More chalk talk

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InsertCleverNameHere

Well-known member
Though I’m sure I’ll have 50 people tell me how dumb what I’m about to say is, I’m gonna say it anyway…

Bear with me a moment here.

I’m a pretty solid player. I don’t play as well as I used to by any stretch and probably never will. But at one point in my life I played for a living. No, I didn’t play pro events. I was an action guy. I spent thousands of hours playing some pretty high stress pool matches for many years.

I’m from the southeast and where I’m from it’s humid all the time. Barely ever get a day off from humidity.

I say all that to say this… I don’t remember balls skidding like hardly ever. Yeah here or there on certain angles. But I mean I spent 12 hours a day or more in the pool room both in action myself and betting on others and I’m telling you it happened so rarely it wasn’t much of a thought.

We exclusively used Master chalk and the balls weren’t exactly clean all the time either. We didn’t clean the cue ball on a towel or our pants legs between games or when we got ball in hand or anything like that. And oh btw the pool room I spent most of my time cutting my teeth in had visits from just about every name you can think of. Not a single one of them would ever go out of their way to clean the cueball excessively like everyone seems to do now.

What I’m saying is, maybe just maybe these new chalks actually CAUSE SKIDS. Or perhaps it’s the balls that have changed drastically in some imperceptible way. Or perhaps a little “grease” from our hands is actually a good thing.

Just food for thought.
 
Couple thoughts. You hit everything above skid speed and/or hit everything incorporating the extra CIT. Been there; albeit not for the rent.
 
The other reason could be the new cloth is so fast it slippage occurs.

The contact surfaces between a runway and a vehicle are important. It can be optimized for control and friction or minimized for flight.
 
straightline said:
Couple thoughts. You hit everything above skid speed and/or hit everything incorporating the extra CIT. Been there; albeit not for the rent.
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A lot of my action was/is one pocket so definitely not. And I don’t just mean when I’m playing/was playing, I didn’t see it happen to others either. Yes, once in awhile. But it wasn’t nearly as common as it is today.

Since I started playing again about 7-8 months ago I’ve seen it at a much higher rate for myself and others.
 
InsertCleverNameHere said:
A lot of my action was/is one pocket so definitely not. And I don’t just mean when I’m playing/was playing, I didn’t see it happen to others either. Yes, once in awhile. But it wasn’t nearly as common as it is today.

Since I started playing again about 7-8 months ago I’ve seen it at a much higher rate for myself and others.
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You would know. I wonder though, Skid Master chalk would have more visible buildup than the good ole days?
 
Bridge friction could be a major factor too. Guys playing waxed and siliconed and gloved - the smoother hit might drop into the skid zone more often?
 
Thats the weird thing! The balls nowadays look so much cleaner and smoother(appearance) than they used to imo. So why are they skidding so much more often? Conventional wisdom suggests the cleaner the balls the less skids, right?

Idk I’m just throwing a theory out there. About half the folks I’ve been around lately are using the newer chalks. So if the balls are so much cleaner what gives?
straightline said:
You would know. I wonder though, Skid Master chalk would have more visible buildup than the good ole days?
Click to expand...
 
This never seemed to be a major topic years ago...it was just accepted that balls skidded sometimes....Used to be pretty much only humid environments.....Heard one story of a guy that used to get the white chalk on his hands and then rack the balls (using it as a form of glue) to try and make them stick together...(in essence he was racking his opponent)....Or the joker that would dip his finger in the beer or coke and then get one of the chalks wet.....Other than that....no one seemed to overthink the chalk...

I don't know enough about the modern day chalks as I just use masters....but I have tried Kamui and it seemed wet....I just wonder if modern day chalk does not play well with masters chalk (so to speak).....Is it possible the use of the new chalks leave a residue on the ball that causes the masters chalk to react in such a way as to cause more skidding?....In essence kind of creating a humid environment.
 
BRKNRUN said:
This never seemed to be a major topic years ago...it was just accepted that balls skidded sometimes....Used to be pretty much only humid environments.....Heard one story of a guy that used to get the white chalk on his hands and then rack the balls (using it as a form of glue) to try and make them stick together...(in essence he was racking his opponent)....Or the joker that would dip his finger in the beer or coke and then get one of the chalks wet.....Other than that....no one seemed to overthink the chalk...

