Premium Chalks – Are They Worth It?

Right, but on the other hand, it seems that increase in friction doesn't help at all. I remember Dr.Dave said that from observations it seemed any increase in friction at this point doesn't prevent a miscue. So the reason might not be as simple as what I guessed.

It is not really about sliding friction. It is much more complicated, having to do with how the tip and shaft respond to the impact of the angled surface or with how the abrasive particles in the chalk engage both the tip and the CB. It is not sliding friction that keeps the surfaces engaged during contact. It is the chalk particles digging into both the tip and CB, creating a mechanical connection. This connection can’t seem to support itself with hits beyond the miscue limit. Maybe the chalk particles kind of roll out of the surfaces or break at the miscue surface angle.
 
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Well, Dr, Dave, you did it to me again. First it was low deflection shafts. After 30+ years of being perfectly happy with a Schon and an early Joss West, you convinced me to break down and get a low deflection shaft. Now it’s outrageously expensive Taom V-10 to keep my table clean and help prevent skid. Next thing you know, you’ll be changing pool tables, and I’ll have to trade in my Olhausen.

I have an Olhaussen too (formerly owned by Robert Byrne). I don’t like how the pockets spit out fast-speed shots hit straight into the facing, shots which would go on most other tables, but I see no reason to replace it.

Seriously though, thank you so much for your contribution to pool. Love your videos, and recommend them to new players all the time.

You’re welcome. I aim to swerve. 🤓
 
Yeah, I'm sure the poor CSU students are relieved.

I'm sure many of the "less good" students don't miss me very much. I had high expectations and I held everybody to the same standards without exception (so some students thought I was "strict"). Regardless, most of my students (especially the good ones) appreciated me and often picked me for teaching awards.
 
What happens if you use Taom chalk, and your opponent uses Master chalk. Do you clean the cue ball every time you get to the table? How does that work?
They seemed to at the World 8-Ball tournament they cleaned the Q’Ball seemed like every other shot…
 
I'm sure many of the "less good" students don't miss me very much. I had high expectations and I held everybody to the same standards without exception (so some students thought I was "strict"). Regardless, most of my students (especially the good ones) appreciated me and often picked me for teaching awards.

 
I'm sure many of the "less good" students don't miss me very much. I had high expectations and I held everybody to the same standards without exception (so some students thought I was "strict"). Regardless, most of my students (especially the good ones) appreciated me and often picked me for teaching awards.

I’m having flashbacks of my physical chemistry (quantum chemistry) professor opening a course with “of course you need to be proficient in calculus” to understand this course. On a class-wide scale it didn’t go well. Our saving grace was the curve was such that scoring 30% on any given test was a solid B. My personal record was an 11% B-

20 years later I’ve used calculus once at work, haven’t met a problem I couldn’t brute force through Excel, and 90% of the geometry/trigonometry brain cells I have left are put to use (poorly) on a pool table in league nights.
 
I'm sure many of the "less good" students don't miss me very much. I had high expectations and I held everybody to the same standards without exception (so some students thought I was "strict"). Regardless, most of my students (especially the good ones) appreciated me and often picked me for teaching awards.

Being a good teacher and well loved among the general populous are definitely not the same thing! I remember some teachers that everybody seemed to love.....because you didn't really need to learn anything to breeze through their class, haha. Then there is the opposite end of that spectrum too.

I remember my senior year history of economic thought course. Day one, 35 or so people. Went over the syllabus and learned that the structure of the class would be reading a piece of economic writing each week, writing a 7-10 page paper weekly analyzing it, and then discussing it within the class. Repeat each week until the end of the semester at which point a 20-30 page term paper would be required. Second class had about 20 people. By the second week I think only 12 of us were left, haha. Brilliant instructor with some of the best class discussions I've ever been a part of but I'm guessing his rating where split between very high and very very low from all those who dropped or failed to meet the standards of the course.
 
I've taught college and have public reviews, too. I always knew how many bad reviews I'd get based on how many students I caught cheating that semester.

For tests I would give a review which was the exact same as the test problems, just with different numbers. I would literally go through the test and change a 4 to a 5, and so forth, then walk through the problems slowly and methodically. One negative public review was: "tests are nothing like his reviews!"

So negative reviews don't mean much. I also saw a lot of positive reviews in that link. Dave should just ignore the immature hater. He would receive hundreds (thousands? Tens of thousands?) of very positive reviews from the pool community.
 
I've taught college and have public reviews, too. I always knew how many bad reviews I'd get based on how many students I caught cheating that semester.

For tests I would give a review which was the exact same as the test problems, just with different numbers. I would literally go through the test and change a 4 to a 5, and so forth, then walk through the problems slowly and methodically. One negative public review was: "tests are nothing like his reviews!"

So negative reviews don't mean much. I also saw a lot of positive reviews in that link. Dave should just ignore the immature hater. He would receive hundreds (thousands? Tens of thousands?) of very positive reviews from the pool community.
Many poor reviews came from students who scored B+ to A-

Check your premises.
 
Many poor reviews came from students who scored B+ to A-

Check your premises.

Lou, you are really a "piece of work" (not just based on your posts in this thread, but your long pattern of unwarranted negative attacks against both me and Bob Jewett over the years, with little or no provocation from us). I hope, for your own benefit, you are not like this in person. :(
 
Lou, you are really a "piece of work" (not just based on your posts in this thread, but your long pattern of unwarranted negative attacks over the years, with little or no provocation from me). I hope, for your own benefit, you are not like this in person. :(

Just calling it as I see it, Doc.
 

Just calling it as I see it, Doc.
I don't know about Dr.Dave's reputations among students, but from all the interactions I had with him, he's great. Also, there's a survivorship bias on websites like "rate my professors" since most students don't rate their professors, just like you won't likely rate a good restaurant, but you tend to do so when you had a bad experience in a restaurant. So you should also check your premises
 
I don't know about Dr.Dave's reputations among students, but from all the interactions I had with him, he's great. Also, there's a survivorship bias on websites like "rate my professors" since most students don't rate their professors, just like you won't likely rate a good restaurant, but you tend to do so when you had a bad experience in a restaurant. So you should also check your premises
You know what? I think I've hijacked this thread long enough. Carry on.
 
No. Watch that part of the video again. The chalk-mark-persistence test was done with 3 consecutive follow shots with a cut angle, with the CB going off 3 rails. The marks don’t persist after all this motion as well as with a single center-ball hit stop shot.



That’s a fair suggestion. I’ve done these tests differently in past videos if you want to check them out on the chalk testing resource page.



I think it is “tay-om.”
I think my point is that it doesn't feel like the conclusion (which I do agree with) is well supported here. I just hear "it's cleaner" (the conclusion) but "it skids the same" is the only result presented (other than "it's harder to see the chalk marks").

Maybe this weekend I'll try skid test with "typical" levels of chalk spots rather than "CB blasted center hit" chalk spots and see if there is less skid in that scenario. I've got the old predator, masters, and V10 to try. Prepare for a terrible quality video.
 
It is not really about sliding friction. It is much more complicated, having to do with how the tip and shaft respond to the impact of the angled surface or with how the abrasive particles in the chalk engage both the tip and the CB. It is not sliding friction that keeps the surfaces engaged during contact. It is the chalk particles digging into both the tip and CB, creating a mechanical connection. This connection can’t seem to support itself with hits beyond the miscue limit. Maybe the chalk particles kind of roll out of the surfaces or break at the miscue surface angle.
So I understand that when the shot is good, there's no sliding involved, hence no sliding friction. But when miscue happens, the tip slides, right? It seems that the two situations are very different.
 
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