Cleaning your balls

poolcuemaster

poolcuemaster

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hey a good friends wife gets paid one hundred dollars to clean his one table room and he has one of those fancy ball cleaners with the carpet circles to do the cleaning. She cleaned the table very good and noticed that the balls were dirty so she took them into the house and put them in the dishwasher and I want to tell you it does a awesome job just like glassware, save money on cleaner and solution and give it a try. I mean how can it hurt a Aramith super pro. Let me know what you think Leonard
 
It already has been discussed.

The only problems are:

-The heat produced by the dishwasher (too much is not good for the balls)
-The soap used. Better not to use it.

Curious to know your opinions!?
 
I have been trying a citrus based cleaner in a spray can called Xenit.. made by Stoner. It works great! Easy to get the balls very clean but...

I found that they had a much higher tendancy to cling & throw. It was necessary to always use some outside english to prevent ruined shots.

So I went back to Arimith ball polish, by hand, and no more increased tendancy to throw. I'm back to square one except the Xenit produces a very clean ball without having to scrub them.

I'd be leery of the heat in the dishwasher and I wonder if you'd still need to polish them.. per the example above. The dry surface seems to cause an increased tendancy to cling and throw (is it just me?). I think I'd contact Airimith to determine if the heat would be a problem before I'd continue to use the dishwasher. And I'm betting you'll still need the polish on them or they'll tend to cling and throw.
 
JimS said:
I have been trying a citrus based cleaner in a spray can called Xenit.. made by Stoner. It works great! Easy to get the balls very clean but...

I found that they had a much higher tendancy to cling & throw. It was necessary to always use some outside english to prevent ruined shots. ...
Click to expand...
I had a similar experience with some car-care products and an old set of balls. Unbelieveable amounts of throw although the balls looked shiny and clean.
 
He or me I'm sure would not have thought about that and you both make good points so I guess I will drive the four miles to use the pro style cleaner at my friends house. Thanks Leonard
 
I washed mine in the kitchen sink the other night, made some warm soapy water and put them in, washed them (yes, in order!) with ye olde sponge and placed them back in soapy water to soak. Took em out and rinsed them in a strainer, dried and then gave em a squirt of pledge and buffed with a soft cloth.

Really- pool balls.:rolleyes:
 
Black-Balled said:
I washed mine in the kitchen sink the other night, made some warm soapy water and put them in, washed them (yes, in order!) with ye olde sponge and placed them back in soapy water to soak. Took em out and rinsed them in a strainer, dried and then gave em a squirt of pledge and buffed with a soft cloth.

Really- pool balls.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I've done that but found that the little collision marks on the balls were not removed by the washing in the sink. Sometimes they weren't removed even with hard scrubbing with a towel... afraid to use anything more abrasive than a towel. That's why I tried the citrus cleaner Xenit and that took all the little marks off immediately with no scrubbing. But then I had to use polish because the balls were subject to extreme cling/throw. Don't think I want Pledge coming off the balls and onto the 860.
 
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If you go to the Saluc website they talk about the tremendous amount of heat that's generated for just a split second when billiard balls glance off each other. Add heat with some chalk for abrasive effect and you get the scuff marks. These cannot be wiped off. They're scratches that have to be buffed out in some fashion. If a fine enough abrasive is used, most of what you'll be doing is "blending and polishing" without much removal of material.
If your're worried about abrasives on the new balls then you'll have to put them on the shelf and use an old set or never use chalk.

Using wax may make the balls "look" like the marks are off but they're probably just filled in unless you use a car wax containing abrasives. The wax will wear off within 30 minutes or so on the CB and the game keeps changing till it's all gone. They're very slippery at first then start to change as the wax wears.
 
I ruined a perfectly good set of Raschig balls. I made sure I didn't use the heat but apparently the soap (or the rinse agent in the washer) actually caused discoloration of the balls. Most of the spots cleaned up when I ran them through a professional ball cleaner. However, I still have a "measels" 7 ball and twelve ball. :( :eek: Don't do it!!
 
Seems to me there are a couple of issues here. First I read somewhere that most halls do not polish the balls and one needs to get used to the deflection on non-polished balls if you shoot at home and in halls. So I used floor wax remover to take the Pledge wax off my home balls. The balls turned yellow and there was no way I could remove the grit so I bought a new set of balls.

After ten years of playing with the Brunwick Centennial balls I bought Super Aramith balls and found that they are brighter with cleaner lines. So in the end I am glad I bought the Super Aramith as they are more similar to the balls in most halls and they are actually easier to play with (siting and such)

Next I bumped into the Super Aramith ball cleaner and found that it contains wax. The balls are easily cleaned and polished. So the heck with it, this is the standard and I just use the cleaner and polish. I have to learn to compensate for rooms that do not use wax. Like any sport, I figure you have to learn to compensate for the equipment. If Aramith thinks that this is the way their balls should be maintained then I will use this as the standard.

Reading a web site by a trick shot artist I learned that he waxes the balls with carnauba wax and then bakes the cue ball in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour or so. This “hot” cue ball is what really works to make some of his trick shots consistent. I am not interested in trick shots but it is an interesting idea that implies that the balls can withstand some heat. However, it did occur to me that my balls should be let stand for awhile after cleaning and polishing. This lets the small amount of wax thoroughly dry and I do not get the spots that I usually get on freshly cleaned balls.

