I am very frugal so I went looking for a good worsted wool cloth that I wouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg for. And I found one, made in Mexico. Beautiful cloth, played great, two hundred bucks less than Simonis, but after 10 minutes my bridge hand would become almost black, and not from the table being dirty, There is no such thing in my house! So I figured you get what you pay for and the dye must have been coming off in my hand. So after only a couple of months I bit the bullet and got Simonis 860HR. Guess what? The same thing, my hand comes up black after only a few minutes of play. And no, I don't have sweaty hands either. This is on a 9 foot Gold Crown! Any ideas?
Dirty hands
- Thread starter dd1228
- Start date
I have no clue what’s causing your issue, but you never revealed what color cloth or chalk you use, and what about the shafts on your cues?
When you mentioned thinking it might have been caused by the dye coming off the cloth, that leads me to think you might be using black cloth? If that’s the case and you are using black chalk (and you must use black chalk with black cloth) there is your culprit!
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Been playing over 40+ yrs and thought i'd heard just about everything. Til now. No clue here and really think you may be delusional.
The only thing I can think of is the aluminum trim on the GCs. I know some of those if they aren’t coated with something will turn your pants black where it contacts, but I’ve never experienced black hands from it. Like Maha stated, it could be the pocket liners getting old and breaking down.
I wonder if pot is legal in the posters state?
Seriously I've been around pool for over 60 years and never heard this before.
You are simply becoming less white. That's supposed to be a good thing, it is said.
Personally, I lost 10 lbs to be less white.
Jeff, fully woke, Livingston
I know you don't think it's the chalk, but as a one-time experiment buy one cube of Taom Pyro chalk. I've noticed everything staying much much cleaner since switching. It might not even be coming entirely from the cloth, your technique might be depositing chalk dust directly on the dirty hand while you chalk the cue. It's pricey, but how much cleaner it keep things is worth it in my opinion.
I mean, blue chalk, if the table is saturated with it can make your hand look blackish. I have experienced this after hours of play on dirty cloths. Like others have said, the most likely source of black dye is the pocket material, wether it be black rubber or black leather. If that is the case, it's likely to be on the balls as well. Sometimes the black wooden or hard plastic triangles are very dirty as well or they could have die that could come off.
If neither of these are true, the only other thing I could think of would be that the underside of the rail or some other part of the table that isn't seen, but could realistically be touched, is dirty and you're not aware of it. You may be touching these parts of the table without being aware of it, while leaning on the table, walking around or whatever. If you have a ball return table, maybe the tray is dirty or something.
I'd take a light colored microfiber cloth with only water on it and rub down every part of the table that can possibly be touched, including the triangle if you use one. Then I'd take another microfiber cloth, barely moist, and I do mean barely (wring it out really good) and wipe down the cloth with it to see if any black coloring comes off.
If neither of these are true, the only other thing I could think of would be that the underside of the rail or some other part of the table that isn't seen, but could realistically be touched, is dirty and you're not aware of it. You may be touching these parts of the table without being aware of it, while leaning on the table, walking around or whatever. If you have a ball return table, maybe the tray is dirty or something.
I'd take a light colored microfiber cloth with only water on it and rub down every part of the table that can possibly be touched, including the triangle if you use one. Then I'd take another microfiber cloth, barely moist, and I do mean barely (wring it out really good) and wipe down the cloth with it to see if any black coloring comes off.
Take this shit elsewhere.
Could it be just some dust or something that was on the cloth from the factory? I would just vaccume, woolite and warm water with a microfiber, and then reassess.
I don't recall asking you for directions. MYOB.
Still no mention from the OP as to the color of cloth or chalk he’s using. That tidbit of info could be very revealing.
Wow, thanks for all the replies , even the snide ones. OK, Simonis 860HR blue/green, using Master blue chalk. Table is brushed daily, sometimes twice. Believe me no dirt anywhere; I'm a clean freak and I'm retired so I have plenty of time. And yeah, I guess my hand isn't really black maybe dark green. I did play at a friends house for hours on gold Simonis cloth, and my hand never got dirty. So maybe it is something with the Gold Crown. Pocket castings have the clear coat removed and highly polished, rubber pockets are new. Oh well, I'll just have to wear a glove I guess!
Did you clean the slate before you put the new cloth down? Did you clean the table brush after you installed the new cloth? Was the cloth put on upside down and then turned over for installation?