lt-48 (not the later TH LT-51.) I couldn't keep the Johnny Petraglia on the lane unless there was a ton of oil (well, realtively speaking back in the wood lane days) but the Tommy Hudson lt-48 is tha ball I threw my first 300 with back in 1977. No soaking needed.
@@chasbari I used a green LT-48 on certain conditions on tour. You have no idea how many people argue that there was no green LT-48 only a LT-51. That I never could have used a green LT-48 because they never made one. Happy to see your comments.
Packy, an LT-48 is rubber and it came out when Litch was already drilling mill holes so the surface was never altered with chemicals. Also McCune used MEK on old Crown Jewels.
This is the second realease of the LT-48 with JP's signature on it. The older block-letter LT-48's (aka the sponge) was too soft and deemed illegal. It is very much a rubber ball. Sand it with abralon, smell it and tell me i'm wrong. Oh, and drill it with 3oz side weight for some extra hook.
We'd use a drop or 2 on the wick of our Zippos back in the day if it ran dry at work. Very volatile stuff. Most industry phased it out in favor of MPK, methyl propyl ketone. We haven't used where I work in nearly 40 years.
Just a reminder for the O-Chem buffs: acetone is methyl-methyl-ketone ( (CH3)-(C=O)-(CH3) ) while MEK is methyl-ethyl-ketone ( (CH3)-(C=O)-(CH3CH2) ). Very similar compounds.
Lt 48 are rubber, they hook a lot for the Era, it was usually the plastic balls that were soaked, lots of white dots and yellow dots. then there were the bleeders of the late 70's those balls were amazing
Nothing smelled anywhere near as bad IMO as an old AMF ball being drilled! You could smell those things a mile away. One time, someone requested a warranty refund because the ball stunk FAR worse than even a typical AMF ball... probably a bad batch of cores where they didn't get the composition right.
when i was a junior and senior in high school (1975 & 76) i bowled in a men’s league. my friend’s father owned the lanes. we were all very good bowlers. couldn’t do this every week, but if there was a week when we needed the win, we would block the lanes with heavy oil in the middle. huge advantage knowing where it was- the ball would track the line between light and heavy oil right to the pocket 😊
Yup on the MEK and the ball of choice was a Columbia 300 ..... Then when they cracked down on the cheating, out came the Columbia 300 yellow dot and the LT48. And the trick to beating the durometer test was to stick the ball in a snow bank before going to tech. LOL Then they started drilling the "dimple" to see what the true hardness was. yes it was illegal as hell ..... but until the penalties became harsh enough to make it not worth it, a lot of people were doing it. I don't know of anyone who ever soaked an LT48, it was built to hook like a "soaker".
I want to say it was the 1973 Columbia Yellow Dot that was pretty soft back in the day. Lot's of soakers back then though before Urethane and weight blocks and reactives ruined the game. A 300 game meant something at one time.
Soakers were in the 70's, and they were not illegal initially. But there were also only plastic and rubber balls then. Urethane didn't come out until the early 80's, and nobody was soaking by then. And the original LT48 is rubber, not urethane.
@@PtylerBeats i was around 100 for the longest time. Then i learned i wasn't keeping my hand straight. When i concentrated on keeping my hand straight no matter what i improved slightly. Then i would remember which dot i stood at. If my ball went to the left then i would move one dot to the right. If my ball went to the right then i would move one dot to the left. All the while trying to keep my hand straight. I wiuld then get around 150-160. Its only a game and if we have fun then we win! 🥳
Back in the day the LT48 was the ball of choice for most, but things changed quickly with the advent of urethane. The original U-dot line was an amazing breakthrough that dominated for a short time. I still remember the start of the two-piece offset core balls because the pro shop guys had to travel to a training seminar just to learn how to drill them properly. What a great innovation that took the industry by storm. Good memories.
as a former kart racer and crew helper on many dirt cars we would dope our tires. You would become a certified chemist. There are so many formulas out there today. One in particular was SST Purple. It would not change the durometer of a tire much but would add elasticizer to the tire. Makes me wonder what some of these tire dope combinations would do... 🤔
That was me in 1973 at age 16! I used MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) rather than acetone - I don't remember why, maybe that's what Don McCune, the father of the soaker and tour dominator that year, used? Not long afterwards, the PBA & ABC came up with minimun hardness standards, Columbia came out with the "red dot" softer-yet-legal ball, and the soaker era ended as quickly as it started. Good times.
These are the kind of balls that my house owner buddy tell me big fish stories about soaking balls back in the day so they'd hook. Love those old stories.
The Yellow dot was the ball to use even if it wasn't soaked. My dad went to a different house to bowl a league in and pretty much every single bowler in the league was using a yellow dot. The manager told my dad if his team doesn't get yellow dots, they will never be able to carry the 10 pin. I think he was right.
The LT-48 in the video is the original rubber coverstock from the early 1980s. That "FN" serial number was one of the sought-after shells from that period, and was rumored to have pulverized walnut shell in the coverstock. It also had a unique core, in that it was cork-like, so most of us would "paint" the thumb hole with clear nail polish, to create a slicker surface and prevent thumb-blistering. The rubber coverstock is also why the Acetone had limited (if any) effect on the LT-48, versus the plastic coverstock. "MEK" (methyl ethyl ketone) is what they were using to soak plastic balls on the tour in '73, before the ABC got wise.
