The best way to clean your balls? (nohomo)

[DeanH]

I use aramith ball cleaner for the cueball and autoglym super resin polish for the rest! Virtually kick free! The end.

why not the Autoglym on the cue ball?

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

just to clean you can use soapy water and wipe dry quickly but they may not come up shiny
One word of advise don't use furniture polish (Glade type sprays) as they will come out all slippy and wont play well
not really tried any thing else homemade like.
the Aramith cleaner is very good and you can also get aramith ball restorer & polish which works very well. A bottle can last ages so the price isn't too bad spread across the time.
Renzie on here had some maybe worth an ask

cool mate I'll try the soapy water. does this restore the cue ball to white from the common creamy colour? I bought a brand new aramith premier cue ball the other week and it was white.

The CB goes yellow when it is not exposed to light.

[inevermissblue]

Because the autoglym is super slick and exaggerates spin drastically. They seem to work pretty well with each other and make for a much more cost effective alternative than just using aramith ball cleaner on the entire set.

[RoryM147]

I had red tcut, used that on a spare red.. Wow ��
Very shiny and brings the Reds up very nicely. Only down side is if the table isn't clean it will attract more dust, hairs etc. used regular tcut on colours same result.

[DeanH]

The CB goes yellow when it is not exposed to light.

are you saying to leave the cue ball out of the case to maintain whiteness?

[inevermissblue]

If anyone has a proper white cueball in their set then it isn't a proper cueball. It will almost certainly be lighter and smaller than the rest of the set!
The amount of times I've played in comps where they have got rogue cueballs mixed in with match sets drives me mad. TC cueballs are an off white colour and should be the same weight as all the other balls in the set. If not, buy a new cueball. Otherwise your only depriving yourself of true cueball control.

[inevermissblue]

videos

I might post a few videos onto youtube demonstrating what I have discovered regarding ball cleaning and table maintenance. Then it will illustrate perfectly what we ought to be doing to move forward positively.

[sydneygeorge]

Greetings All,
I have had great results by first washing the balls in warm water with dishwashing liquid and then immediately drying them after rinsing, after that I apply the Aramith polish sparingly and allow the balls to sit for a couple of hours before buffing them.
The key elements to what I do are:
1. Dry the balls immediately after rinsing.
2. Washing them prior to applying the polish.
3. Always wipe them after a playing session.
I have had my Aramith polish for 3 years now and it is still more than half full, the balls are done 3-4 times a year so I have no issue with the price of the Aramith product.
Hope this helps.

[Catch 22]

If anyone has a proper white cueball in their set then it isn't a proper cueball. It will almost certainly be lighter and smaller than the rest of the set!
The amount of times I've played in comps where they have got rogue cueballs mixed in with match sets drives me mad. TC cueballs are an off white colour and should be the same weight as all the other balls in the set. If not, buy a new cueball. Otherwise your only depriving yourself of true cueball control.

Yeah it's always off white . The ones on tv look Daz white but when it's on a close up shot it's clearly an off white colour

[inevermissblue]

Speaking of tables slightly off topic now intrigues me...
How many of you start to clean your tables without vacuuming first? If so you are on a loser!
So if you go and give your brush a flick and dust flies out you've lost!
Being as polite as possible folks.

[mythman69]

Speaking of tables slightly off topic now intrigues me...
How many of you start to clean your tables without vacuuming first? If so you are on a loser!
So if you go and give your brush a flick and dust flies out you've lost!
Being as polite as possible folks.

I was told that vacuuming a billiard table was not a good idea as it destroys the cloth.

Do you use a special vacuum or something?

[DeanH]

don't know about destroying the cloth but Geoff Large has often said that vacuuming can lift the slate-joint filler and you don't want that

I clean the brushes by running your hand through them away from the table (or you can run them on the knee boards of the table but you will need to wipe that area down as well); before and during the brushing of the table and if this is done regularly and frequently you can be surprised how dust free the brush can be

[inevermissblue]

No not at all. Its a draper portable. I only use minimal pressure to remove surface dust only (the dust that otherwise gets repeatedly brushed back into the cloth and clogs up the brush).
If you turn off all the lights except the table light and just brushed the table, you will immediately see this dust bellowing into the air and will become lodged into the brush.
However...if you lightly vacuum the table prior to brushing. You will just be brushing the chalk dust down, which is what we needed to do. You will not see anything go into the air with just the table lights on as evidence to this!

[DeanH]

do you go from baulk to black with the vacuum?

[inevermissblue]

Yes always. Chalk dust is obviously heavier than surface dust. So to be brushing immediately only creates more problems. Like for instance...if you have a damp environment the surface dust will just get mixed in with the chalk dust and this is counterproductive! Apart from the dust that goes straight up into the air only to later settle back down which is also a waste of effort.