PGI china clay falling apart? (2 Viewers)

[Chipandchair]

Dunno when you ordered, specifically what you got, or what your experience is with chips in general (and clay chips or china clays in particular), but a lot of seasoned people around here would argue with your description of either of those chips as "totally brittle junk". And publicly dissing a known vendor's reputation is pretty flamboyant for somebody who's been around here for less than two weeks. Did you bother to contact the company with questions or concerns?

Are they as durable as cheap ABS plastic? No. Are they more fragile than most other similar products on the market? No.

Not trying to diss anyone. Didn’t bother to contact anyone. Jus

Dunno when you ordered, specifically what you got, or what your experience is with chips in general (and clay chips or china clays in particular), but a lot of seasoned people around here would argue with your description of either of those chips as "totally brittle junk". And publicly dissing a known vendor's reputation is pretty flamboyant for somebody who's been around here for less than two weeks. Did you bother to contact the company with questions or concerns?

Are they as durable as cheap ABS plastic? No. Are they more fragile than most other similar products on the market? No.

Sorry, I was just trying to participate. I ordered the samples I mentioned above 2 months ago. I am confident that you are more of a chip authority than me. Anyway, for reference, I own a set of BCCs from 2005, a cash Dunes CC, and a Majestics CC tourney set both ordered this year. I love them all. Not trying to “ diss “ anyone but when I saw the YouTube of the brittle chips in this thread above I remembered my experience. I described them as brittle because that is accurate. I described them as junk because I threw them all away within 5 min of opening them. Although I felt completely ripped off, I didn’t bother to contact ABC so I understand your point about allowing ABC a chance to respond, which is fair. From what I can gather, ABC has a good rep and is a great place for ceramics. I guess I was just trying to be honest in sharing my experience when I ordered those samples of the PGI website.

 

[dmalhi1]

I'm cool, it is what it is, even if they only last me a year it was a fraction of the cost compared to 2200 Paulson's. It'll buy me time to build up the thc collection if nothing else.

That's the spirit!

 

[Chipandchair]

Recently bought sample sets of blanks from PGI: “compression clay” and “tower and spear”. Many of the chips broke in my hand while looking through them and the rest broke easily with light pressure. I have never handled such brittle chips. Threw them all away. Total garbage.


I believe the compression clay were the 8vs??

To clarify. They were not the 8vs. Tower and spear and Greek mold.

 

[ABC Gifts and Awards]

Based on the order numbers, there have been single digit orders through the Palm website since we acquired it. One day we'll put up an entirely new site and probably 75% of the things on there now won't be on the new site. If a customer would have given me this feedback about their chips, I would have had no problem refunding their purchase immediately, and looked into the problem. I have actually steered multiple customers away from ordering large quantities of the edgespot and tower and spear chips, but we do have some customers who order these chips over and over through email and they've never mentioned them breaking to pieces in their hands.

That being said...for those of you who have messaged me today with concerns about the 8V chips they have ordered the last few days - these are definitely different from the tower and spear and edgespot chips in the inventory we got from Palm. They feel different, smell different, look different...they are different. I don't know the history of all that went on with China Clays, but the 8V's are by far the best batch of these China Clays that we have, which is why it's the one we put up for sale. I very clearly posted the issues with the stains on the white chips, and color variations. Other than that, I am very confident that all who purchase these chips are going to be very happy with their purchases.

 

[Forty4]

Just to add to my previous post. I looked at the chips that suffered the most damage are not the 8v. The test these were put through was more than any game should see.

 

[moose]

It's not a usage thing. Mine have sat in racks for years and been played only a couple of times. When flaking was first reported, I was like WTF? and pulled mine out. Sure enough, just taking them out of the racks and then putting them back left flakes all over my table.

Mine are PGI 8Vs.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

Like always - get samples! Besides color variations between batches (though hopefully not SOs) samples should put all doubts to rest.

 

[Chipandchair]

“ I have actually steered multiple customers away from ordering large quantities of the edgespot and tower and spear chips “

Sounds like you were already aware of the quality here. I was foolish enough to order online I guess so I didn’t have the opportunity to be “steered away”. If you have single digit orders from PGI website, then mine is the one from Illinois with 3 sample sets. Don’t really care about a refund but it would be prudent to go through these chips and discard the ones that belong in the garbage.

It is worth mentioning that I bought multiple samples from CPC and Apache during this same time and received high quality items.

It is also worth mentioning that I ordered sample ceramics from ABC with this order and those appeared to be high quality, but......I am not a fan of ceramics.

 

[cgraham86]

I've tried hotstamping china clays (slugged or not) several times and it's always the same result. Pieces everywhere. They're just brittle. Not as much as chalk but enough where I'd never buy them. Someone looses a big pot and happens to have one in their hand. It's in half.

 

[Annorax]

I haven't had any trouble with the 8Vs... the solids, however, are brittle AF. I lost a couple just doing the labels for my new tournament set. Those are at least ten years old, though.

 

[TheBigTater]

All CC's are totally different in both material & manufacturing process. Comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. Dunes CC's (both versions) different, Majestics differnet, Pharohs different, Spirit Mold different, PGI MGK's (original) different, PGI 8V's different, Tower & Spear different.... each has to be considered on it's own merit.

IMO the 2 best are the 8V's & the Dunes (2nd version) & the 2 worst for being brittle & flaking were the Pharohs & the PGI MGK (original version)

 

[daftsynth]

I bought my Dunes about 8 years ago. A whole bunch of the $1s and $5s are chipping away. A few have broken while being handled. Are the new china clays any better?

 

[saleen121212]

I bought my Dunes about 8 years ago. A whole bunch of the $1s and $5s are chipping away. A few have broken while being handled. Are the new china clays any better?

8 years is pretty damn good for a cheap set

 

[BGinGA]

I bought my Dunes about 8 years ago. A whole bunch of the $1s and $5s are chipping away. A few have broken while being handled. Are the new china clays any better?

8 years is pretty damn good for a cheap set

Yep, I consider china clays the disposable Bic lighters of the chip world -- cheap, gets the job done, better than matches/dice chips, have a negative return-on-investment if you try to resell, and eventually just gets thrown away.

I am very confident that all who purchase these chips are going to be very happy with their purchases.

Agree 100% with this, although expectations should be tailored to fit the product, it's price, and it's limitations and known drawbacks. They simply are not high-end clay chips that will last a lifetime, so buyers shouldn't expect the quality control, performance, and endurance found in high-priced chips.

 

[SeanGecko]

Yep, I consider china clays the disposable Bic lighters of the chip world -- cheap, gets the job done, better than matches/dice chips, have a negative return-on-investment if you try to resell, and eventually just gets thrown away.


Agree 100% with this, although expectations should be tailored to fit the product, it's price, and it's limitations and known drawbacks. They simply are not high-end clay chips that will last a lifetime, so buyers shouldn't expect the quality control, performance, and endurance found in high-priced chips.

10c a chip. You should be happy with that. I'm very happy going the @KhoiFish82 route - use the 8V for 7-8 years then purchase some custom CPC. I'm not a person who plans to resell. I like the creative side of the chips and creating a great atmosphere for my games. This sale has been perfect for creating a semi chip set on a smaller budget.

 

[Papasatyr]

None of the china clays are compression clay. That's just a ruse that Joe at PGI tried to confuse people with, since the injection-mold process uses materials under pressure...... which he maintained meant the chip material was under 'compression'. It was hogwash.

Compression-molded means the material is compressed/squashed/flattened between two mold halves using high pressure and temperatures.

China clays aren't made like that; they use modified plastic injection mold machines (modified to inject multiple colors into specially-designed molds to create the spots).

To be fair, most compression molded plastic parts have the material injected into the mold then compressed. This could be confusing to a newbie chipper, because clay chips are not compression molded in that manner.