I just wanted to share my thoughts on these chips and the process of cleaning them. Originally I thought, wow, those don't look too bad after some cleaning. So I bought a couple stacks (of 20).
I figured out the following things about cleaning these hotstamps off. They worked better when I used a thinner, whispier cotton ball. I take the cotton ball, dip it in non-acetone nail polish remover, then dab it on each of about six chips, one after another. While it sits there on the chips it begins to break up the hotstamp (from Jim's website) and the black stamp underneath (from the gaming commission). Then I wipe them off one by one in that group of six or so, as the time just sitting on the chip makes them loosen up and wipe away easier.
The white chips take longer to clean because the goo runs off onto the clay a bit. The red chips, with their giant-sized inlays, are much easier to clean. I will have to go back and work on the rolling edges of the chips a little because they have some noticeable goo runoff, especially the whites.
All tolled now, I have 420 white $1 chips and 370 red $5 chips. This will be a great setup for $1/$2 NL games. I have 300 whites left to clean.
The best part about these things? First, Jim from thechiproom.com is great to deal with. He was totally helpful and totally accommodating. I paid for the bulk of these on a tuesday and got them at my house on a friday.
Second, the price: about .50 a chip! This sure beats the price on other Paulsons and Trademarks and things of that nature.
Here are what I have cleaned so far. I did these here in about an hour and a half this afternoon, with help from my 12 year old sister.
There are some cracks on the $1 chips. In the batch I have, I would estimate 1 of every 8 has a
noticeable crack, and that 1 out of every 50 has a crack that makes me say, "that's a bad one." Most of the chips are not even noticeably damaged.
I would like to get some matching ASM horseheads with .25 and a few $25 denominations, mainly because I don't play any games with a .50 chip needed. It's either .25/.50 social games or $1/$2.
So for .50 each and a little bit of work, I got new Paulsons with exceptional feel, sound, edgespots, and cool inlays, all with great service from Jim. All in all a pretty good deal I think!
