centennial pool balls - yellowing?

Beware_of_Dawg

Beware_of_Dawg

..................
Silver Member
I have a buddy who has a set of centennial pool balls he said he bought from someone... They appear to be authetic (markings/black outlined numbers) and he said they came in a brunswick box, he now has them in an aftermarket case...

my question, is it common for them to turn yellowish? I need a good set of high end pool balls and considered buying them from him (good price) but it struck me how dull/yellowed they look... is this common?

Thanx
 
All you need to do is play with them....the yellow will disappear.
This is empirical knowledge....I don't care WHY.
 
Beware_of_Dawg said:
Are you serious?
Click to expand...

Yep...I joke a lot but not ALL the time.
If you take new looking set of balls and leave them in a box long enough,
they turn yellow...and the process is reversed if you use them....
...so buy the balls

I gave away a set of snooker balls that were unused but had sat in a box
for 15 years...the 'blue' ball was 'green'....'cause yellow and blue make green.

That was a year ago...the 'blue' ball is now 'blue' again.
 
I am having a hard time believing this!

But - I have some old centennial sets that have also yellowed - so . . . . .

They are for sale - just never could get around to making them go away.


Mark Griffin
 
pt109 said:
Yep...I joke a lot but not ALL the time.
If you take new looking set of balls and leave them in a box long enough,
they turn yellow...and the process is reversed if you use them....
...so buy the balls

I gave away a set of snooker balls that were unused but had sat in a box
for 15 years...the 'blue' ball was 'green'....'cause yellow and blue make green.

That was a year ago...the 'blue' ball is now 'blue' again.
Click to expand...

He gave the balls to me. I donated them to my local legion (who have the only public snooker tables in town) so they would get used... i report...cueball is white & blue ball is blue! They just needed out of the box & frequently used!.... Thanks pt109

Lo
 
jay and i had 40 sets of them, every shade of yellow you can think of, i put every set in the diamond ball polisher and got them all nice and shiny, bright and shiny, still yellow.

i played with several sets as i was curious, they played perfect as new ones-UNLESS they were wore down and smaller, i don't think the yellow is oxidation on the surface. I think its like Westinghouse Mickarta it yellows the whole way thru evenly. i didn't drill a hole in a ball to test, i still have a few in storage, i'll get one out someday & verify this. i'd bet a $$ or 2 its yellow the whole way thru.

I didn't see one ball in 40 odd sets get "whiter"

infact i seen some newer sets of centennials with a yellowish coating on them that does wear off, so that could be the cause for a little confusion here. everyone is correct, the newer ones with the coating will brighten up, the older ones stay yellow.


:eek:


best
eric:smile:
 
Fatboy said:
jay and i had 40 sets of them, every shade of yellow you can think of, i put every set in the diamond ball polisher and got them all nice and shiny, bright and shiny, still yellow.

i played with several sets as i was curious, they played perfect as new ones-UNLESS they were wore down and smaller, i don't think the yellow is oxidation on the surface. I think its like Westinghouse Mickarta it yellows the whole way thru evenly. i didn't drill a hole in a ball to test, i still have a few in storage, i'll get one out someday & verify this. i'd bet a $$ or 2 its yellow the whole way thru.

I didn't see one ball in 40 odd sets get "whiter"

infact i seen some newer sets of centennials with a yellowish coating on them that does wear off, so that could be the cause for a little confusion here. everyone is correct, the newer ones with the coating will brighten up, the older ones stay yellow.


:eek:


best
eric:smile:
Click to expand...

Not going to get whiter? Uggggggggggg. Thanks for taking me back to completely indecisive. lol.

I have a new set of standard (polyester?) balls. They are bright and perty... but they aren't phenolic resin balls which is what I want. These Cententials are top line phenolic's but... they are pretty damn ugly. Yellowed pretty badly.

So here I am completely on the fence....

I can get the old, cheap looking top of the line balls or I can keep the new, top of the line looking cheap balls.

meh. lol.
 
I agree with Fatboy also. Yellowing of all types of plastics is very common. You are not going to get the white color back.
 
I know budget is always a consideration, and a very good reason to buy used, but in the case of pool balls, I personally would only buy a new set if I could afford it. The reason is, when you buy a used set, especially one that came from a pool room, there is probably a very high chance that the balls are all from different sets, as they got mixed up over the years. This includes both the object balls and the cue balls.

When you buy a new set of centneialls, or aramith super pros, or Aramith tournament balls, all the balls are closely matched in the same set with regards to diameter and mass.