I know of a guy who stuck a roll of dimes into his ball and then plugged over the dimes. Obviously the metal "core" allowed for a lot of hook. He was banned.
I used an LT48 when I was in junior leagues in the early 80s. It hooked a lot more than the plastic house ball I had been using. As long as I can throw my 🟣🔨, I don't need to soak any balls in acetone🤣🤣
Yeah... Don't just dump acetone into a random plastic bucket, it attacks several common plastics including ABS, PVC, and Polycarbonate to different degrees (and yes, also polyurethane). If that bucket was incompatible and slightly damaged it could easily attack it.
What standards exist for surface hardness of bowling balls, and using what criteria, from which organization(s)? It'd be interesting to see lab imaging or manufacturer design data on the materials and layers of different balls. What effect does temperature have, or use of alternate solvents like hexane, isopropanol, ethanol, methanol, MEK, acetone, etc? How about mixtures? Does an air dry and water soak change traits much? How about if balls are heated or cooled, or if centers only are heated (easy to do, via an embedded element, or induction sensitive implant with no obvious external connections)?
My Dad, and My Two Uncles won the League title about 3 times, and they were using The Brunswick [ Johnny Petraglia] LT 48!!!!! Eventually My Dad switched to the Urethane Columbia 300 Udot.
Still have my LT-48 rubber ball. It came in handy in wood lane houses that are still around. I remember a house that had a super soft Columbia Yellow Dot and the Tommy Hudson LT51.
I was bowling a regional one time back in the day and the lanes were scorched, everyone was throwing white dots over the gutter. I had some deodorant in the bottom of my bag and I tossed a ball into it and broke the plastic around it. When I put the ball I was using into the bag to switch lanes I didn't realize what had happened. When I got to the next pair and pulled it out it was really slick so I wiped it down, my first shot went about 20-25ft before it ever even thought about hooking, I moved back to the fourth arrow and finished out the tournament "wiping" down my ball every shot. Finished 2nd.
You laugh about that line with the plastic. I have the viz-a-ball and was standing on 27 throwing to 15 at the arrows to stay on the correct side of the head pin in my travel league Saturday. The lanes were so dry and broken down that bad.
The old LT48's were rubber from memory. To me, it was almost like a sponge, sucking up oil, Back in the day, the guys baked their balls to excrete the oil. Being a cranker, I preferred a 1200 or 1500 grit sanded ball. Red dot, grey angle & Nail were some of my favs. 45 foot of skid & 15 foot of snap. Lots of good memories
LT48 is Rubber mixed with Walnut shells to give it more traction. It seems a total shame to subject that classic winning ball to this test, especially since it already looked so good on the lane. The plastic ball's surface was softened significantly by the acetone but just the surface, the underneath only reduced a small amount. The Durometer pin is going through the surface so easily it is only measuring the underneath.
Back in the seventies I bought a Columbia yellow dot out of the box it was 72. At that time anything over 70 was legal. You could put a gallon of oil down on the lanes and all I had to do is just slow it down and the ball hooked
Hi NYC I just watched you whole show and I enjoyed it. Cool content. Bowling Alleys are cool places also maybe throw a thing or two about that. They should be your first sponsors because they are marketers also, news ads and such. You'd be giving them great exposure to NEW customers who are pre disposed to Bowling. Newspaper ads maybe 1 bowler sees it. With you 100 into Bowling Seems easy
Interesting video for sure. I had one of those JP balls in the late ‘70’s and loved it. I wonder how different the hook is between identically prepared old school wood lanes and the synthetic stuff? My father was a PBA member in the 60’s and the only ball he ever used was a Brunswick Black Beauty??? Anyway, great video, thanks for sharing.
I have an old story. Back when I bowled in a league, maybe half way through the season, I felt like my ball wasn't hooking as much. This was like an entry level reactive plastic ball. So i was clickin and clacking on the interwebs and someone had mentioned that balls can soak up oil and stop reacting so well and you can soak the ball in hot water and like dish soap. Now I don't really understand how this could be illegal to clean your ball, but I'll tell you what, that ball hooked 4 times more than it ever did after, so much I couldn't even hit a pin, it would literally go from right gutter to left gutter and back to the right gutter... and I was a power bowler(like 25mph). I had to actually take the ball back home and polish it smooth just to slow down the hook to something manageable. Now I did read the league rules and technically when I polished it, I put some wax on it and that was I guess illegal.
Are those a pair of the strykers? What about a possible video of the shoes you have from dexter? I have been trying to find any videos on the strykers and I cant find anything on them. As a wide footed leftie, its hard to find shoes that look good and fit right
Oh hey, fellow lefty bowler. Do you also have issues when the machines are to the right? I always request an even number lane when I go bowling because I had difficulties bowling when the machine is on the right. Is it easier for you because you bowl with both hands?
Soaking a polyester ball to increase the hook became a thing in the early 1970s. But when the manufacturers found out about it they realized there was a market for a softer ball and began producing them. The PBA instituted a hardness requirement of 75 or over which was in effect by 1974. The American Bowling Congress (pre-USBC) took longer mainly because any rules change required a vote at their national convention, and generally took effect the following season. The ABC hardness limit was 72+ and went into effect prior to the 1976-77 bowling season. I suspect the PBA rule was as much for safety and liability reasons as to remove a competitive advantage. When soaking began soft-shelled balls were not available. The chemicals used are potentially hazardous. The ABC rule was aimed more toward manufacturers who began producing ultra-soft covers. But since temperature affects hardness on a hot day there were many balls which would not pass a durometer check.
My dad took a ball to a tournament and it tested soft. He told them he had another one in the car. He took the ball outside in the freezing temp for about 10 minutes and took it back inside. It passed.
That 3-9 you made at the end with the 2 balls, that should be a trick shot on its' own! Have each ball pick up 1 pin? It'd be cool if you could do that on purpose!
Nothing's any different in that way now. The PBA used to try and make the left side unplayable to stop Earl Anthony, but he was so good he'd made the show or at least cash anyway. There'd be all righties and Earl.
A good scrubbing with a green Scotchbrite and a quick wipe down with acetone to clean off any residue and dust and your ball works like new again. At least until 2/3rds of the way through the 2nd game, shooting left handed, and everybody else on both teams are righties.
Every Sunday my local bowlero is left with a 60’ Sahara oil pattern on it. Bone dry. I joked that I wish I had a spray bottle of oil like you had for that flooded lane video but then I thought “they won’t like me going up and down the lane spraying” so then I got the idea, “ what if I covered a house ball in oil and threw it down the lane in a few spots to try to add some slip to the lane surface?” Would you be up for making a video trying a pattern put down by throwing plastic balls covered in oil?
Way, way back, the LT-48 was rubber. The line on the ball is because the oil keeps settling down when stored for a long time. I've seen it. The "soaker" was common. I've seen balls punch out at 62-64. HOOK, oh my god yes. You could hook that ball on a frozen pond. Thanks for the memory Packy.
I worked at an old-school alley in Chicago when I was 16-18. We went through a LOT of 50%/50% toluene-acetate and fleece drunk league bowlers after the center was closed. My Yellow Dot was hitting like a train.
We used to sweat the oil out of our balls. Toss them in the bathtub full of boiling water and keep the temp up until all the oil comes out. Then let them dry out in front of a fan for a day or two.
*sigh * I thought about getting back into bowling, I used to bowl in my 20’s, but my throw is unorthodox for a right handed person, I basically self taught myself to put a left handed spin through my release and it felt “ natural “ I guess? , but after a while it started hurting my wrist and I just gave up on bowling. I remember I had a green Scout Reactive, my own shoes, bag, etc .
😂😢 i never knew about making them soft. We did have a ball spinner in our bathtub. It was used to change the ball surface. More shiny and smooth or less shiny and rough depending on wanted more or less hook. After testing the lane oil you could choose the ball type that hooks up best. 🤠👍
You need to understand creep factor. Instead of a normal durometer reading, you need to press and hold and watch the needle drop. Also, you don't have to pour out the acetone, just leave it out and it will evaporate quickly.
After the balls dried completely, what did they smell like? Would the cheat be easy to detect by others, just by the smell? (Just curious...I'd never, ever put my balls in acetone!)
I've swear Jesper Svennson's ball has that thumping sound you describe after softening it up. But there's no way he would be allowed to cheat. He also seems like a likeable high character guy that wouldn't intentionally cheat.
I had an old Columbia Red Dot that used to pop a durometer reading in the low to mid 60's. I used to bounce it on the tiles before the approach (not high, maybe an inch or two, but definitely bouncing). That ball got eaten at Futurama lanes by the ball return with deep gouges ripped into it from all sides. They refused to comp me a new ball since the Red Dot was "totally f***ing illegal"
And in today's episode of Damn, I'm old! I remember when poly urethane was the new, hot thing for skateboard wheels, skate wheels, even entire skating rink floors.
I remember a guy who drilled a hole in his ball and put quarters in it. He was bowling one night and the plug came out and quarters went flying everywhere. LOL
Is it normal for bowlers to use both hands these days? I was in a bowling league from 2002-2007 and if someone threw a ball like this we'd think they were novices. If it works it works and I have very skinny wrists but I threw with tons of force and spin. The first half of the season my average would be 188 by the end of the season it would drop to 166 because my wrist was so sore I could barely throw the damn ball. This is why I quit bowling for good even though when I wasn't hurting I could bowl my ass off.
Go for a early 1940s-1950 -1960s rubber bowling ball if you can find one, before plastic and urethane balls they were yes RUBBER. i used one for a long time. yea old person here. but if you do find one, they are really fun to throw. only issue with finding one due to rubber, is aged one the rubber has probably hardened out so much its brittle cracked broken so its not really useable any more, but if you find one toss that down the lanes. call it ANTIQUE BOWLING. rubber bowling balls dont hook like at all seriously. you will love throwing one, but finding rubber 50+ years or more old in good condition will be the real challenge of it all.
As I recall the most popular balls that were used for soaking were the rare surDpro and the shorDpro. Both were bleeders from Columbia. I used to bowl the Invitational Doubles league in Chicago. Don McCune would sub there and I even bowled against him. Of course I won.🙂 I still recall his son Eugene practicing on the end lanes.... with a huge backswing. I've bowled tour events, but I believe the best bowlers were the ones in the league.
Yeah, I bowled junior leagues with Eugene. He was really erratic back then. Always threw the hardest with that elevated backswing. Whenever someone else tried to throw harder, he would just ramp it up. His mechanics were pretty bad but he bowled so much that he could repeat his shots so he was competitive in most events. Never impressed me that much though. There are a lot of guys from that era that can say they beat Eugene in match/tournament play. Had Don not been his dad, I seriously doubt he would have ever made in on tour. He’d just be some beer-guzzling house bowler bouncing around the many places in NW Indiana.
Now add the long oil days of the 70s to the test, a crown instead of the block patterns of today, along with old-school wood lanes, and you'll get an idea of what it was like. Then, bring in the 80s short oil with urethane ball changes. If I remember right, the durometer had to be 72 or higher to be legal.
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Well that was 14:40 of my life spent learning you can bowl. Even with two hands. WIMP!
The reason soaking balls worked back in the day is because the only weight block in the ball was a "pancake" that was there to account for the loss of top weight from drilling finger holes. The cover was more important than the core until the advent of two piece balls. Balls were soaked in everything from alcohol to acetone to ketones. So long as they balanced on the dodo scale, they were legal until the rule changes.
and met the durometer requirements
That lt48 is a rubber ball , not urethane, and if I remember correctly they soaked these in M.E K.
Both statements are correct! I loved my LT back in the day. Brings me back to my teens.
The LT48 was reissued as a urethane ball. If Packy says his is urethane, it's urethane. He knows the difference.
@@lockedonlaw Didn't know that. I took 20+ years off from bowling. I used the original Lt-48 when I was in junior leagues.
@@ripvanrevs I had the rubber one as well and I thought I might buy one to use as a spare ball when they reissued it. Then I found out it was urethane.
@@lockedonlaw When was it reissued? I remember a "Vintage LT48" about 10 years ago that was reactive. He said this one was an original, so it's rubber.
Back in the day the Mercury Marine plant (owned by Brunswick) in Fond du Lac, WI sold the LT-48 to employees for $25. The original had a "secret" additive in it. Crushed walnut shells. The ball would track out and when sanding the ball on a spinner to get rid of the track, it would ruin the effectiveness of the walnut shells. Sanding it made the crushed walnut shells to smooth. Only old guys like me remember this.
The soaker days were early to mid 1970s. The Brunswick Crown Jewel, plastic ball, was soaked in toluene. Kevin McCune’s grandfather, Don, was notorious for soaking.
same with Earl Anthony too
@@RubikMaster2010 my dad when he was growing up watched Earl Anthony on tv and he found out then when I was like 5 in 2005 he said Earl Anthony used a yellow dot if memory serves me correct one dull off tv and dry up his area then use a shiny one when on tv playing the same line both not soaked .
Earl Anthony did not throw a soaker. The two big culprits were Don Johnson and Don McCune. Don Johnson went from being among the top bowlers to bowler of the year in like 1972 while McCune went from being a middle of the pack guy to bowler of the year in 73.
@@doug7451 Sure D was softest to start made great soaker
The BYU bowling team is known for soaking too.
Nails....I had a guy in a small non-sanctioned league I was running a couple years ago who brought a ball in that was "very noisy" going down the lane. After a couple nights when we bowled against him, I rolled his ball down the return to get it our of the way and my hand hit something "not right". I look down...nails. This ball had nails pounded into it and the heads were even with the surface. They were put into about a 20yr old ball and into spots that made them extremely hard to see. When I confronted him and told him they need to be removed, he said it was his dad's old ball and he was a pro back in the day... I couldn't believe what I saw... There were a good 10-12 in there that were out there in the days of wood lanes just cutting into that lane surface.
I think the reason you are seeing the plastic ball hook so much more has a lot to do with a dynamic core versus a pancake block in the LT-48. Yes, it makes that much of a difference. They used to mill a spot to test for hardness below the surface to get a supposed accurate reading. That LT 48, as others have noted, was a soft rubber compound and not a urethane ball if it's an original issue. I had that and the green polyester Tommy Hudson lt-48 (not the later TH LT-51.) I couldn't keep the Johnny Petraglia on the lane unless there was a ton of oil (well, realtively speaking back in the wood lane days) but the Tommy Hudson lt-48 is tha ball I threw my first 300 with back in 1977. No soaking needed.
Maybe people cheat is either because they want an Edge over the Competition or because they SUCK at Bowling. Paul
@@chasbari I used a green LT-48 on certain conditions on tour. You have no idea how many people argue that there was no green LT-48 only a LT-51. That I never could have used a green LT-48 because they never made one. Happy to see your comments.
@@johnpasc I still have one.. I KNOW they exist! It was a great ball for me back then.
Packy, an LT-48 is rubber and it came out when Litch was already drilling mill holes so the surface was never altered with chemicals. Also McCune used MEK on old Crown Jewels.
This is the second realease of the LT-48 with JP's signature on it. The older block-letter LT-48's (aka the sponge) was too soft and deemed illegal. It is very much a rubber ball. Sand it with abralon, smell it and tell me i'm wrong.
Oh, and drill it with 3oz side weight for some extra hook.
MEK -- methyl-ethyl-ketone is what was used back in the '70s. It's a commercial solvent.
We'd use a drop or 2 on the wick of our Zippos back in the day if it ran dry at work. Very volatile stuff. Most industry phased it out in favor of MPK, methyl propyl ketone. We haven't used where I work in nearly 40 years.
