Why Is Pool Chalk Blue?

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Have you ever been playing pool and wondered why the chalk was blue and not some other color? Maybe you thought about all the different colors of sidewalk chalk, and wondered if there were other colors of pool chalk. Well, in this article, we will go over everything you need to know about pool chalk being blue. 

So why is pool chalk blue?

Although pool chalk is available in different colors, it is most commonly purchased and used as blue because it is easily seen if it gets on the felt of the table. If there is pool chalk on the table, it needs to be brushed away so it does not interfere with the game. 

If you want to know more about pool chalk and why it is blue, you will want to keep reading this article. You can also check out this video to learn about different types of pool chalk and if expensive chalk is better than cheap chalk. 

If you are looking to get better at playing pool one of the best ways to do that is by upgrading your pool cue. One of my favorite cues is the Viking Valhalla. It is available in a variety of colors and won’t break the bank. You can find it by clicking here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVhFMLwodrc

Is blue chalk the only chalk for pool?

Chalk is applied to the tip of a cue stick, usually before each individual shot, to increase the tip’s friction coefficient. When a cue stick hits a cue ball on a non-center hit, the chalk stops there being a miscue, an unintentional slippage between cue tip and struck ball. Why then the chalk needs to be distinctly blue, one might ask? As it seems there is a particular reason as to why.

When pool first started, it was an outdoor game made of balls and long mallets in the British outside. However, either due to their careening weather or a simple matter of tact, the game was transferred indoors and the cue stick chiseled to the smaller counterparts of today and the pool table cloth chosen to be especially green so as to mimic the grass outside where the game had really originated.

Legend talks of cunning salesmen who found the particular property of the chalk on hard leather and that it is the best way to stop a miscue. They packaged the chalk in a nice manner, made it supposedly superior to the Italian chalk that was the popular material of the game. After that, they then applied for a patent that was supposedly given to them. Historians now disagree as to whether such a pair of salesperson had ever existed in real life or not.

However, everyone agrees that the cue chalk is most popular as blue because its crumbled grains can be seen on the green table cloth and made to do away with a brush of the cloth. This is simple ingenuity at its best as most pool table felts are green. If you do have a different pool table felt color, you may want to purchase a different color pool chalk. No matter what color you are looking for, you can get the best quality pool chalk right here. 

What is pool?

Pool is a classification of the cue sports. Pool has within its rails six pockets in which to gather the 15 pool balls with the help of the 16^th pool ball, the cue ball. The six pockets hold the pool balls that are stroked off the pool table with the pool cue. Pool and its variations have been around for more than two centuries and have different laws and rules with which to play them, thereby giving each their distinctive features.

Pool doesn’t have many components to its game, but rather puts emphasis on the brilliance of the player to make do with what they have. There is the level table that varies in size according to the sport, the pool cue that is as much for balance and weight as for playing, and lastly the balls which vary in diameters and weight and make for the complexity of the game. Then there is the pool chalk that is used to polish the tip before each hit by the pool cue.

What makes up a cue?

A pool cue is made of three important parts, the shaft, the butt and the tip. Shafts are made of hard rock maple wood while butts may be made of ebony, African Blackwood, Zebrawood, snakewood, cocobolo and bocote. Hard rock maple is used invariably due to its strength and durability. Butts may even be made of bloodwood, black ash, purpleheart and black maple or similar exotic woods.

• Tip

The tip is said to be the most important part of a pool cue. This is so because this is the only part of the pool cue that touches the cue ball. Made usually from hard leather, tips are made for direct impact on the cue ball. They need to have a medium hard leather for the best gameplay. Tips made especially for breaking are made from hard phenolic resin. A difference in tip quality can make or break a game.

• Ferrules

Other parts of the cue that are important are the ferrules and the forearm. Ferrules sit between the tip and the shaft and are important for protecting the whole of the shaft from outer and inner damage. Without good ferrules made out of high impact resin or carbon fiber, expensive pool cues will not last as long. They need the particular function of ferrules of absorbing the impact from the cue tip.

• Forearm

The forearm of the pool cue is more a matter of decoration with inlays of different materials that give a cue its distinctive look. A forearm may be adorned with Pink Asian coral, blue sapphire, cobalt, turquoise, pearls, blue denim, coloured urethanes and pewter as well as brass. The more intricate the craftwork on the inlay on the shaft and butt, the more expensive the pool cue will be.

• Shaft

Then there is the matter of the low deflection shaft. Most of the high end pool cues will have a low deflection shaft as they are better to use as attested by professionals and beginners alike. Low deflection shafts have a more accurate ability to hold in the angle change on the cue ball due to the force or use of the pool cue. They are able to lessen the impact of the unrequired angle change due to the pool cue.

• Wraps

Last but not the least comes the wraps. They are the material in which the pool cues are packed in delicately for travel. Usually made out of leather, they can be made out of snake leather, elephant ear leather, gator leather, chocolate leather, lizard leather, taupe leather and even more. To each their own is the belief and each do believe that they have the best leather in their hand.

Conclusion

Now that you know why pool chalk is blue for the majority of players, you can see that not every single player that uses chalk uses blue. Blue chalk is just the most common as it is easiest to see on the green felt. There are some people that have a blue felt, and they would definitely not want to purchase a blue chalk. This is why there are different color chalks for pool tables available. Depending upon what color felt you have, will depend upon what color chalk you will want to purchase for your table.