Why is the cloth green, the chalk blue?

[dogloose]

The more things change... the more they stay the same...

Almost two hundred years ago Jack Carr came up with his brilliant marketing idea (scam?) of "magic twisting chalk." Or not... but that's the legend.

Now, nearly two hundred years later we have "Russian Magic Chalk" And it's real... I saw a box of it!

Carr's magic twisting chalk purported to enable the player to strike the cue ball nearer the edge without mis-cuing and impart side spin.

Russian magic chalk purports to enable the player to strike the cue ball multiple times between re-chalking without mis-cuing.

Oh... and of course... they are both BLUE!

 

[GideonF]

Several Caveats here... I appreciate the research he did but there are some inconsistencies....

Drywall was not invented until 1916 so noone was grinding their tips into the walls or ceilings in early efforts regardless of what was posted and that discover did not knock Carr out of sales because calcium carbonate does not work as billiard chalk on it's own...

Chris,

Thanks for your additions to the discussion.

Out of curiosity, I note that the article doesn't say drywall; it says plaster. I know nothing of these things, but according to Wiki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_plaster , "Lime plaster is type of plaster composed of sand, water, and lime" .

Would the sand in the plaster not give some additional grip when applied to wood or later leather?

 

[Mr. Bond]

Spinks and Hoskins "revolutionized" the chalk market in a couple of different ways. The French (italian) chalk all had to be imported, which meant additional expense. It also (still) contained a certain percentage of actual chalk ( calcium carbonate) which will shred and rot billiard cloth, so they were the first to formulate a 100% chalk-free substitute.

The color issue is funny, because even back then, there were two schools of thought:
- hide the chalk dust
- don't hide the chalk dust and it will be easier to see, so it can be effectively removed.

Spinks and Hoskins were aware of both issues, and decided to go with green, because it provided the right texture for their product (as opposed to the blue colorant), and because they did NOT want the chalk dust to be hidden.

If you feel like a good chuckle today, check out this 1894 article that tells the story of a good scuffle during a match, because of that damned new fangled fancy blue chalk ..

http://www.chicagobilliardmuseum.org/files/1894_word_war.pdf

 

[Mr. Bond]

Chris,

Thanks for your additions to the discussion.

Out of curiosity, I note that the article doesn't say drywall; it says plaster. I know nothing of these things, but according to Wiki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_plaster , "Lime plaster is type of plaster composed of sand, water, and lime" .

Would the sand in the plaster not give some additional grip when applied to wood or later leather?

They would grind the cue tips into mortar or bricks to roughen them, not necessarily to apply the grit.

 

[KRJ]

The more things change... the more they stay the same...

Almost two hundred years ago Jack Carr came up with his brilliant marketing idea (scam?) of "magic twisting chalk." Or not... but that's the legend.

Now, nearly two hundred years later we have "Russian Magic Chalk" And it's real... I saw a box of it!

Carr's magic twisting chalk purported to enable the player to strike the cue ball nearer the edge without mis-cuing and impart side spin.

Russian magic chalk purports to enable the player to strike the cue ball multiple times between re-chalking without mis-cuing.

Oh... and of course... they are both BLUE!

LOL.

Well, kind of like beer, they keep reinventing stuff, but the German stuff has not changed one bit since the 1500's, by the brewing purity laws enacted to keep the bad stuff out of the golden elixir.

I was equally amused by the "magic twisting chalk" and would love to know if this had anything to do with the name now being used ??