Used it myself. Way back then.
If I'm not mistaken it's also carcinogenic, so I would not be surprised if that's why Packy opted to use acetone instead of mek.
Just a reminder for the O-Chem buffs: acetone is methyl-methyl-ketone ( (CH3)-(C=O)-(CH3) ) while MEK is methyl-ethyl-ketone ( (CH3)-(C=O)-(CH3CH2) ). Very similar compounds.
right MEK not acetone.
Lt 48 are rubber, they hook a lot for the Era, it was usually the plastic balls that were soaked, lots of white dots and yellow dots. then there were the bleeders of the late 70's those balls were amazing
Calling a rubber cover bowling ball "urethane"....he didn't learn much at Wichita
LT 48! It used to stink like hell when you drilled them. You could always tell when you walked into the shop when one was being drilled!😮
Nothing smelled anywhere near as bad IMO as an old AMF ball being drilled! You could smell those things a mile away. One time, someone requested a warranty refund because the ball stunk FAR worse than even a typical AMF ball... probably a bad batch of cores where they didn't get the composition right.
when i was a junior and senior in high school (1975 & 76) i bowled in a men’s league. my friend’s father owned the lanes. we were all very good bowlers. couldn’t do this every week, but if there was a week when we needed the win, we would block the lanes with heavy oil in the middle. huge advantage knowing where it was- the ball would track the line between light and heavy oil right to the pocket 😊
Yup on the MEK and the ball of choice was a Columbia 300 ..... Then when they cracked down on the cheating, out came the Columbia 300 yellow dot and the LT48. And the trick to beating the durometer test was to stick the ball in a snow bank before going to tech. LOL Then they started drilling the "dimple" to see what the true hardness was. yes it was illegal as hell ..... but until the penalties became harsh enough to make it not worth it, a lot of people were doing it. I don't know of anyone who ever soaked an LT48, it was built to hook like a "soaker".
I still have an LT-48 in the basement - there is nothing like that smell . It brings back some good memories!
I want to say it was the 1973 Columbia Yellow Dot that was pretty soft back in the day. Lot's of soakers back then though before Urethane and weight blocks and reactives ruined the game. A 300 game meant something at one time.
Yellow dot!!!...forgot all about that one. It was one of my favorite balls I ever owned.along with the red pearl hammer.
Soakers were in the 70's, and they were not illegal initially. But there were also only plastic and rubber balls then. Urethane didn't come out until the early 80's, and nobody was soaking by then. And the original LT48 is rubber, not urethane.
That's an original LT-48 and is rubber, not urethane. But they most definitely did the soaking like this back in the day.
Columbia made the sur d before the yellow for. It's durometer reading was 68. I believe they stopped production when the hardness rule came about
I know next to nothing about bowling, so most of this went over my head. But it was fun watching you have fun.
Im with ya. I never broke 200. I went mainly for the beer.🥳
@ breaking 200 sounds like a dream lol I average around 100
@@PtylerBeats i was around 100 for the longest time. Then i learned i wasn't keeping my hand straight. When i concentrated on keeping my hand straight no matter what i improved slightly. Then i would remember which dot i stood at. If my ball went to the left then i would move one dot to the right. If my ball went to the right then i would move one dot to the left. All the while trying to keep my hand straight. I wiuld then get around 150-160.
Its only a game and if we have fun then we win! 🥳
Good video. Back in the day the LT48 was the ball.
Used to hit the track of my LT-48 with rubbing alcohol back in the day. I still have it.
Back in the day the LT48 was the ball of choice for most, but things changed quickly with the advent of urethane. The original U-dot line was an amazing breakthrough that dominated for a short time. I still remember the start of the two-piece offset core balls because the pro shop guys had to travel to a training seminar just to learn how to drill them properly. What a great innovation that took the industry by storm. Good memories.
as a former kart racer and crew helper on many dirt cars we would dope our tires. You would become a certified chemist. There are so many formulas out there today. One in particular was SST Purple. It would not change the durometer of a tire much but would add elasticizer to the tire. Makes me wonder what some of these tire dope combinations would do... 🤔
Hmmm me too, now you got me curious!
I worked at an alley and we had pins with lead in the bottom so the heads didn't sit right when they were knocked over.
😂😂😂im sure not all were unbalanced.
@N0_UNITY just 1 or 2 is all it took.
That was me in 1973 at age 16! I used MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) rather than acetone - I don't remember why, maybe that's what Don McCune, the father of the soaker and tour dominator that year, used? Not long afterwards, the PBA & ABC came up with minimun hardness standards, Columbia came out with the "red dot" softer-yet-legal ball, and the soaker era ended as quickly as it started. Good times.
These are the kind of balls that my house owner buddy tell me big fish stories about soaking balls back in the day so they'd hook. Love those old stories.
"Columbia Yellow Dot soaker" was the ball to use in my neck of the woods.
The Yellow dot was the ball to use even if it wasn't soaked. My dad went to a different house to bowl a league in and pretty much every single bowler in the league was using a yellow dot. The manager told my dad if his team doesn't get yellow dots, they will never be able to carry the 10 pin. I think he was right.
That was my favorite ball
@@mpbc48 it was called "The bleeder"
@@tomhalliley8546 Some were. Not all Yellow Dots were Bleeders. They were pretty highly sought after back in the day.
@@SealofPerfection true. But I had a bleeder 😁
The LT-48 in the video is the original rubber coverstock from the early 1980s. That "FN" serial number was one of the sought-after shells from that period, and was rumored to have pulverized walnut shell in the coverstock. It also had a unique core, in that it was cork-like, so most of us would "paint" the thumb hole with clear nail polish, to create a slicker surface and prevent thumb-blistering.
The rubber coverstock is also why the Acetone had limited (if any) effect on the LT-48, versus the plastic coverstock.
"MEK" (methyl ethyl ketone) is what they were using to soak plastic balls on the tour in '73, before the ABC got wise.
I know of a guy who stuck a roll of dimes into his ball and then plugged over the dimes. Obviously the metal "core" allowed for a lot of hook. He was banned.
That's why plugged equipment isn't allowed on tour anymore.
What you really need to do with this is to have bowlers bowling one handed throwing the same speed and rev rate that the old pros did.
I love the old stories this video brought up.
I used an LT48 when I was in junior leagues in the early 80s. It hooked a lot more than the plastic house ball I had been using. As long as I can throw my 🟣🔨, I don't need to soak any balls in acetone🤣🤣
Yeah... Don't just dump acetone into a random plastic bucket, it attacks several common plastics including ABS, PVC, and Polycarbonate to different degrees (and yes, also polyurethane). If that bucket was incompatible and slightly damaged it could easily attack it.
I never had the LT48, but my 1st ball in my 1st ever league in 1977 was the LT51. I think I still have it buried out in the garage.
What standards exist for surface hardness of bowling balls, and using what criteria, from which organization(s)?
It'd be interesting to see lab imaging or manufacturer design data on the materials and layers of different balls.
What effect does temperature have, or use of alternate solvents like hexane, isopropanol, ethanol, methanol, MEK, acetone, etc? How about mixtures?
Does an air dry and water soak change traits much? How about if balls are heated or cooled, or if centers only are heated (easy to do, via an embedded element, or induction sensitive implant with no obvious external connections)?
My Dad, and My Two Uncles won the League title about 3 times, and they were using The Brunswick [ Johnny Petraglia] LT 48!!!!! Eventually My Dad switched to the Urethane Columbia 300 Udot.
Still have my LT-48 rubber ball. It came in handy in wood lane houses that are still around. I remember a house that had a super soft Columbia Yellow Dot and the Tommy Hudson LT51.
Yep. Made with real Michelin rubber. I still have my grandfather's LT48. It's still in great condition. They last longer than a lifetime for sure.
I was bowling a regional one time back in the day and the lanes were scorched, everyone was throwing white dots over the gutter. I had some deodorant in the bottom of my bag and I tossed a ball into it and broke the plastic around it. When I put the ball I was using into the bag to switch lanes I didn't realize what had happened. When I got to the next pair and pulled it out it was really slick so I wiped it down, my first shot went about 20-25ft before it ever even thought about hooking, I moved back to the fourth arrow and finished out the tournament "wiping" down my ball every shot. Finished 2nd.
Original LT-48 was rubber. The LT-48 Legend was Resin.
You laugh about that line with the plastic. I have the viz-a-ball and was standing on 27 throwing to 15 at the arrows to stay on the correct side of the head pin in my travel league Saturday. The lanes were so dry and broken down that bad.
The old LT48's were rubber from memory. To me, it was almost like a sponge, sucking up oil, Back in the day, the guys baked their balls to excrete the oil. Being a cranker, I preferred a 1200 or 1500 grit sanded ball. Red dot, grey angle & Nail were some of my favs. 45 foot of skid & 15 foot of snap. Lots of good memories
I used a black hammer, ultra angle, and a nail for spares.
So, regarding your thumbnail, urethane has zero uranium in it
LT48 is Rubber mixed with Walnut shells to give it more traction.
It seems a total shame to subject that classic winning ball to this test, especially since it already looked so good on the lane.
The plastic ball's surface was softened significantly by the acetone but just the surface, the underneath only reduced a small amount.
The Durometer pin is going through the surface so easily it is only measuring the underneath.
That ball was clicking before he soaked it
We used to use SR22 on the ball when the lanes were flooded. We got called out and ABC changed the rules. This was around the early 90s.
Back in the seventies I bought a Columbia yellow dot out of the box it was 72. At that time anything over 70 was legal. You could put a gallon of oil down on the lanes and all I had to do is just slow it down and the ball hooked
Hi NYC
I just watched you whole show and I enjoyed it. Cool content. Bowling Alleys are cool places also maybe throw a thing or two about that. They should be your first sponsors because they are marketers also, news ads and such. You'd be giving them great exposure to NEW customers who are pre disposed to Bowling. Newspaper ads maybe 1 bowler sees it. With you 100 into Bowling
Seems easy
I believe Don McCune from Muenster, Indiana was the father of the "soaker". I have also heard years ago that toluene could be used in lieu of acetone.
I think Don did use toluene
Yes, he was from Munster IN. I lived in the next town over and visited his pro shop on a regular basis. Bowled in junior leagues with Eugene.
Interesting video for sure. I had one of those JP balls in the late ‘70’s and loved it. I wonder how different the hook is between identically prepared old school wood lanes and the synthetic stuff? My father was a PBA member in the 60’s and the only ball he ever used was a Brunswick Black Beauty??? Anyway, great video, thanks for sharing.
