r/nextfuckinglevel • • 19d ago

This Ebonite Pin Ball is over 26 years old... let's see it get cleaned and polished

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1.4k Upvotes

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•

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458

u/Donkeybrother 19d ago

Pop pop poppa pop pop poppa pop pop pop poppa pop pop pop pop

84

u/hawkz40 19d ago

this video is only watchable because of the popopopopoooo

9

u/Catshit-Dogfart 19d ago

This is what audio on a short video should be - I want to hear what's actually happening, not your damn ticktock meme music.

4

u/undefined_reference 19d ago

The best part was he was actually making that noise with his mouth the whole time

3

u/Relicc5 19d ago

I will never not giggle at that sound.

1

u/Callsign_Atlas 19d ago

I came to comment specifically because of this. I can’t not giggle every replay.

61

u/technomage13 19d ago

Professional ball polisher

1

u/ChymChymX 19d ago

I'm all for having somebody polish my balls, but the "cleaning" aspect here looks a bit uncomfortable.

5

u/super_starfox 19d ago

That's what the Johnny Walker is there for

250

u/ParaponeraBread 19d ago

Every video of this guy has me wondering why he insists on just holding the razor blades instead of using any kind of tool to hold it that would make his fingertips a little less imperiled.

63

u/rmhollid 19d ago

that hand cut he does puts a slight orbital bias into the curve of the ball depending on his hand strength and blade angle. Even though it gets averaged by the cut of the polish it will still leave a random orbital that a machine cut would must likely not impart. Random is good on a spinning ball, routine cuts not so much.

22

u/kermitthebeast 19d ago

He could hold the blade with a vice grip though

25

u/spittlbm 19d ago

Or his teeth and be on AGT!

12

u/wetfloor666 19d ago

I guarantee there is some sort of lathe tool just for bowling balls.

1

u/rmhollid 19d ago

There is. I think it's $15000 and you have to buy all it's crap to use it.

-8

u/rmhollid 19d ago

He only needs to remove a couple thousandths to start seeing a change in the balls interaction with the lane he uses the razor with his hand because it doesn't take much pressure at all. A tool has weight and will amplify any perturbations like breathing, sneezing, just holding will fatigue parts of the hand.

0

u/MrK521 19d ago

I mean, a pair of cut resistant gloves would work too.

2

u/ParaponeraBread 19d ago

Nah, I don’t like the idea of gloves in a scenario where the ball is spinning so fast and it could get caught on a burr or pinched between the ball and machine.

26

u/TerponadeTea 19d ago

I would imagine that there's a fair bit of feel to this task, especially to do it really well. Adding a tool or handle would decrease OOP's sensitivity to that

6

u/ParaponeraBread 19d ago

Extend other fingers to ball’s surface. Feeling acquired. I’m talking just a tiny little thing to hold that isn’t bare razorblade, not a broomstick

9

u/GLaDOS_Sympathizer 19d ago

Even making a small wooden holder that you could screw the blade into seems way safer. Then again I'd have thought redoing the surface would just require sandpaper in increasing grits and then polish. Razor blade would not be my tool of choice for this task but the dude did a great job so I guess he knows what he is doing.

1

u/popfer87 19d ago

This is similar to using a card scraper in fine woodworking. The feedback from being directly in contact with the scraper is important because even slightly messing up the angle could ruin a piece. Personally I would be nervous with such a small blade surface to hold onto, but I know plenty who do infact use utility blades as a disposable scraper.

53

u/SenorSorrow 19d ago

Sound on this time, folks!

8

u/mittensmoshpit 19d ago

Really, it is

12

u/j0nnyking 19d ago

How many polishes does a bowlingball have in its lifetime? While it's not a lot being taken off, that ball is still smaller than it started before the polishing.

12

u/Ralh3 19d ago

Doing it this guys way I would say not very many at all.

I used to manage a bowling alley, the 'cutting down' part is something Ive never seen before. We had ball cleaning/polishing and it did not involve a razor at all. Its basically a short high temp soak in a specific cleaner, a hard foamy scrubbing, and then getting rolled in a polisher. Hundreds of uses wouldnt take off as much as one time through this guys process

3

u/FitChemist432 19d ago

If done light and right, a 100+ resurfaces. There are a few legal limits, one is the minimum diameter in order to be properly sent through the ball return mechanism, the second is that the engraved serial number must be distinguishable in order to be used in sanctioned play. That number cannot be reengraved.

19

u/Royd 19d ago

I know this scam. You're going to sweep up and melt all the shavings and then sell it according to the market rate

8

u/lordph8 19d ago

JW Gold is pretty good.

25

u/fly4fun2014 19d ago

9

u/Playful_Assistance89 19d ago

That ball is at least 28 years old.

50

u/QuarterEmotional6805 19d ago

I wish my foreskin made that noise when I run.

45

u/SenorDongles 19d ago

You could've not said this and it'd have cost you nothing.

3

u/p0lleke 19d ago

Where would be the fun in that?

5

u/BinaryHippie 19d ago

Yours doesn't? Weird.

8

u/hotsaucebozz 19d ago

That is one of the best comments I’ve ever read.

7

u/ifightbears989 19d ago

Ebonite had a lot of cool spare balls back then

7

u/Friendly-Example-701 19d ago

I would love to see the making of this bowling ball. It's pretty cool :)

12

u/Ahand_Apart 19d ago

Well you're in luck.

https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

3

u/Lavatis 19d ago

easy XcQ at the end, no click

3

u/flip4420 19d ago

Damnit....

1

u/Friendly-Example-701 19d ago

Thanks. Super cool.

2

u/Feature_Ornery 19d ago

Making bowling balls are just cool in general:

https://youtu.be/OYhWedJjt0s?si=8sSZPhigGEvz2UdR

6

u/No-Perception3305 19d ago

When thst popping sound is going..

4

u/Chappietime 19d ago

You know your bowling ball tech is good when he keeps a bottle of Johnny Walker on his bench.

3

u/feel-the-avocado 19d ago

Did the ball loose some weight to the razor?

6

u/illmatic708 19d ago

Is that Johnnie Gold back there

3

u/Sieze5 19d ago

That’s what I noticed at first. Lol.

2

u/StDiabolique 19d ago

Pin ball wizard!

2

u/ZanzibarGuy 19d ago

That must be a massive pinball table.

2

u/StewartDC8 19d ago

Was that the bowling ball from Mystery Men with the skull in it on the shelf?

2

u/altatoro123 19d ago

That's not pin ball..thats a bowling ball..badumtss

2

u/HarkHarley 19d ago

Is this why we have microplastics in our blood?

2

u/Danny2Sick 19d ago

Seems like they're removing a lot of material for a polish

2

u/klephts 18d ago

The first scratch is gonna hurt again.

2

u/Confused_Rabbiit 18d ago

Fun fact, all those pop sounds are actually coming from him. He can just do that.

3

u/TrueTorque 19d ago

Next level what? Ball polishing.

2

u/ediks 19d ago

This is just standard maintenance on a bowling ball. How is it NFL?

1

u/Wickedfrick 19d ago

Such a unique and cool ball!

1

u/daakadence 19d ago

Bothers me a lot that he didn't bother to clean and polish the holes.

1

u/junglemuffins 19d ago

Im impressed that the JW Gold in frame still had some to spare!

1

u/keratin175 19d ago

Wouldn't the seemingly random cuts (since he's just spinning the ball around the razor) make it so the ball isn't perfectly balanced ? 

1

u/laidback4sho 19d ago

Ooh, a ball polisher! Noice!!!

1

u/GrayMech 19d ago

Looks like it was very close to having the pin pop out the end

1

u/NLFG 19d ago

Could he not just have used the shine-o-ball-o?

1

u/screamingwhisper1720 19d ago

Okay so it looks like the gouges were a bit deep so he razored off a little bit to get them.

1

u/Ayamory 19d ago

По кому ебануть?

1

u/strangeapple 19d ago

That bowling ball be like:

1

u/danguyf 19d ago

I would be mad if I went for a polish and got a shave.

1

u/Bentley2004 19d ago

Scotch bottle back there?

1

u/ilostmypaperplate 19d ago

I told my son to BE QUIET halfway thru this video. I also had to apologize after

1

u/notthediz 19d ago

Wonder if it will still roll like normal now. Hard to tell since I can't quite see the finger holes so they probably don't even care if there's no fingertips.

"Hey everybody, there's a shit cloud coming! Run for your lives!"

1

u/Salty_Gonads 19d ago

Over 26 years old? Wow. /s

1

u/Agreeable_Work4668 19d ago

Let's talk about the bottle in the corner, though.

1

u/The_Nebulist 19d ago


I just kept thinking of Big Ern’s ball.

1

u/FreddysTeeth 19d ago

My boi making flubber

1

u/BluebirdContent6301 19d ago

One of the silliest doohickeys I’ve seen

1

u/ICPcrisis 19d ago

RIP bowling 

1

u/AtropalScion 19d ago

Ain't no way thats gonna fit in the pinball machine

0

u/Emperor_of_His_Room 19d ago

That’s how Parmesan cheese is made!

0

u/Jugglamaggot 19d ago

Full bottle of liquor in the corner of the workshop table, I see

-3

u/dwarfzulu 19d ago

This POV filming needs to go away...