Sprint/Spirit Mold Chip Durability (1 Viewer)

[MatthewTreeTree]

1 day of handling:

Brand new on the left,

Shuffled and splashed under 100 times on the right.


I guess...for 14¢ a chip this makes sense...

 

[Beakertwang]

Yep, that’s the knock on those. They really do feel and sound more like actual clay chips than any other china clay, IMO, but fragility seems to be what was sacrificed.

 

[CrazyEddie]

From reading some old forum posts about these, I get the impression that they'll wear badly at first but after they've "broken in" whatever is left is pretty durable.

I got a sample of 50 solid grays (which are apparently among the worst of them); eight of them literally fell apart as I opened up the wrapper or dropped them on the table. Most of those eight crumbled, some of them merely cracked or got badly chipped. The remaining 42 seem solid and strong, although I haven't put them into play.

 

[MatthewTreeTree]

 

[MatthewTreeTree]

They break like potato chips, and taste like crayons

 

[wolfpack]

i've got a bunch of these if you want them cheap

 

[SeanGecko]

Your mileage may vary.

 

[crussader]

I had a set of the original Dunes china clays, which had similar issues (although maybe not quite as bad). Using them in two 8-12 hour sessions per week for 3 years resulted in the loss of about a dozen chips out of an 800 piece set. Simple solution is to just buy some spares when ordering a set.

 

[SeanGecko]

I had a set of the original Dunes china clays, which had similar issues (although maybe not quite as bad). Using them in two 8-12 hour sessions per week for 3 years resulted in the loss of about a dozen chips out of an 800 piece set. Simple solution is to just buy some spares when ordering a set.

EE3ACB7D-DCF7-46B7-BF58-6D5B8CAB8924.jpeg

• SeanGecko
• Nov 27, 2018

SPARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MatthewTreeTree]

Your mileage may vary. View attachment 521600View attachment 521601View attachment 521602View attachment 521603View attachment 521604

Do these slide well? Or is it another throwing against the felt type situation?

 

[allforcharity]

They break like potato chips, and taste like crayons

I'd rather this were the other way around.

 

[SeanGecko]

Do these slide well? Or is it another throwing against the felt type situation?

They play well for us. 5 or so games in rotation. We haven't had a game in a while. Not sure why...... I think something came up....involving a beer or something. not sure I don't watch the news.

 

[BGinGA]

In their defense, the early china clays were a much more stable compound (and clay-like) when new, but most have not aged gracefully. Dunno if they just dry out over time, or if some element breaks down when exposed to light / air / heat, but there is a clear degradation process ocurring in many instances.

Pretty much applies to all spirit molds, PGI'S greek keys, Pharaoh's, Desert Palms, and the early Dunes commemoratives.

Only time will tell if the 'new wave' of china clays will suffer a similar fate. CPS, new Dunes, Majesrics, Royals, and Bank molds all have a more plastic feel (presumably due to less silicates and carbonates in the material mix), so perhaps they will age more gracefully. Check back in 2025 to 2030 or so.

 

[Darthhoodie]

So these spirit mold chips seem to be the worst of the bunch, I wish I could use them but they are so brittle they break with the slightest pressure.
They are just about unusable for anything. I would not sell them to anyone, not even on feebay. They will chip from shuffling. I broke the red chip by pressing on it with my thumb just a little bit. Not sure if all of this type of spirit molds behave like this or just my batch is bad.

 

[wolfpack]

I have solid gray, solid blue, red single color spots like you have above and all 3 break easy. I also have the pink 2 color spots and those aren't as bad

 

[Darthhoodie]

I feel like the ones with multi color spots are better than the single color spots, but I don't have any to test.

 

[Beakertwang]

I had some solid grays. They were as easy to snap in half as those rye wafers in a bag of Gardetto's. The 4D14 spotted ones were much better, for some reason, but still prone to chip and flake. Shame too, as they really do stack and handle well.

 

[FordPickup92]

The picture in the OP also looks like it has some wobblers

 

[MatthewTreeTree]

The picture in the OP also looks like it has some wobblers

Purchased from the beloved chipsandgames.com