How long should billiard balls last?

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dearnold

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you buy a set of high quality balls, and they never touch anything that would obviously scratch or chip them (that is, they are only used to shoot pool on perfect equipment and never leave the table, contact a wrongly installed pocket screw, etc.), should modern billiard balls be perfect forever? To ask the question in another way, is the action of balls slamming against each other enough to wear them out.

I'm talking about scratches and chips mostly, but I suppose there might be other forms of damage over time worth considering like surface reduction, yellowing, etc.

If they do wear out over normal course of play, how long does that typically take? What is the cause of this wear? The ball just becomes prone to damage over time? Contaminants like chalk and dirt being present when the balls collide?

What's the longest you have owned a new set of balls before you noticed permanent damage?
 
Never had damage until the table tech used staples in the pockets. That kills the balls. Otherwise they just about last forever.
 
GoldCrown said:
Never had damage until the table tech used staples in the pockets. That kills the balls. Otherwise they just about last forever.
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I know they will last and be playable for ever, but what I really mean is will they remain perfect, like they just came out of the box.
 
It comes down to playing hours.....
...if you play a lot, you'll need a new cue ball at least once a year.
....they get smaller from use.
If you're a nine or ten ball player, next to go is the one ball from being hit on the break.

They did a study a long time ago about car tires....they couldn't find the residue of all
The rubber that had worn off the tires....
....gotta feeling they wouldn't be able to find where the stuff went from pool balls either.

I've been in old rooms that never replace their balls...cue ball looked like a golf ball.

So when your cue ball starts drawing to easily, get a new one.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Any pool player who doesn't know this by now just isn't paying attention.
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Bob, you might have trouble believing how many good players are clueless about ball
And table conditions.
I've known a lot of players were near champions on their own tables....
...and easy to beat on strange ones.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Any pool player who doesn't know this by now just isn't paying attention.
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When I played in bar leagues there was a table with an oversize CB.
After 10 years of play that ball was still way oversize.. but not round.

I haven't been in that bar for years. Maybe I'll stop to see if it's still there. ;)

.
 
westcoast said:
I don't think it is inherently obvious. In fact, I've been playing for almost 20 years and this is the first I've ever heard of that.
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My pool league is an in-house league. We changed pool hall a session ago to a pool hall that had very old cue balls.

The better league players noticed something was off, but I don't think many of them knew what it was. When I showed them the size difference between the object balls and the cueball (for an easy demo, place two object balls about 4" apart, place your cue over top of the two balls and then roll the cueball underneath the stick - it will roll easily. Then, try rolling another object ball - it will hit the stick). They were amazed.

The hall replaced the cueballs.

Gideon
 
Don't know about pool balls, but Aramith sells a 1 G snooker set - the balls have a variation of less than 1 gram vs 3 grams in other sets.

http://www.saluc.com/html/billiard/index.php?idlien=42

Get out your scales and start weighing so you can quantify the problem. :D

If your opponent bugs you when occasionally glancing at the table before sitting down, playing with mismatched balls will really bug you. :D :D :D
 
I think of them as disposable...I buy a new set every year or so. Aramiths are around $200 give or take and as much as I like playing on my diamond at home I don't mind the nominal investment yearly...I wish golf was that cheap annually :D
 
OK. So we have established that balls getting smaller is normal. What about chips? I assume that when the other poster stated that the "one ball is next to go", that means it's getting chips in it from being hit so hard?

I have some Centennials that I got used. I believe that they were near perfect about 2 years ago. They are still in excellent condition, but I have noticed just a couple of places where there are chips the size of a pin head. Is this normal? I play mostly straight pool on my GC V, which as far as I can tell has nothing that would damage the balls.
 
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I have a set of Aramiths that have had plenty of use over the last three years. I've noticed they are harder to keep clean now. The outer layer must wear away over use, and can be restored temporarily in the ball polishing machine, but over time, I've now clean them more frequently than I used to.

One of the marketing pitches by Cyclops balls is they stay cleaner longer, and I assumed it's because they have a thicker clear coat which doesn't wear down as fast. But I haven't seen any reviews of Cyclops owners who've had a set for a few years under heavy play.

Also, ball cleaning machines are all different and the ones that do not have separate chambers for each ball, I've heard lead to sets wearing out faster due to the extra contact during a clean cycle.
 
dearnold said:
OK. So we have established that balls getting smaller is normal. What about chips? I assume that when the other poster stated that the "one ball is next to go", that means it's getting chips in it from being hit so hard?
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Not hard, but often. The one ball is struck more often than any other ball in rotation games, and hit harder. The rest of the balls were rather evenly compared to the one.
 
dearnold said:
OK. So we have established that balls getting smaller is normal. What about chips? I assume that when the other poster stated that the "one ball is next to go", that means it's getting chips in it from being hit so hard?
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I don't think this necessarily means chips. All balls get smaller from use over time. The cue ball first, obviously. For those who play rotation games (or always rack the one on the spot in 8 ball), the one ball gets smaller over time faster than the other object balls.

Gideon
 
The balls will never be as new as when they come out of the box.

I have a set of old Centennials and the numgbers and ring have "popped" or raised above the rest of the ball.

When you polish them you are using an abrasive and that wears them down.

If you strike those balls with your cue tip you are wearing them and scratching the surface.

As the balls slide across the cloth they get worn.

The chalk on the CB from the tip may transfer to the OB and cause some marks.

I think that some also become distorted out of round by hard impacts. But really not enough to cause any significance or that noticable. There was a article one time about the earth being more of an egg shape instead of a perfect sphere but if a CB were expand to the size of the earth in its proportions the earth would be more of a perfect sphere than that CB. The CB would also have deeper canyons and mountains so high that the earths highest mountain would be a mere hill.

If you look at a bowling ball the runs down an oiled lane there eventually become a track that is worn into the ball.

It is nice to play with equipment that is in perfect condition but in reality how and where will this ever be done except on your own table if you maintain it that way.

🎱
 
dearnold said:
... What about chips? ...
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It seems to be a fairly common problem that there are exposed tacks or nails or other metal parts in pockets. I noticed small nicks in my more or less new high-end Aramiths after playing on a particular table. I had not been sending the balls onto the floor and the floor was carpeted anyway.

I suppose the metal frame of the pocket could also be a problem if sent a ball off the table and along the top of the rail. Same for scorewheels, if any. You don't want metal where the balls can hit it.
 
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