Should I oil Mint Paulson chips? (1 Viewer)

When it comes to Paulsons, I have only oiled very old ones, slightly used, obviously asking for some oil.
CPCs are another story; they are actually an unfinished product without oiling.
Oiling is a fine art and its bottom line is moderation.
If in doubt don't do it, or do it very cautiously.
yeah, heard that about the CPC's.

I am just afraid the colors won tpop the same way that I have heard they will. but also afraid to ruin the chips. All be it I only got 2 barrels on their way (with 2 racks coming if I like the look and feel irl)
 
Well that was a solid thought out response that I absolutely respect!

So here is my next question... they claim that Mineral Oil does not evaporate... but if you oil dry chips and let them lay out for 48 hours, the color is bright but when you wipe them nothing comes off... if it doesn't evaporate then where does the oil go?? Also even oiled chips after sitting for a few months will go back to the dry Claukly state (yes to those that don't know, even if you oil your chips and don't like it, they will be chunky again soon)

But again if it doesn't evaporate and that is known to be 100% factual then again where is it going if not into the chip themselves?

BCCs for exaplmple are a very dense grainy Clay composition, you can oil new minty BCCs every day for a week straight, let them sit over night and the next day they will be totally dry. The rag you applied the oil with is still wet, why not the chips?

Serious question that I would love to hear an opinion on. Again for the record my opinion is that the oil is absorbed into to pores of the chip, there for internally lubricating them/ conditioning.

As far as this lubrication doing anything at all for the chips... shuffle an un oiled minty barrel of RHC chips that are not oiled in one spot for 15 minutes. There will be chip dust around where you are shuffling. Do the same thing with an oiled barrel and see the difference.

Maybe not major but definitely a difference. Those D' esprit chips were nine dry after 25 plus years not being in use. Drop one on a hard wood floor from 3ft (typical height of a poker table) ouch more than likely a flea bite where it hit. Wash, oil and dry that same chip and drop it from 3 ft. Willing to bet you not a single mark. Again we do this every single day. I haven't dropped 1 or 2 chips, it is easily in the hundreds, dog bumps the drying table, whatever, not saying we do it on purpose but it definitely happens.

Last Sunday morning after 14 hours of poker I was cleaning up and went to grab a case of minty RHC spotted tourney chips. Had no idea the case was slightly opened
View attachment 791664
Yup, to the floor they went. A hard time floor. In total I saw one tiny flea bite... if they were dry un conditioned chips... well, we might not of been as lucky. No not a full 3 ft drop and only a few fell a couple feet but they definitely didn't hit the floor lightly.

Again it is ok for us all to have different opinions here, I just personally highly suggest cleaning and oiling chips.
Great thread on oiling.

Looks like those chips are called lady luck for a reason. Next time only let @FordPickup92 handle them! Glad to hear there was only one tiny casualty.
 
Amazing how divided opinion is on this topic.

I have great respect for the other chippers posting here, but for me, I think it’s unnecessary to oil mint Paulsons. If you use them, they’ll break in naturally. If I’m purchasing mint Paulson chips I avoid buying chips which have been oiled. Also, some Paulson colours are permanently changed by oiling (e.g. metallic gold).

From a materials science perspective, I don’t buy the “oil protects the chip” argument - that seems more like a chipping legend.

Clean the chips with a damp rag to remove manufacturing dust if you want to, but it’s not necessary unless perhaps you’re trying to protect some other snow white chips from picking up color transfer from coloured chips, as another post mentioned.
 
yeah, heard that about the CPC's.

I am just afraid the colors won tpop the same way that I have heard they will. but also afraid to ruin the chips. All be it I only got 2 barrels on their way (with 2 racks coming if I like the look and feel irl)
If they are truly MINT Paulsons, don't oil them.