Incidentally, when my Gold Crown table was installed several years ago the automatic ball returns on my table came with dabs of Carnauba wax on the returns and in the pockets so apparently wax should be used on the balls as a standard and now that is what I use.

I would like to know what Aramith puts in their balls cleaner. I tried it on my yellow balls and it removed some of the yellow stain from the wax remover and nothing else will remove these stains. Unfortunately it takes about ten minutes of rubbing to get half the stain off one ball and the balls aren’t that important!

A last comment that isn’t often seen. I would like to hear what the folks here have to say. I read from another trick shot artist that ironing the Simonies 860 cloth speeds it up and improves the roll. I found this too be true and now routinely iron my table once a month or so. However if you have wax in the table creases then you probably can’t use this technique. My table has Bondo in the creases so the hot iron has no effect. By the way, do not iron the rails, that just makes them shiny.
 
Here's what I use...

http://www.shaklee.net/livingston/product/00081

I put the balls in the sink, run some hot water, put about 1/4 teaspoon (a bottle last forever and a day, it seems) of the cleaner in and let it soak as I vacuum and clean the table. I then use a small brush to make sure each ball is clean, rinse throughly, dry and start shootin'. No more dirty balls for this guy! :)

Note: I sell this cleaner so take this advice with a grain of salt. Oh, it also is biodegradable, for those who care.

Jeff Livingston
 
Chem-Pak Ball Cleaner/Polisher

My 2 cents on the subject:
I have tried two different car waxes and they had a tendenacy to cling and throw the balls just as many of you have found. One wax even discolored my older set of Cenntenials.

A few years ago I asked Joe Proper for his opinion. He told me that he felt the best ball cleaner was a glass cleaner called Brillantize. It was made to clean the windshields of airplanes and Joe said it leaves no flim to affect the balls. I could never locate this stuff even at the airplane suppliers.

This year at the Valley Forge show I purschased an 8 oz. bottle of Chem-Pak for $6.
It is ball cleaner and polisher. It removes the black scuff marks and puts a great shine on the balls. Also, I had problems with the balls hanging up (stopping) in the ball return rails. This is on a new Diamond Pro and with a new set of Brunswick Cenntenials. After I used the Chem-Pak this condition ceased. And you probably guessed it - I love how this stuff works!


Best Regards,
Hal in Ohio

PS- If anyone wants the 800 number for the company, pm me and I can provide. I have no connection with the company.
 
JoeW said:
... Next I bumped into the Super Aramith ball cleaner and found that it contains wax. ...
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My understanding is that it contains no wax. At the recent US 3-cushion championships the balls were cleaned after every match with Aramith cleaner and never acted like they were waxed.
 
i have had a set of centennials at home on a gc4 with 860 cloth I set it up in 1999, the cloth is about 60% worn out, to my point other than wiping the balls off with a cloth and water from time to time I havent ever polished them with anything else, am i missing something? they are a bit dull and yellow due to aging, i brush the table often, but I never felt the balls needed to be polished, the lastthing I want to do is have a bunch of slipery balls that look good but play differently.

i also have anew set of super aramith pro balls and they play about the same. they are just a little bit slipier compaired to the old centennials. but not much difference, so why polish balls? for home use, in a commerical enviorment i understand because of the amount of play the balls get.
 
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Bob Jewett said:
My understanding is that it contains no wax. At the recent US 3-cushion championships the balls were cleaned after every match with Aramith cleaner and never acted like they were waxed.
Click to expand...
It may not be wax Bob but it is some kind of chemical. If I clean the balls and let them stand for 20 minutes or so there is a haze on the balls. The bottle directions say to wipe off with a paper towel. I suspect this not only polishes but leaves some of the residue on the balls. Also if you play with them immediately after cleaning they tend to spot some where the balls collide so there is something on the balls.

I was quite surprised to find that Aramith ball cleaner took the yellow wax remover stain and grit offf the Centennial balls (with much effort). I tried all sorts of chemicals and nothing would touch this stain. They have some sort of great chemistry in this ball cleaner.
 
My Technique

I clean my Aramith balls with their cleaner, but I put it on a dry Magic Eraser. I find it lifts any spots easily. I apply the cleaner to all the balls numerically, then wipe them off in the same order using a terry cloth towel. I finish with a thorough buffing with a micro fiber towel. I get my towels in Target when they are on sale and they are less than $1 each.
I have a bottle of Brillianize, LOL. I'll have to try it. I bought it to use on clear polycarbonate covers on the machinery I operated. It arrived after I quit that job. They have a web site, www.BRILLIANIZE.com according to the bottle. Their phone number is 1-800-445-9344.
 
Brillianze

EDRJR,

Thanks for the information on Brillianze. Please let us know how it works when you try it.

Fatboy, I never had a problem with black scuff marks on my GCIII. However, it is a problem with the black leather pockets of my new Diamond Pro. This is very common issue.

Best Regards,

Hal
 
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