Chip Cleaning Service?

[PocketRocket]

Not to be the party pooper here, but rather to inject a reality check.
You're going to need some liability insurance for those who will be claiming that you damaged their rare El Rancho Vegas opening day chip or something along those lines.

Not that I would bother to clean chips, but I would think that the serious chip collector (I'm not) would probably be cleaning their own chips where applicable just as an auto enthusiast would was their own car rather than entrusting it to the neighborhood car wash.

Originally Posted by fcuk

I was wondering if there was any interest for a chip cleaning service. After spending an hour cleaning 50 chips, I realized how labor intensive it is. I was wondering for like, say, .10 per chip if there would be enough interest in it? The outcome is so amazing, after you clean a really dirty chip, and then oil it up, its a thing of beauty. Just testing the waters.

[R Deckard]

Originally Posted by JM

I've been using the generic equivalent of soft scrub with bleach. It does a fantastic job on the gulfport $1 chips that are a white base. I use a scrub brush that's meant for scrubbing your hands, its about an inch or so wide and 4" long (bristles that is). I wet the brush enough to make it damp, put a dot covering about 1/2 the inlay and with the chip on a terrycloth facecloth, scrub it vigorously full length strokes for 30 secs or so, then rotate it 90 degrees and 30 more seconds or so. Then if there's grime in the circles, go in circles one direction, then reverse it. Wipe it off and check for any spots that need a touch up. Flip it over and repeat. Then rinse in clean water and dry with a paper towel. They come out sparkling clean and all the nasty germs are killed by the bleach. Good enough to eat!

I think using a product with an abrasive material in it (like SoftScrub), no matter how gentle, is not a good idea in the long run. Why put any additional wear on your chips? The brushing action is good enough to loosen the crud.

And I would be extremely averse to using anything with any kind of bleaching agent (i.e. chlorine or oxygen bleach) in it. Bleach will eventually harm the colors (other than white), and being a caustic substance, may even damage the chip material (remember, the chip really isn't all clay--it has some other materials, probably plastics and resins, and many such materials are weakened by caustic agents).

I also would go with a quality toothbrush over any other brush--the bristles are smoothly rounded on the ends vs. just cut square, and are fine enough to get the crud out of the Cane part of a TH&C.

[JM]

I was using a toothbrush, but it wasn't too effective. I'm not really worried about damaging them though, they're not rare or anything but they are FILTHY! I'll see if I can post a pic. Since they were a white base, I decided on the bleach based cleaner to make them as bright as possible. Since the concentration of bleach in this stuff is so tiny, and I use such a small amount, I'm not worried about damage to them. Done 60 so far and no negative results, though I wouldn't use the same method on any kind of collectible chips! And I most likely will not need to clean them again as long as I have them (or at least for many years), so the abrasion factor doesn't worry me.

Even if these got damaged though, I could still cash them in for face value at the casino they came from and get some replacements

[PocketRocket]

Here's some tips from the pros, so to speak, on chip cleaning

http://www.ccgtcc.com/cleaning.html

Originally Posted by JM

I was using a toothbrush, but it wasn't too effective. I'm not really worried about damaging them though, they're not rare or anything but they are FILTHY! I'll see if I can post a pic. Since they were a white base, I decided on the bleach based cleaner to make them as bright as possible. Since the concentration of bleach in this stuff is so tiny, and I use such a small amount, I'm not worried about damage to them. Done 60 so far and no negative results, though I wouldn't use the same method on any kind of collectible chips! And I most likely will not need to clean them again as long as I have them (or at least for many years), so the abrasion factor doesn't worry me.

Even if these got damaged though, I could still cash them in for face value at the casino they came from and get some replacements

[JM]

Been there, read that already.

[hunterking]

i use a toothbrush, but i use sharp scissors to cut the bristles in half. this works great, but still no good at getting the grime out of the canes and concentric circle grooves (at least not on my grimey chips). for these i use sharp round toothpicks...

hk

[warewulf]

I used Oxy clean to clean 100 binions chips. I took a decent size bowl and put a half scoop of the oxy clean and used a tooth brush. Did a VERY good job, very quick too.

[PocketRocket]

The new Binion's chips? What are they about 2-3 months old now? Those must have gotten dirty pretty quick.

Originally Posted by warewulf

I used Oxy clean to clean 100 binions chips. I took a decent size bowl and put a half scoop of the oxy clean and used a tooth brush. Did a VERY good job, very quick too.

[DEEJAY]

Originally Posted by hunterking

i use a toothbrush, but i use sharp scissors to cut the bristles in half. this works great, but still no good at getting the grime out of the canes and concentric circle grooves (at least not on my grimey chips). for these i use sharp round toothpicks...

hk

Hey quit serving chicken wings at your poker game,may help to keep those chips clean--------YOU CAN DO IT! all in good fun.

[dad604]

If you serve chicken wings, make them deep fry. That way your chips will get oiled.