I don't know enough about the modern day chalks as I just use masters....but I have tried Kamui and it seemed wet....I just wonder if modern day chalk does not play well with masters chalk (so to speak).....Is it possible the use of the new chalks leave a residue on the ball that causes the masters chalk to react in such a way as to cause more skidding?....In essence kind of creating a humid environment.
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Seems as likely as any other offered theory to me. If not moreso. Well stated. And certainly could be just that.
 
It isn't so much, chalk causing skids that players have gone to the high end market chalks.
Its more to do with the marks left on the cue ball. Its a lot less. Its also liked because it doesn't dirty the table as much.
Like you, i use masters all the time and don't really notice. I hardly ever get kicks or a skid. I just know alot of it, over time most of it,ends up in the cloth.
 
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it's proven beyond doubt for me that the new chalks cause less skids and balls/tables don't get as dirty - but why should i use it if a majority of the tournament participants don't use it? their use of old chalk would negate the benefits of my taom chalk and would only make me pissed
 
The ball has a distribution of dust, as it starts rolling where would it accumulate/trail on both surfaces.
Would you want a reaction or the dust to avoid influencing the path?

This never felt so easy to talk about
 
InsertCleverNameHere said:
Not sure I understand, what are they using silicone on? Or is that just the glove material?
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I use car product silicone directly on the wood and many shaft slickers and ball care products seem to have similar. Worsted is only half todays' game. The slippery hit is the other 99% of todays' effortless strokes. :D
 
My guess is the cloth fabric mixture being different is the culprit.
I've got Simonis 860 HR on my home table with 4.5'' pockets, from teet to teet at the opening.
With this cloth worn in, it's much more difficult/impossible at speed, to pocket ANY ball that hits the rail 3'' or more before the pocket.
With the pros playing on NEW cloth with 4 1/4'' pockets, they are able at a slow to mid speed shot, make a ball that hit's the rail first.
Once the 860 is worn, it then grabs the ball creating obj. ball rotation.
 
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InsertCleverNameHere said:
Though I’m sure I’ll have 50 people tell me how dumb what I’m about to say is, I’m gonna say it anyway…

Bear with me a moment here.

I’m a pretty solid player. I don’t play as well as I used to by any stretch and probably never will. But at one point in my life I played for a living. No, I didn’t play pro events. I was an action guy. I spent thousands of hours playing some pretty high stress pool matches for many years.

I’m from the southeast and where I’m from it’s humid all the time. Barely ever get a day off from humidity.

I say all that to say this… I don’t remember balls skidding like hardly ever. Yeah here or there on certain angles. But I mean I spent 12 hours a day or more in the pool room both in action myself and betting on others and I’m telling you it happened so rarely it wasn’t much of a thought.

We exclusively used Master chalk and the balls weren’t exactly clean all the time either. We didn’t clean the cue ball on a towel or our pants legs between games or when we got ball in hand or anything like that. And oh btw the pool room I spent most of my time cutting my teeth in had visits from just about every name you can think of. Not a single one of them would ever go out of their way to clean the cueball excessively like everyone seems to do now.

What I’m saying is, maybe just maybe these new chalks actually CAUSE SKIDS. Or perhaps it’s the balls that have changed drastically in some imperceptible way. Or perhaps a little “grease” from our hands is actually a good thing.

Just food for thought.
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I don't think new chalk in any way creates skids but i do agree on how few i've experienced. I've played in Tulsa, one HUMID place, for over 40yrs and i think i've had less than ten total. Always used either Master or Triangle chalk with some Magic/BlueDiamond the last few yrs.
 
Island Drive said:
My guess is the cloth fabric mixture being different is the culprit.
Click to expand...
straightline said:
Bridge friction could be a major factor too. Guys playing waxed and siliconed and gloved - the smoother hit might drop into the skid zone more often?
Click to expand...

Skids are caused by excess friction between CB/OB. How would the bridge/stroke/cloth affect that?

pj
chgo
 
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