What are the pros and cons of oiling chips?

[legend]

What are the biggest pros and cons of oiling one's chips. I have an old set of California Bell Club chips and some of the $1 blue chips are a much deeper shade of blue than the rest. Is this because some of them were oiled before I bought them?

[Wizard]

It's difficult to say, actually. Almost all of the California Bell $1 chips that i've seen are very well used and worn down. The oil and grime from a persons fingers can work it's way into a chip and over time darken them up quite a bit. I have 300 or so of them and some are darker than others and I am reasonably sure that none of them were oiled.

Another blue chip that I have in quantity are Crystal Park $1s. The chips that are more worn in/used are darker than the mint chips, i'm guessing from the same heavy usage in the casino. If I oil a newer chip from this lot, it will mostly saturate the color and only darken it slightly.

Anyways, I'm not an expert on any of this, just going off my own experience.

~Wiz

[jojobinks]

cons:
not necessary
takes a long time
can damage your chips' inlays
costs $
same effect with normal usage over time

pros:
it'll brighten your colors.

[2_hotty]

Another con I found is that they are slicker after they are oiled. At least my Desert Palms were. It wasn't terrible, just a little slicker. The colors stood out a whole lot more though. I mean a lot. Like night and day difference. Might have just been those chip colors, but man, what a difference.

I only oil chips now when I use a cleaner or something that I think might dry them out. Other then that, it's too much of a messy pain to do IMO.

[ArcadeKidd]

I'd have to say that it's a bigger hassle to clean the chips
than to oil them. Especially that hook in the "cane".

If the chips are super dirty, it might take an hour to do 30-40.
In that same time I could oil a couple hundred.
It's only the drying time (24hr/side) that is a bit of a pain.

As a possible pro, I've also heard that oiling helps prevent
colour transfer. Not 100% on this so maybe someone can comment.

AK

[JoseRijo]

If you are going to clean your old chips, you'll need to oil them afterward to restore their color. I just cleaned and oiled 300 old Paulsons, and they look great. I don't think you can harm the inlay unless there's damage to it already.

[DaiTauHa]

Originally Posted by jojobinks

cons:
can damage your chips' inlays

Can you please elaborate on this jojo? Does the mineral oil somehow deteriorate the inlays over time?

[Gameface]

Originally Posted by JoseRijo

If you are going to clean your old chips, you'll need to oil them afterward to restore their color. I just cleaned and oiled 300 old Paulsons, and they look great. I don't think you can harm the inlay unless there's damage to it already.

I've relayed my experience a few times already, but with brand new NPS Paulson's I used the dump the chips in a can full of mineral oil then take them out and wipe them off method. The several rags I had handy were not enough to get all the oil off and I didn't give myself enough time, only 1 1/2 hr for 200 chips, so I ended up putting them in racks overnight with a little excess oil on them. My inlays were damaged on some of the chips in the form of a slight discoloration around the edges of the inlay.

I for one really wish that I hadn't done it. You would have to have a magnifying glass, or be a chiptalker, to notice the damage on my chips, but it's there.

[boondocker96]

wow look at all the anti-oil members out there...

Ive oiled 2000 chips, and it was worth it in both instances

First set of 1000 were pharaohs, which deepened in color quite nicely.

The second set was my samurais and it made quite a dramatic improvement. Almost too much at first, but some of the oil dried off over the week and I was left with the perfect chip. Rich but subdued colors.

The only thing that affects color transfer IMO is the chip itself. the white hand towels I used for drying my pharaohs looked all bruised after. blotches of green and black,etc. My samurais left no such color marks. none.
only a slight grey tinge to the towel which i think was from the factory dust.
Blue Chips are harder (and drier), and dont shed clay. Maybe oiling "seals" the chip in a bit though, i dont know.

Whenever i see pics of stacks of new customs or whatever, my first thought is "ugh, oil those thirsty babes, or at least wipe the dust off w/ a lightly dampened rag."
Its super sweet that ASM offers to oil thier chips. GREAT move on thier part. When I finally order mine, you can bet they'll be oiled.

As long as you dont soak your chips and dont mind the labor, I recommend oiling.

Alright, Im out-
Its poker night.

[Mike Sears]

I have oiled 3,000 Desert Palms. It really brightened the colors and on close examination have seen no change in the inlays. I know from talking to others who have older oiled chips that they will not get dirty as fast as unoiled chips. After drying them I have not found them to be slicker than the unoiled chips.

The way I oiled them was by saturating a strong thick paper towel with mineral oil and wrapping it around each chip, I squeezed around the edges, wiped off the excess with the same towel and lay them on a cotton bath towel to dry. When one cotton towel is full of chips I'll cover that towel with another and start a new layer of oiled chips. I ended up with three layers of about 160 chips and left them on the towel for two days. Then it is just a matter of wiping them with a cotton towel or rag. Most of the excess oil is absorbed by the towel they are laying on and the towel on top of each layer. I'll be honest though, it's very boring so I passed the time watching old tapes of WSOP main events for 2004 & 2005 or USPC tapes. It took me over two weeks.