I have an old story. Back when I bowled in a league, maybe half way through the season, I felt like my ball wasn't hooking as much. This was like an entry level reactive plastic ball. So i was clickin and clacking on the interwebs and someone had mentioned that balls can soak up oil and stop reacting so well and you can soak the ball in hot water and like dish soap. Now I don't really understand how this could be illegal to clean your ball, but I'll tell you what, that ball hooked 4 times more than it ever did after, so much I couldn't even hit a pin, it would literally go from right gutter to left gutter and back to the right gutter... and I was a power bowler(like 25mph). I had to actually take the ball back home and polish it smooth just to slow down the hook to something manageable. Now I did read the league rules and technically when I polished it, I put some wax on it and that was I guess illegal.
Methel Ethel Keytone We soaked em, called em soakers. Columbia Yellow Dot back in the day.
Are those a pair of the strykers? What about a possible video of the shoes you have from dexter? I have been trying to find any videos on the strykers and I cant find anything on them. As a wide footed leftie, its hard to find shoes that look good and fit right
You gotta do all of them now, like weight holes, added weight with fill plugs, illegal drillings.
A lot of the hooking got to do with how they oil the lanes.
Oh hey, fellow lefty bowler. Do you also have issues when the machines are to the right? I always request an even number lane when I go bowling because I had difficulties bowling when the machine is on the right.
Is it easier for you because you bowl with both hands?
Soaking a polyester ball to increase the hook became a thing in the early 1970s. But when the manufacturers found out about it they realized there was a market for a softer ball and began producing them. The PBA instituted a hardness requirement of 75 or over which was in effect by 1974. The American Bowling Congress (pre-USBC) took longer mainly because any rules change required a vote at their national convention, and generally took effect the following season. The ABC hardness limit was 72+ and went into effect prior to the 1976-77 bowling season.
I suspect the PBA rule was as much for safety and liability reasons as to remove a competitive advantage. When soaking began soft-shelled balls were not available. The chemicals used are potentially hazardous. The ABC rule was aimed more toward manufacturers who began producing ultra-soft covers. But since temperature affects hardness on a hot day there were many balls which would not pass a durometer check.
They only did that for league, we couldnt have a ball below 78 on the durometer at events
My dad took a ball to a tournament and it tested soft. He told them he had another one in the car. He took the ball outside in the freezing temp for about 10 minutes and took it back inside. It passed.
@@ripvanrevs that's funny
I had a couple of Rags-48s, and then got a Roto STAR RC-5, which didn't hook as much, but I liked the continuation.
That 3-9 you made at the end with the 2 balls, that should be a trick shot on its' own! Have each ball pick up 1 pin? It'd be cool if you could do that on purpose!
Lefties also had a huge advantage in the 70s as lane conditions for righties would break down much more quickly. Even more on TV games.
Nothing's any different in that way now.
The PBA used to try and make the left side unplayable to stop Earl Anthony, but he was so good he'd made the show or at least cash anyway. There'd be all righties and Earl.
They also used to set balls out in the cold to harden them to pass the durometer test if they were too soft.
I had a Brunswick Manta, super soft, around 73-75. Bowled super well with it.
A good scrubbing with a green Scotchbrite and a quick wipe down with acetone to clean off any residue and dust and your ball works like new again. At least until 2/3rds of the way through the 2nd game, shooting left handed, and everybody else on both teams are righties.
In the 90s, i used to love watching Brian Voss vs Walter Ray Williams Jr. PBA was great back then
video is great, very entertaining. you wearing that shirt makes it even better 😂
Every Sunday my local bowlero is left with a 60’ Sahara oil pattern on it. Bone dry. I joked that I wish I had a spray bottle of oil like you had for that flooded lane video but then I thought “they won’t like me going up and down the lane spraying” so then I got the idea, “ what if I covered a house ball in oil and threw it down the lane in a few spots to try to add some slip to the lane surface?”
Would you be up for making a video trying a pattern put down by throwing plastic balls covered in oil?
Way, way back, the LT-48 was rubber. The line on the ball is because the oil keeps settling down when stored for a long time. I've seen it. The "soaker" was common. I've seen balls punch out at 62-64. HOOK, oh my god yes. You could hook that ball on a frozen pond. Thanks for the memory Packy.
Now:
Do this with a purple pin purple and a 78 black.
And do it with one non soaked and let’s compare
My monday night league opinion? This doesn't matter anymore with all those high performance balls out there today.
I worked at an old-school alley in Chicago when I was 16-18. We went through a LOT of 50%/50% toluene-acetate and fleece drunk league bowlers after the center was closed. My Yellow Dot was hitting like a train.
At one time I soaked a Columbia Sur D Pro which came from the factory already soaked.
It became the size of a softball after I did this lol
Crazy, I was just reading about Don McCune doing this / causing soaking balls to be banned. I'd be interested what Kevin has to say about this.
We used to sweat the oil out of our balls. Toss them in the bathtub full of boiling water and keep the temp up until all the oil comes out. Then let them dry out in front of a fan for a day or two.
Used to. 😅
Sounds like the do it yourself method of cooking the ball in the oven to get the oil out.
