Long-term durability of China Clay chips (3 Viewers)

[tetsuya]

Hey everyone,

back in 2012 I bought a Desert Palms sample set from Apache. I didn't touch them for the last ~12 years.
Fast forward to today, all the chips seem to break on the first drop – we're talking soft PVC flooring here, no tiles or concrete. Glad I never bought a full set...

Is this a Desert Palms-specific issue, or does this happen to all older china clays eventually? And has the formula changed since 2012 – would today's Apache chips (Majestics, new Dunes) suffer the same fate down the road? Photos attached...
I'm not even sure if I dropped that $2 chip or if the damage came elsewhere.

 

[Chris Flynn]

A known issue with China Clays. May also have something to do with how they were stored. Overall, CC quality has a very wide range of durability.

 

[tetsuya]

Storage was basically at room temperature and sunlight protected. Guess that should not be the issue here.

 

[ekricket]

https://plasticsresearchcouncil.com/plastics-do-degrade-and-rapidly-like-other-organic-materials/

Some light reading that might help you understand the physical limitations of what you are dealing with.

 

[Labrat]

Half of my DPs did the exact same thing. The quarters, dollars and nickels absolutely disintegrated. 5s, 25s, 100s, and 500s are worn from play, but ok.

 

[QuietMaple]

Do Tina ceramics have this same issue?

 

[ukas]

Nope. Totally different category.

 

[tetsuya]

https://plasticsresearchcouncil.com/plastics-do-degrade-and-rapidly-like-other-organic-materials/

Some light reading that might help you understand the physical limitations of what you are dealing with.

Very interesting read. However, not exactly new information that plastics do degrade. Everyone experiences that with e.g. car parts or garden chairs.
Key point here is: the manufacturer has to add stabilisers to make the product durable enough for its expected lifetime. Of course a shopping bag has a different expected lifetime than car parts - or pokerchips.
Question here is: should (cheap) poker chips last longer than 10 years ? Well, my first dice chips did cost maybe $0,06 per piece and are still fine. CC are cheap, but still way pricier than dice chips...

Do Tina ceramics have this same issue?

Nope. Totally different category.

Got a source for that? I do believe this is in fact true, but how does the average user see/know whether the manufacturer made their plastic to last 10 years or 50?

 

[upNdown]

Got a source for that? I do believe this is in fact true, but how does the average user see/know whether the manufacturer made their plastic to last 10 years or 50?

Fair question.

 

[ekricket]

Typically you get the quality you pay for

There’s very little of anything manufactured anymore that I’d expect ten years of useful life

Why on earth would you believe anything anyone says here anyway about materials and their degradation/half-life. You want financial advice too? How about an opinion on that strange pain you’ve been feeling around your liver area?

 

[ekricket]

We can feign outrage and indignation about how your China quality chips didn’t hold up if that’s what you want. Hell, we can have a bunch of drama over it.

 

[ekricket]

 

[BPTDirector]

I have all kinds of chips that have damage from dropping on a hard surface, ASM, Paulson, etc. best advice is treat your chips with care.

 

[ComeGetzome]

My ninja turtles sample tina set seemed to hold up to the unprompted twin test. They're pretty new though...

 

[LowerBama1714]

We can feign outrage and indignation about how your China quality chips didn’t hold up if that’s what you want. Hell, we can have a bunch of drama over it.

Sounds good to me. We should probably make it political or something…then we can take turns kicking each others nuts.

 

[BPTDirector]

I had a Tina chip with a chunk out of it
, the difference is the inside of the Tina chip is always white.

 

[Ugsdre]

I have these same chips, I got mine pre 2010, they are still in perfect crisp condition. Just listed this set for sale actually

 

[tetsuya]

Typically you get the quality you pay for

Unfortunately this does not seem to be true for many things nowadays in terms of durability.
And as I stated, dice chips are much cheaper and seem to last longer. Ofc they are still trash, because durability is only one factor of quality — but just because something is more expensive doesn't mean it will last longer.

We can feign outrage and indignation about how your China quality chips didn’t hold up if that’s what you want. Hell, we can have a bunch of drama over it.

No need for outrage of any form here. I'm not mad that my $10 "investment" over 10 years ago is now worthless lol... I wanted to start a discussion and not a flame thread.

I have these same chips, I got mine pre 2010, they are still in perfect crisp condition. Just listed this set for sale actually

Really seems like the CC appears to suffer from significant long-term inconsistencies in material quality and composition.

 

[ekricket]

I wanted to start a discussion and not a flame thread.

How’s that going for you?

Really seems like the CC appears to suffer from significant long-term inconsistencies in material quality and composition.

Breaking news, China product quality is all over the place.

 

[The Rake]

I bought a large set back in 2012/2013 that still look and feel great. They have spent the last 10+ years in a birdcage in the back of a closet that has an AC duct in it. Private Cardroom.

 

[Ugsdre]

How’s that going for you?


Breaking news, China product quality is all over the place.

It also matters how you take care of them and store them. If you take care of you things, they last

 

[ekricket]

It also matters how you take care of them and store them. If you take care of you things, they last

So when these “fall apart” and get chipped it’s because they have been mishandled?

Others are taking better care of their stuff than some people? Should this thread then be renamed “how do you care for your CC chips do they last longer”?

Is it the material and place of manufacture or is it how they are taken care of?

 

[Ugsdre]

So when these “fall apart” and get chipped it’s because they have been mishandled?

Others are taking better care of their stuff than some people? Should this thread then be renamed “how do you care for your CC chips do they last longer”?

Is it the material and place of manufacture or is it how they are taken care of?

I’m just saying, I’ve had the exact same one for 20 years, and mine are in perfect condition like the day I bought them as you can see in the pics I posted, if they were all falling apart due to poor manufacturing processes, my set would be in the same condition. How you store and care for your things does make a difference, otherwise explain how mine are still perfect after 20 years? Did I get magic CC’s? Maybe mine came from South Korea instead of China? Perhaps I’m the chosen one who they hand picked to send the “good” CC’s to?

 

[justsomedude]

Breaking news, China product quality is all over the place.

This is most likely the issue.

Inconsistent ingredients and lack of stabilizers in the compound will result in premature breakdown…

 

[bigblind]

I’ve had a couple chips disintegrate on me. They have been stored in a closet and never really saw
Light of day. A pharaoh sample chip just crumbled on me, and a couple old dice chips started cracking.

 

[V76]

I have a ton of Pharaoh I bought from The Chip Room +- 10 years ago? (time flies) and haven't used them in a long time. Same story as above but they also look horrible now. Extremely faded (base chips AND some edge spots almost invisible) and 'powdery' on top of being way stinky... think toxic plastic burning smell. Enough that my eyes and throat were itchy and irritated.

Wouldn't touch anything 'china clay' with a 100 foot pole nowadays.