None of you noobs know what it means to receive 1,000+ brand-new dusty, colour-muted CPCs :p
 
Honestly, if oil protects the chips, why not wax too? Anyone here waxing and polishing their Paulsons? Think of the shine ;)
 
None of you noobs know what it means to receive 1,000+ brand-new dusty, colour-muted CPCs
Yes I do

PXL_20210918_205123139.jpg
 
@PsychoFeather don't oil mint Paulsons and please come to our European online game, so we can join our profound psychic illnesses to the detriment of just everybody else on the table :p
@Eriks , @OfficerLovejoy

@JeepologyOffroad : Your laugh is the very same one produced by turkeys just before Christmas.:p
I 'm afraid I 'll have to fly there and help you with cleaning and oiling all those shit tons of CPCs you 've ordered, my man.:)
:hearts:
 
Honestly, if oil protects the chips, why not wax too? Anyone here waxing and polishing their Paulsons? Think of the shine ;)
There was a guy selling racks of relabeled fracs a month or two ago. He was naming the racks after hotel/casino employees? Like for marketing? I remember he called one “the concierge rack” for no apparent reason. Anyway, he said he had cleaned the chips and coated them with some special wax, or something. I wanted to go off on him, but I think maybe I had been too much of a dick lately, so I just let it slide?

TL;DR - somebody was doing that.
 
There was a guy selling racks of relabeled fracs a month or two ago. He was naming the racks after hotel/casino employees? Like for marketing? I remember he called one “the concierge rack” for no apparent reason. Anyway, he said he had cleaned the chips and coated them with some special wax, or something. I wanted to go off on him, but I think maybe I had been too much of a dick lately, so I just let it slide?

TL;DR - somebody was doing that.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/hsi-fracs-last-quarters-evar.72549/post-1491080
 
There was a guy selling racks of relabeled fracs a month or two ago. He was naming the racks after hotel/casino employees? Like for marketing? I remember he called one “the concierge rack” for no apparent reason. Anyway, he said he had cleaned the chips and coated them with some special wax, or something. I wanted to go off on him, but I think maybe I had been too much of a dick lately, so I just let it slide?

TL;DR - somebody was doing that.
I remember those terrible threads. He bumped them about 500 times or so.

I think it was some type of floor varnish or something. An abomination.

Edit: was going to link but now see you've linked it.
 
Last edited:
I remember those terrible threads. He bumped them about 500 times or so.

I think it was some type of floor varnish or something. An abomination.
I linked it just below (above?)
Anyway, he said he used hardwood floor polish and a layer of Krylon flat.
I think I’m still soeechless
 
I’ve got more than a few Paulson chips (and a BCC set) that I received brand new and I have never oiled them. All my chips are used in actual games by people who shuffle chips. They are no worse for the wear, no pun intended. I think a tiny bit of oil on the edges is ok for looks but is unnecessary. I don’t buy in to the whole “chip protection” argument at all.

Just one guy’s opinion. I’m mostly anti oil and only super sparingly when used at all.
 
I do a light oiling with the “bath” method—put a cap or less of mineral oil in a salad spinner with lukewarm water, and raise/lower the basket, moving the chips with your hands or a wooden spoon or the like so they don’t stick together.

I then lay these out on towels or a soft canvas tarp, pat them down, and air dry them (flipping after a half-hour or so).

If I am feeling motivated I will then sit down to watch a game or the WSOP and hand-wipe each chip. If you don’t go overboard with the mineral oil—a little goes a LONG way—this may not be necessary, but I find it helps even out the color.

Chips look much richer afterward. I do again caution to go very light with the mineral oil. The bath method (counterintuitive, I know) requires only the tiniest amount of it.

As far as going the “natural” route, while of course home game use will eventually impart some oil to the chips, unless you are hosting a couple times a week with the same chips, this could take years. Unless you are serving BBQ ribs at the tables, in which case, gross.
 
I do light oiling on most chips that arrive. I put a drop in my hands, warm it between them, and massage the barrels until they have good coverage. Air dry for two days, then wipe down.

Chips will tell you when they need oil. If they don't, it's really not a needed step.
that is some sexy shit
 
If using only oil, no need to let chips “dry”.
They don’t. Some will soak in, but there’s no drying or evaporating going on.
That’s why it’s so important to use oil VERY sparingly.

Why I got my CPCs, they were Sahara-desert-dry. A tiny amount of oil wiped just on the edges, then a quick wipe-down with a different microfiber cloth over the whole chip to remove excess and remove dust from the faces.
 
Last edited:
If using only oil, no need to let chips “dry”.
They don’t. Some will soak in, but there’s no drying or evaporating going on.
That’s why it’s so important to use oil VERY sparingly.

Why I got my CPCs, they were Sahara-desert-dry. A tiny amount of oil wiped just on the edges, then a quick wipe-down with a different microfiber cloth over the whole chip to remove excess and remove dust from the faces.
I mostly agree, definitely no need to let them dry if you're using just mineral oil. However, I've gotten better results by just letting them rest after the initial edge oiling. After a day I turn the barrel and see if any excess has collected due to gravity. I then just rewipe that over the entire barrel with my hands.

I'm actually surprised that even with a second wipe with a clean microfiber cloth, that you don't get little tiny bits of pooling up as the barrels rest.
 
When I'm around a bunch of chip oiling nerds, I argue the merits of not oiling chips.

When I'm around a bunch of no-oil fanatics, I argue the benefits of oiling chips.

What I do in the privacy of my own home is none of your business.
 
I don't care what anyone says...

I oil my Paulsons. I oil my CPC. I oiled TRKs. I've got a BCC set, and I'm tempted to put oil on them too.

It's nothing crazy. I don't do that crazy "Compression" method found on this site, or water/oil method. (The latter doesn't even make sense, oil and water ain't gonna mix and I've never understood the logic)

HSIs, for an example, were some of the dirtiest chips I got since I joined and I couldn't believe how dirty they were. They ALL needed wet rag wash, dry, repeat. Then oil, wipe dry, repeat. I've posted many before and after photos on this site to show that proof is in the results.

I know there are opinions, but at the end of the day, if you don't like it, you can remove it with microfiber cloth. You can't do any harm with light edge oil and wipe dry. Honestly.
 
as the title would suggest, I am wondering if I should oil my min paulson (HS cleveland and HS indiana custom cash set). Or what would you guys reccomend that I do with them before I put them into play?
Aren't you glad you asked....LOL.

If you have a couple of shuffle stacks of mint Paulsons, you might spend a week shuffling one stack straight up and wash off and oil the other. You can then decide for yourself which you like best.

For you next thread, ask them if a hotdog is a sandwich? :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:

Good luck whichever way you go!

Edit: be sure the shuffle stack contains the various color chips you will use so you can see if the color transfer is am issue.
 
Volatile oils like crude, evaporate.
Mineral oil does not evaporate.

Mineral oil, in fact, does evaporate. At standard room temperature and pressures, it might not seem to do much if you took the time and stared at it, but there will always be at least a small fraction of molecules that reach enough free energy to fly off into the airy medium around it. It might take a very long time, but that "excess" oil on the surface of the chip will eventually escape.

You can Google the volatility index of various mineral oils.
 
water/oil method. (The latter doesn't even make sense, oil and water ain't gonna mix and I've never understood the logic)

You are correct, the layers won't disperse into each other without help. They form two distinct phases, in most cases oil on top of water. The chip gets oiled because you are forcing it through the oil layer once when you drop it in, and again when you pull it out.

The reason why the oil and water method is not consistent (at least for me), is that we don't really know the ideal mix of oil and water to use, which must also be proportional to the surface area of the container. What thickness of oil is best (the water part almost doesn't matter)? I'm not sure. And if you're doing a whole lot of chips this way, how do you know when to replenish your oil? Because I guarantee that your first chips will have more oil coating them compared to your last chips. If it ends up being a splotchy mess, there's probably not enough oil OR you are doing too many chips at once.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom