Waxing the balls?

J

jdr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was reading the current article about the Predator 14.1 championships and it notes that John Schmidt recommended that the balls be waxed. I've never heard of that.

Does anyone know what type of wax is used on the balls? What's the advantage, to reduce throw? Is the benefit mostly for 14.1 play or does it make sense to wax balls generally?

I thought it was an interesting comment...
 
jdr said:
I was reading the current article about the Predator 14.1 championships and it notes that John Schmidt recommended that the balls be waxed. I've never heard of that.

Does anyone know what type of wax is used on the balls? What's the advantage, to reduce throw? Is the benefit mostly for 14.1 play or does it make sense to wax balls generally?

I thought it was an interesting comment...
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You should wax them every so often, just check out any pool site, look up accessories, and grab a bottle of wax, or cleaner. It will help the balls last longer, look better, and everything else.

Kyz
 
Basically, you have to look at it from this perspective - Up until now, you have had to deal with the properties of phenalic resin balls and how they react to dirt, humidity, chalk and everything else those balls might encounter. Wax is going to make a difference and based on the common properties of wax, I can see there being a number of pros and cons. I managed a poolroom for a couple of years and I would have never allowed wax to be used. However, I can see if it's a home table with new cloth and no kids with dirty hands, it could be beneficial.

In general, the best thing you can do is have no residue whatsoever on the balls. The only thing I see wax doing is giving balls a clean appearance (in how they play AND shine) but I could also imagine that dirt or chalk on waxed balls would be exponentially bad.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Basically, you have to look at it from this perspective - Up until now, you have had to deal with the properties of phenalic resin balls and how they react to dirt, humidity, chalk and everything else those balls might encounter. Wax is going to make a difference and based on the common properties of wax, I can see there being a number of pros and cons. I managed a poolroom for a couple of years and I would have never allowed wax to be used. However, I can see if it's a home table with new cloth and no kids with dirty hands, it could be beneficial.

In general, the best thing you can do is have no residue whatsoever on the balls. The only thing I see wax doing is giving balls a clean appearance (in how they play AND shine) but I could also imagine that dirt or chalk on waxed balls would be exponentially bad.
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Would you agree though that wax reduces skid
 
If you want to see some unbelievable juice on a cueball, polish it with wax, put a good draw stroke on it and have the video camera rolling.
 
I try to wax my 'pool' balls once a month at home, or whenever I clean my table and cloth. I have only used Pledge spray wax. It does a good job and I don't think that it builds up like some of the paste waxes might.

If you try this, you will be amazed at the new life your table has. The balls will rolls farther and faster. Your English on the cue ball will take like never before. And I do believe it reduces some of the skid...the balls just slide off each other instead of grabbing.

Be carefull though, if you get really used to playing with waxed balls, you may be disappointed when you play a table without the waxed balls.

Try it, you'll like it.

L8R...Ken
 
IMO,
a polished/waxed/cleaned ball, as it comes down along the rail, will find the pocket easier over a dirty ball. it might "slide" off the rail and into the pocket whereas the dirty one bounces off the rail and wont drop.

DCP
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Basically, you have to look at it from this perspective - Up until now, you have had to deal with the properties of phenalic resin balls and how they react to dirt, humidity, chalk and everything else those balls might encounter. Wax is going to make a difference and based on the common properties of wax, I can see there being a number of pros and cons. I managed a poolroom for a couple of years and I would have never allowed wax to be used. However, I can see if it's a home table with new cloth and no kids with dirty hands, it could be beneficial.

In general, the best thing you can do is have no residue whatsoever on the balls. The only thing I see wax doing is giving balls a clean appearance (in how they play AND shine) but I could also imagine that dirt or chalk on waxed balls would be exponentially bad.
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They wax the balls at Chris's Billiards, every morning, so that when you get a set of Centennials from the counter they will always play the same. However, if you play for more than a few hours, the wax will slowly wear off, and cuts and throws will change. Playing in the Sunday 9 ball tournament, lots and lots of games are put on each set, and at the end of the evening, around 1 AM, after 6 hours of non-stop action, the balls will play a bit differently. Adaptation, that's what it's all about.

By the way, Chris's isn't the only place that does that. Other tournaments in Chicago do the same thing. Ditto for one pool hall in the St. Louis area, also in the DC area. Gotta know what you're playing with. Also, watch out for mixed sets of object balls, whoooeeee baby, can that throw ya for a loop!

There is a definite difference in how the balls play. I prefer it when the balls are clean but not waxed. Fewer surprises.

Flex
 
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bigskyjake said:
Would you agree though that wax reduces skid
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I would give a tentative yes. Most skids can be attributed to anything that would cause more friction and wax would reduce friction. However, wax may also attract more dirt and chalk so I'd be curious to see how waxed balls played after several hours of use.

I think if you ask enough people, you're going to see very mixed reviews.
 
Flex said:
They wax the balls at Chris's Billiards, every morning, so that when you get a set of Centennials from the counter they will always play the same. However, if you play for more than a few hours, the wax will slowly wear off, and cuts and throws will change. Playing in the Sunday 9 ball tournament, lots and lots of games are put on each set, and at the end of the evening, around 1 AM, after 6 hours of non-stop action, the balls will play a bit differently. Adaptation, that's what it's all about.

By the way, Chris's isn't the only place that does that. Other tournaments in Chicago do the same thing. Ditto for one pool hall in the St. Louis area, also in the DC area. Gotta know what you're playing with. Also, watch out for mixed sets of object balls, whoooeeee baby, can that throw ya for a loop!

There is a definite difference in how the balls play. I prefer it when the balls are clean but not waxed. Fewer surprises.

Flex
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Well, you almost can't avoid mixed sets. I mean, most poolrooms will change out balls as they get lost/stolen. Cue-balls need to be replaced at least once a year. Be thankful they're the same brand most of the time!
 
In past conversations, John has commented that clean (waxed) balls do not stick together as much as dirty balls. This makes the break shot much more effective as the pack will spread apart that much easier...which leads to longer runs. I think this is his major objective...making the balls slide in the pockets easier or reducing skid is just a nice plus.
 
Try a product called Brillianize. It's a cleaner that puts a glaze on the balls. The balls play better than waxed.
TommyT
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Well, you almost can't avoid mixed sets. I mean, most poolrooms will change out balls as they get lost/stolen. Cue-balls need to be replaced at least once a year. Be thankful they're the same brand most of the time!
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The places I play almost always have Centennials available. If not, I just make a short trip to my car, and bring my own in :D :D :D (I can already hear the peanut gallery whispering, "Who is this guy??") :eek:

Flex
 
jdr said:
... recommended that the balls be waxed. I've never heard of that. ...
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Aramith offers a ball polish without wax. The regulations of carom billiards forbid the use of waxy product on the balls. The main problem is one of consistent action. If you always have wax on the balls, they will always behave the same for any particular table, and probably will behave more consistently across all tables. But wax wears off, even during one match.

A waxed object ball will bank differently from a non-waxed ball. A waxed cue ball will follow/draw along a different path and with a different timing than a non-waxed cue ball. Throw will also be different.

Mosconi was said to carry around a set of waxed object balls and that's what he always played with in exhibitions. This would give him more consistent conditions and ball action than if he had to play with the mismatched, lumpy house balls. I suppose another advantage would be that his opponent might not be used to the action of waxed balls.

If your game is not to the level yet where you notice the difference in action, or if you can adapt to the difference, then it won't hurt to use wax.
 
Bob Jewett said:
If your game is not to the level yet where you notice the difference in action, or if you can adapt to the difference, then it won't hurt to use wax.
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One of the most difficult things to adapt to when going in to a new place are the table and ball conditions: the balls, what are they, the cue ball, which one, are they waxed, or polished, clean, dirty and so on.

Getting the speed of the cloth down is usually easier, at least for me, than compensating for different degrees of squirt coming from lighter or heavier cue balls, and if they are waxed or not, as well as slight table rolls.

Of all those variables, I think varying conditions relating to the balls are the most difficult to deal with.

But as we all know, adaptation is the key to it all.

Flex
 
I had a can of Chalk-Off sitting around that I got for free when I bought something on the internet. So I tried using it to clean the balls. It seems to clean them squeaky clean with no residue, almost like using alcohol or Windex. Probably not good for the finish though.
 
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