what makes 'em stick?

Sorry such a long response

wigglybridge said:

Dennis, i found in another thread elsewhere in AZland that Schmidt recommends Brillianize (for sure) for routine use, and the Aramith cleaner (if i remember right) for heavy-duty situations.

when i was scoring for him at Valley Forge, he was putting the balls through the Diamond cleaner about every 3rd rack, as was Bobby Chamberlain.

i do remember that at Ivory, one fellow there polished the living snot out of one set, and one night when i couldn't run a rack i moved to that table (they keep balls by table) and almost immediately ran 25, which is about my best speed. most of the time, the balls there are clean, but reasonably dull-looking; in this case, they were mirror-shiny, and came apart wonderfully.

maybe a set of balls should be on my shopping list...

...hmmm, just visited the Seyberts site, and the ones at McCue's (where i have the biggest problem) are definitely the Aramith Standard Billiard Balls, also called Aramith Crown Belgian on some sites.

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Yes I did put the balls in the diamond polisher,however only 1 time before my first run and never again.I never took the cue ball off the table at anytime and not even between innings to wipe any silicone on it or any type of wax or buff the cue ball in my towel at anytime.
Im certainly not pointing fingers towards any players but my feelings have been and are now at ANY TIME that any player do anything otherwise than what I did is a very clear view of CHEATING by loading up the cueball and will be exposed as a CHEAT if I ever see it happen.
As a player of the game for almost 40 years I have never seen players so desperate to load up the balls with silicone or wax and also manipulating the racks to find desperate ways to gain an advantage and its ashame that players have to stoop to such a level in order to perform.
Again I have not and will not mention any names but if I get called out by my response by anyone from my comments I will expose all of these people and make it front page headlines to all of the billiard community,billiard magazines publications and all promoters.
Every player should always play on the square and just get up there and play there best with what ever equipment is supplied and dont find or create an angle to benefit them.
I know for a fact that Mosconi,Lassiter,Cranfield,Crane,Varner,Sigel and many others never ever used any silicone or wax on the balls and never removed the balls in the middle of any runs to do so.

I've tried Brillianize and Novus #1 in the Diamond ball polisher. For what it's worth, I found that Novus left little flakes on the table, like dandruff. Not a lot but enough to be annoying. I guess it leaves a coating on the balls that gets knocked off as you play. This hasn't happened since I switched to Brillianize.

wigglybridge said:

sorry if i remembered incorrectly, Bobby, just operating from memory, which at my age isn't always perfect.

and with that apology, i'd like to move back to the original topic:

i'm still interested in what physical factors -- dirt on the table or balls, type of balls, etc -- contribute how much to separating the pack, and the most practical ways of dealing with those things.

because i never get to play on the beautiful conditions that Charlie, Steve, and sponsors provided at Valley Forge, so in addition to my playing [!] i've gotta handle these issues somehow.

and -- call me crazy -- but i'm guessing that balls with pizza cheese and sauce on them isn't exactly helping me here. (no lie)

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No problem at all and I always like to joke around.It truly is people like you that donate your time and money to help our sport and we need many more people like you and so I want to say thanks to you for all your help.It is kinda funny as there wasnt to many times I got into the 3rd rack anyways.
As to some it seems that im a little harsh making my comments,however I will always tell it as I see it and never sugar coat anything and I am no bully but if anyone stands in my way I will never back down.Even after the minor issues with the hopkins 14.1 challenge this year I hope that you continue to help out with your time and money to see that event continue as it really has come along in such a short time period.

dmgwalsh said:

You may be right. But I figure I am not going to be breaking too many high run records. If it was good enough for Mosconi to play with polished balls, it is good enough for me. I only have a certain number of days on this planet to enjoy the challenge of playing 14.1 and I want the conditions to be the best that they can.

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Well, I'm joining the party finally, just orderd my first bottle of Aramith ball polish from Ozone......:thumbup: