You Are More Of The Problem Right Now Than You Are A Solution.
I meticulously maintain my cues’ shafts. The only wax I now use is Renaisance and it is excellent,
however I still prefer a wax made by Craftsmen cues in Birmingham, England which is hard to get.
You mentioned the issue of chalk discoloration on your cue shafts. This is obviously caused by you
and so how come you aren’t paying more attention to the very cause of the problem rather than
than correcting it which you’ve been doing and I might add will continue to do in the future?
Two things come to mind immediately. Your brand of chalk and your technique for applying it to the
cue tip. The brand of chalk is less important. You could buy some expensive designer chalk that is
touted to let you take lots of shots before having to chalk again. So if you chalk less, the discoloration
should happen more slowly and in turn, you’d have to clean the shafts less often. That’s true but you
still are dealing with the problem on a different frequency. It is a dumb idea and totally unnecessary.
The brand of chalk does not matter one iota, unless it is just old and flakes or is just known to be really
a cheap, crappy brand. But typically any pool hall chalk still in good cube condition or established brand
suffices. As Dr. Dave has confirmed time and time again, all chalks work the same when applied correctly.
So you need to visit his website and read the chalking section two times. The first time you’ll likely just
browse it quickly searching for the test findings and conclusions. Do your self a favor after doing that &
go back and read it again paying close attention to chalking techniques. IMO, 7 players out of 10 chalk
wrong. Only about 30% of the players I observe chalk properly. You can just examine the cube of chalk
they are using and it will reveal and confirm this. Pool chalk is not supposed to have a hole or core from
being applied to a cue tip. Twisting, turning and even squeaking a cube of chalk on your cue tip is not the
correct way to apply chalk. And all of that excess chalk winds up on you bridge hand and shafts building
up gradually and Voila......your shafts look and feel like crap.
I have been playing pool for six decades and not one cue I’ve owned, nor any of the cues in my collection
right now, have ever had any chalk discoloration....EVER. Chalk buildup is the result of the player applying
chalk to their cue’s shafts incorrectly. I don’t mind brushing chalk on my cue tips every shot and I’ve made
this part of my same pre-shot routine for every shot I take. And if I for some reason I forgot, then I always
apply chalk on the very next shot because something seems out of place. My pre-shot routine is rehearsed
to be the same way on every shot and so if I don’t maintain that routine all the time, I immediately feel that
something isn’t right. You just feel that when you assume your stance after having applied chalk the same
way for thousands & thousands of times. If your shafts are discoloring, you are incorrectly applying chalk.
So the starting point is to change how your apply chalk to your cue tips. Again, read what Dr. Dave explained.
Then you can ponder the brand chalk you’re using. Know what? Apply it right & the problem just might go away.
Matt B.