Chalk Clusters - WTF

[TCIndepMo]

I've taken to placing a cube up on the table light. One cube at each end. Assuming the light fixture is constructed with enough flat space on the top. Most are.

Even when they see what I am doing, the opponent NEVER thinks to reach up there. I am already in the habit of reaching up - the other guy isn't.

 

[mullyman]

Earl, is that you???

In all seriousness, I keep one cube of chalk on the table for myself, and I take it with me after each shot. It was an easy habit to get into, and now I'm never without chalk.

I took up 3-cushion about a year or so ago and I don't know how it is in America, never played 3C there, but over here it's bad form to leave a cube of chalk sitting on the rail. Everyone has their own chalk and you take it to your seat with you. When I first started playing 3C I had the habit of leaving my chalk on the rail. Never failed to hear "Yep, he's a pocket player" and "Take your chalk with you." haha!! I've now grown accustomed to it and I find when I'm playing pocket, more often than not, I'm sitting there with a cube of chalk in my hand and the other guy has to walk all around to get the other one. hehe!! Maybe we should all try to initiate a new unwritten rule about taking your cube with you to your seat like the 3Cers do.
MULLY

 

[ShootingArts]

I bring my own chalk

I took up 3-cushion about a year or so ago and I don't know how it is in America, never played 3C there, but over here it's bad form to leave a cube of chalk sitting on the rail. Everyone has their own chalk and you take it to your seat with you. When I first started playing 3C I had the habit of leaving my chalk on the rail. Never failed to hear "Yep, he's a pocket player" and "Take your chalk with you." haha!! I've now grown accustomed to it and I find when I'm playing pocket, more often than not, I'm sitting there with a cube of chalk in my hand and the other guy has to walk all around to get the other one. hehe!! Maybe we should all try to initiate a new unwritten rule about taking your cube with you to your seat like the 3Cers do.
MULLY

I bring my own chalk and while I usually lay it on the table rail I don't sweat it if I tote a piece with me when I leave the table with the other person shooting.

Replying to another post, I am guilty of walking around the table while chalking, exactly why my chalk stays in motion. I do brush the chalk on but I don't bother looking at what I'm doing. Having chalked a few million times I'm pretty sure what I'm doing by now without watching closely.

Hu

 

[mullyman]

Replying to another post, I am guilty of walking around the table while chalking, exactly why my chalk stays in motion. I do brush the chalk on but I don't bother looking at what I'm doing. Having chalked a few million times I'm pretty sure what I'm doing by now without watching closely.

Hu

Amen. The only time I really look at what I'm doing is if I have a long draw or some other type of shot where I want to make sure that my tip is evenly covered.
MULLY

 

[Maniac]

Upon finding a cluster of chalk this Dave will remove them all to a side table.

Dave <-- carries his own chalk and leaves the table with it :thumbup:

Like Dave, I carry my own chalk to the table and carry it back to my chair with me when I miss (which is often. my chalk could apply for frequent flyer miles ). Before I start a match, I always ask my opponent if he plans on using the chalk on the table or if he has his own. Usually they have their own, so I remove all chalk from the rails to a side table.

Maniac

 

[8Ball48043]

It has to do with Sir Isaac Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation.

Geez! I thought EVERYONE knew that !!!! duh!

 

[Mike in MN]

I took up 3-cushion about a year or so ago and I don't know how it is in America, never played 3C there, but over here it's bad form to leave a cube of chalk sitting on the rail. Everyone has their own chalk and you take it to your seat with you. When I first started playing 3C I had the habit of leaving my chalk on the rail. Never failed to hear "Yep, he's a pocket player" and "Take your chalk with you." haha!! I've now grown accustomed to it and I find when I'm playing pocket, more often than not, I'm sitting there with a cube of chalk in my hand and the other guy has to walk all around to get the other one. hehe!! Maybe we should all try to initiate a new unwritten rule about taking your cube with you to your seat like the 3Cers do.
MULLY

I have been the victim of too many chalk ninjas in the past who have somehow mysteriously walked away with my chalk. I know it's cheap, but it's principle. So my solution: I always take it with me to my seat when it's not my turn to shoot. You can usually find me seated, with one hand on my cue, and the other holding a piece of Blue Master chalk.

 

[DogsPlayingPool]

The reason chalk bunches up on the table is simple, it's mating season.

The chalker of all time is Rafael Martinez. If he is not down on a shot, he is chalking his tip. The whole time he is looking at the layout, walking around the table, he's applying chalk. He's a switch-hit chalker too. Grind the chalk into the tip, switch to the other hand, grind away some more.

Chalk on the rails is a no-no. Not only does it get all over your clothes, but also drops on to the cloth bed. Either way it ends up all over your hands and then it's in your shaft and wrap.

 

[TheOneGnat]

Like Dave, I carry my own chalk to the table and carry it back to my chair with me when I miss (which is often. my chalk could apply for frequent flyer miles ). Before I start a match, I always ask my opponent if he plans on using the chalk on the table or if he has his own. Usually they have their own, so I remove all chalk from the rails to a side table.

Maniac

I do the same thing, but it's chalk in the pocket for me. I play mostly on bar boxes, and the first thing I do is place all the chalk down by the coin drawer. If I'm playing against someone who needs it I find myself obsessively moving it out of my way and line of sight. But if I am playing at home it's 2 pieces on the rail and you'd think they were magnetized!

 

[pwd72s]

Pocket chalker fan here, because bars seem to hate giving away chalk.

That said, there is a moving vortex within the rails that sucks chalk into clusters. If you can get the sound of a jukebox stilled, and have everybody in the bar remain quiet for 10 minutes, you can actually hear this vortex.

Go ahead, check it out. :wink:

 

[HomeBrewer]

What an amazing coincidence. The same thing has been happening to me.
Every Monday I play One Pocket with this guy and every time I reach for a cube of chalk I find they are all at the other end of the table. Not only that, they are sitting on the same sight and all facing the same direction with an equal amount of space between each one.
The other day I said. "What's up with the chalk?"
He said. "What chalk?"

Haha - great post. +1

 

[paulempor]

A fellow APA team member can not stand more than two pieces of chalk on the table. He loses it......I mean really loses it. So one day while he is playing his match, he goes to the bathroom and comes back to a barbox with about 12 pieces of chalk on the table...... He just laughed and walked away. :grin:

As to why all the chalks gets grouped together it just one of those things that can not be explained.

 

[sfleinen]

Is it just me.........It seems that, no matter when/where, the available chalk on the table always ends up being situated in a cluster on the table ledges. I constantly attempt to spread it around when shooting but to no apparent effect. All the chalk always ends up in the same place after a seemingly short period of table time. I have relegated this to another one of those weird, unexplained phenomena, sorta of like dog/wife behavior. Anyone have any empirical data??

This is due to the special additives in the chalk, to help it cling to the tip (a kind of "coagulant" if you will). The downside is that multiple pieces of chalk tend to coagulate together on the table.

The fix for this is to whack the guy behind the counter (behind the head) for putting five/six pieces of chalk in the ball tray for you in the first place. The establishment's motive is to *invite* the "chalk coagulation" to take place, to keep you busy at the table practicing anti-coagulation (a sort of "human Warfarin agent" if you will) by continually separating the chalk clusters before you shoot every shot, thereby taking more table time to shoot the same number of racks, thereby putting more cash in the proprietor's pocket. Don't you see that it's a grand conspiracy?



-Sean