I think the going rate for a new set of super pros (the cheapest of the 3 above) is in the 175 to 225 range.
 
yellowing

Beware_of_Dawg said:
I have a buddy who has a set of centennial pool balls he said he bought from someone... They appear to be authetic (markings/black outlined numbers) and he said they came in a brunswick box, he now has them in an aftermarket case...

my question, is it common for them to turn yellowish? I need a good set of high end pool balls and considered buying them from him (good price) but it struck me how dull/yellowed they look... is this common?

Thanx
Click to expand...

I do believe exposure to natural light (sunlight) will cause clear or white phenolic resins to yellow ??? Just a guest.
Dale
 
Jdale said:
I do believe exposure to natural light (sunlight) will cause clear or white phenolic resins to yellow ??? Just a guest.
Dale
Click to expand...

I was thinking the opposite was true; putting yellowed balls in the sunlight would fade them back to white. I've got a set of 25 year old Aramiths that haven't seen the light of day that are yellow.

If the "using them so the yellow wears off" theory is true, then maybe it has something to do with the balls wearing down. I've heard balls slightly disintegrate over years of regular play.

We need a ball manufacturer to answer this question.
 
I used floor wax remover on a set of Centennials and they turned yellow. Two years later the only thing I found that would bring them back to their natural state was the heavy duty Aramith ball cleaner (there truly is such a product). However, it took me 10 - 20 hours of hand rubbing. A lot of work but I loved my Centennials.
 
I remember someone posting (think it was 3railkick) that balls that sit in the box will tend to yellow, especially new balls. Something about out gassing that occurs for a while after manufacture. After I read this I decided to take the cover off the box of new Tournaments I bought that I've not used yet, to let the balls breath and expel the gas.
 
Oxygen!

Oxygen causes the plastics to yellow. So the only real way to keep the balls pristine white is to keep them in a non-oxygen environment. Since we breath oxygen to survive, this environment cannot be in the pockets of a pool table.

You can get the original color back by polishing off the top few microns of the plastic, and then the process repeats.
 
Drive by post.

Believe it or not, your balls have contracted a rare form of polymer hepatitus. Not to worry though, the roundness and size will remain the same. If your balls contract prunetitus, you will notice your balls shrink and wrinkle...a bad thing. To fix this go to your local vet and request polymer hepatitus salve to rub on your balls. This is also used when your pet has ball replacement surgery and contracts this.

This can also be caused if the mother of the ball in question, was a heavy drug user. This causes yellowing at birth.

That's what I know. PT109 can probably answer more questions.
 
Last edited:
NewStroke said:
Drive by post.

Believe it or not, your balls have contracted a rare form of polymer hepatitus. Not to worry though, the roundness and size will remain the same. If your balls contract prunetitus, you will notice your balls shrink and wrinkle...a bad thing. To fix this go to your local vet and request polymer hepatitus salve to rub on your balls. This is also used when your pet has ball replacement surgery and contracts this.

This can also be caused if the mother of the ball in question, was a heavy drug user. This causes yellowing at birth.

That's what I know. PT109 can probably answer more questions.
Click to expand...

Speaking of 'believe it or not'.....I was thinking of bringing this post up for
this thread.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=186152&highlight=what's+saluc?
I hope you visit us once in a while....with the humor of NewStroke and
Tramp Steamer missing.....BlackBalled has to work overtime.

regards
pt
 
I got a pretty hefty discount on a set of Aramith Super Pros because they were a little yellowed.

It's been about four months, and a LOT of play....still yellow, but they play just fine, way better than Wal-Mart balls.
 
the420trooper said:
I got a pretty hefty discount on a set of Aramith Super Pros because they were a little yellowed.

It's been about four months, and a LOT of play....still yellow, but they play just fine, way better than Wal-Mart balls.
Click to expand...

These Centenials I have a chance to buy are $30. Still on the fence because not only because of the yellowing but now u guys got me thinking they could be all different shapes and sizes and I wouldn't have a clue.

BTW, The balls I have are not Wal-Mart junk... that's laughable. They are WAAAAAAAY better. Got 'em at Sears. lol. Sportcraft FTW!
 
Beware_of_Dawg said:
These Centenials I have a chance to buy are $30. Still on the fence because not only because of the yellowing but now u guys got me thinking they could be all different shapes and sizes and I wouldn't have a clue.

BTW, The balls I have are not Wal-Mart junk... that's laughable. They are WAAAAAAAY better. Got 'em at Sears. lol. Sportcraft FTW!
Click to expand...

Oooh, I'll trade you two Kamui chalks for one of yours. :D

Buy the set. $30 is what Wal-Mart balls cost. If there's a chance you can get a good set for that, it's worth a shot, imo.
 
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