I’ve heard they’ve done that to brand new balls and it was part of the ball coming out of the ball, not oil.
long lanes... bowl from the verry edge of the floor. where ever the wood starts. touching wood is foul (except to get your ball)
*sigh * I thought about getting back into bowling, I used to bowl in my 20’s, but my throw is unorthodox for a right handed person, I basically self taught myself to put a left handed spin through my release and it felt “ natural “ I guess? , but after a while it started hurting my wrist and I just gave up on bowling. I remember I had a green Scout Reactive, my own shoes, bag, etc .
😂😢 i never knew about making them soft. We did have a ball spinner in our bathtub. It was used to change the ball surface. More shiny and smooth or less shiny and rough depending on wanted more or less hook. After testing the lane oil you could choose the ball type that hooks up best. 🤠👍
I used to soak a Columbia 300 yellow and a Sure D Pro in MEK.
This would be like saying guys were cheating when they sanded there balls even though there were no rules against it
You need to understand creep factor. Instead of a normal durometer reading, you need to press and hold and watch the needle drop. Also, you don't have to pour out the acetone, just leave it out and it will evaporate quickly.
Challenge idea. Try using 2 random subscriber’s ball with their same layout and 1v1 someone with them
As stated previously the LT48 is rubber, also there was a filler in the rubber to cut costs……crushed walnut shells made it a particle ball.
The LT48 is soft rubber, made long before urethanes.
After the balls dried completely, what did they smell like? Would the cheat be easy to detect by others, just by the smell? (Just curious...I'd never, ever put my balls in acetone!)
I love his enthusiasm and passion for bowling. like Patches O’Hullahan.
I've swear Jesper Svennson's ball has that thumping sound you describe after softening it up. But there's no way he would be allowed to cheat. He also seems like a likeable high character guy that wouldn't intentionally cheat.
I never heard of soaking a ball and I bowled a lot from the 60,s to the 90,s
I had an old Columbia Red Dot that used to pop a durometer reading in the low to mid 60's. I used to bounce it on the tiles before the approach (not high, maybe an inch or two, but definitely bouncing). That ball got eaten at Futurama lanes by the ball return with deep gouges ripped into it from all sides. They refused to comp me a new ball since the Red Dot was "totally f***ing illegal"
Wow. This is interesting. Thanks
And in today's episode of Damn, I'm old!
I remember when poly urethane was the new, hot thing for skateboard wheels, skate wheels, even entire skating rink floors.
I remember a guy who drilled a hole in his ball and put quarters in it. He was bowling one night and the plug came out and quarters went flying everywhere. LOL
It still happens today, I heard that some of the higher average players in our PBA league did this.
I don't even like bowling that much, and I have no idea why RUclips recommended this video, by I was thoroughly entertained. Like + Subscribe.
Is it normal for bowlers to use both hands these days? I was in a bowling league from 2002-2007 and if someone threw a ball like this we'd think they were novices. If it works it works and I have very skinny wrists but I threw with tons of force and spin. The first half of the season my average would be 188 by the end of the season it would drop to 166 because my wrist was so sore I could barely throw the damn ball. This is why I quit bowling for good even though when I wasn't hurting I could bowl my ass off.
That “popping noise” is the finger holes not a “ridge” the oil ring is over the finger holes you can see it on the ball return
I would not mess around with MEK or Toluene, in a bucket without gloves. Acetone was the safer choice to test.
Go for a early 1940s-1950 -1960s rubber bowling ball if you can find one, before plastic and urethane balls they were yes RUBBER. i used one for a long time. yea old person here. but if you do find one, they are really fun to throw. only issue with finding one due to rubber, is aged one the rubber has probably hardened out so much its brittle cracked broken so its not really useable any more, but if you find one toss that down the lanes. call it ANTIQUE BOWLING. rubber bowling balls dont hook like at all seriously. you will love throwing one, but finding rubber 50+ years or more old in good condition will be the real challenge of it all.
As I recall the most popular balls that were used for soaking were the rare surDpro and the shorDpro.
Both were bleeders from Columbia.
I used to bowl the Invitational Doubles league in Chicago.
Don McCune would sub there and I even bowled against him.
Of course I won.🙂
I still recall his son Eugene practicing on the end lanes.... with a huge backswing.
I've bowled tour events, but I believe the best bowlers were the ones in the league.
Yeah, the Columbia white dot was the only ball I ever soaked.
Yeah, I bowled junior leagues with Eugene. He was really erratic back then. Always threw the hardest with that elevated backswing. Whenever someone else tried to throw harder, he would just ramp it up. His mechanics were pretty bad but he bowled so much that he could repeat his shots so he was competitive in most events. Never impressed me that much though. There are a lot of guys from that era that can say they beat Eugene in match/tournament play. Had Don not been his dad, I seriously doubt he would have ever made in on tour. He’d just be some beer-guzzling house bowler bouncing around the many places in NW Indiana.
Now add the long oil days of the 70s to the test, a crown instead of the block patterns of today, along with old-school wood lanes, and you'll get an idea of what it was like. Then, bring in the 80s short oil with urethane ball changes. If I remember right, the durometer had to be 72 or higher to be legal.
This was an amazing find by Don McCune back in the day... not illegal then. It's amazing he never burned a motel down though.
The ball that was soaked back in the day....was the Sure D. Columbia. Also known as a bleeder.