[Anti]

Sorry for the boring one. I've always used Beta chalk blocks. I love the stuff. I've used Metolius (wrecks my skin) and various not as good stuff. Now it appears talking to guys in V12 that Beta have been sold out for months, I've picked up an 8b+ chalk block and it might as well be talc it's so fine.

What do people use? I think I like chunky, non fancy chalks with no additives. Anyone used Beta and found an alternative?

[spidermonkey09]

Moon is my first choice, then probably the decathlon or wild country stuff. Moon has the added advantage of being in recyclable card packaging these days unlike the competitors. The beta stuff is not my favourite but I have used it. Metolius also wrecks my skin, evil stuff.

[Anti]

Oh that's good,I've liked that blocked chalk comes in paper wrapping for that reason too. Would you say it's fine or chunky? I guess using the Friction Labs scale, it feels like this 8b chalk is closer to unicorn dust consistency when broken up. I like lumps of chalk compared to a bag of powder because I feel like breaking up the chunks while chalking up gets me better coverage.

I wonder how much of it is in my mind, chemically it's mostly all the same, maybe I've just gotten used to using the same stuff and now it's like a lucky pair of socks or something. Maybe I should buy different chalk every time and stop looking for excuses for being shit.

[mrjonathanr]

Metolius chalk blocks from Go Outdoors seem okay to me. Superchalk, with some vicious drying agent, that’s a different story. I don’t think MgCO3  differs from manufacturer to manufacturer but adding chemicals causes problems.

[spidermonkey09]

Oh that's good,I've liked that blocked chalk comes in paper wrapping for that reason too. Would you say it's fine or chunky? I guess using the Friction Labs scale, it feels like this 8b chalk is closer to unicorn dust consistency when broken up. I like lumps of chalk compared to a bag of powder because I feel like breaking up the chunks while chalking up gets me better coverage.

I wonder how much of it is in my mind, chemically it's mostly all the same, maybe I've just gotten used to using the same stuff and now it's like a lucky pair of socks or something. Maybe I should buy different chalk every time and stop looking for excuses for being shit.

The Moon one is pretty chunky initially but I tend to find the bottom of the bag is finer. Probably the Gorilla Grip on the Friction Labs scale. I tend to prefer powder to chunks that are hard to break up but it doesn't overly bother me.

Its obviously mostly the same but I'm just paranoid about the drying agents so stick to what I know! Tape, now thats another story...

[Fiend]

Beta Blocks all the way for me - gotta be crunchy and gritty, not silky and slippery. Superchalk drying agent was never strong enough for my skin - they should do an extra strong version.

Depot Manchester had a massive stock of Beta in, I also ordered some from Elite Gymnastics online, they took a while to get stocks in but got there eventually.

[mrjonathanr]

Why do people use the expensive stuff? Gorilla chalk is nearly 3 times more expensive than the Metolius blocks. Water of crystallisation etc I get, but the chemical formula is the same!

[spidermonkey09]

Anecdotally people do say there is a certain je ne sais quoi about the Friction Labs stuff. Quite a few people I know keep some for iffy condition days or redpointing. Marginal gains!

[SA Chris]

Slightly OT, but i thought this was an interesting read

https://www.climbing.com/gear/the-hidden-environmental-cost-of-climbing-chalk/

[wasbeen]

Putting the Beta chalk blocks in a whizzy coffee grinder works really well. Grind as much as you need for the day and store in an air tight plastic pot. It is very fluffy and sticky.

[Anti]

Beta Blocks all the way for me - gotta be crunchy and gritty, not silky and slippery. Superchalk drying agent was never strong enough for my skin - they should do an extra strong version.

Depot Manchester had a massive stock of Beta in, I also ordered some from Elite Gymnastics online, they took a while to get stocks in but got there eventually.

Ahh. There's the info I needed! Most places I looked had no stock either, so assumed the worst. I'd almost completely run out when I popped in to the shop, I'll now put in an online order and relax knowing my existential, chalky crisis has been averted, amazing!

[Will Hunt]

After reading Fiend's rave reviews I did recently get some beta chalk. It's very hard - kind of like having your chalk bag filled with gravel. But once it breaks down it seems OK and fairly, well, chalk-like. I normally use the Metolius Super Chalk stuff and the beta doesn't feel massively different, though I've not used it in shit connies yet.

My plan next time I get some fresh tablets out is to put it in a Metolius plastic chalk bag and crush it up with a rolling pin before heading out.

Friction Labs chalk is incredible in marginal conditions. I don't find it makes a huge difference in great conditions, but if you're trying your absolute hardest or conditions are not 100% then it makes a really noticeable difference. Way too expensive to use all the time, but I don't go out bouldering without having a bag of it on me. It's a good thing to ask for at Christmas and birthdays. One bag will keep you going for ages since it's used so sparingly.

[Ballsofcottonwool]

Why do people use the expensive stuff? Gorilla chalk is nearly 3 times more expensive than the Metolius blocks. Water of crystallisation etc I get, but the chemical formula is the same!

Why do people even use chalk? I'm blessed with fingers that sweat about as much as a prince dancing with teenage girls in Pizza Express.

[Plattsy]

Hashtag rant.

I could be totally wrong here. In my experience that fine friction labs stuff is a right ball ache to clean off (not mine, other people's) gritstone. Normal brushing doesn't seem to touch the fine particles which I'm guessing can fit into smaller spaces.

And some folk seem to use it far too liberally. Let's cake it on!

There's perhaps an optical illusion going on but it seems brighter, more conspicuous which might because those fine particles are inhabiting more spaces giving more colour.

I know some folk use normal chalk too much but at least normal brushing cleans it up some.

[wasbeen]

Putting the Beta chalk blocks in a whizzy coffee grinder works really well. Grind as much as you need for the day and store in an air tight plastic pot. It is very fluffy and sticky.

My musings on this (DISCLAIMER: likely to be a load’a bollocks)…

Chalk is just calcium carbonate – other ingredients are smoke and mirrors. That is not to say that more expensive chalk is not more effective as there may be a placebo effect similar to pharmaceutical industry where it has been shown that paying more for a more expensive brand of exactly the same drug (e.g. ibuprofen) increases the efficacy.

In terms of grinding the chalk on demand from a block and storing in a rigid air-tight container:
 
Chalk absorbs moisture from the air (hygroscopic). In solid form (e.g. beta blocks) moisture will primarily be absorbed on the surface and the centre remain dehydrated (hence why it only needs to be wrapped in paper). The finer the chalk the better coverage you get over your hands, however fine powder chalk has a much larger surface area and will quickly absorb moisture from the air, hence why it is generally stored in plastic bag (putting a large amount of fine powder chalk in a boulder bucket could be a bad idea). Once ground, storing in a rigid air-tight container helps prevent rehydration and prevents the structure being broken down (i.e. from being crushed).

[SA Chris]

Why do people even use chalk? I'm blessed with fingers that sweat about as much as a prince dancing with teenage girls in Pizza Express.

And because you are thus blessed, you assume everyone else is??

[Anti]

Putting the Beta chalk blocks in a whizzy coffee grinder works really well. Grind as much as you need for the day and store in an air tight plastic pot. It is very fluffy and sticky.

I personally find the act of crushing the hard bits part of the charm!

[mrjonathanr]

Chalk is just calcium carbonate

On a blackboard. I think climbing chalk is magnesium.

[SA Chris]

blackboard chalk is usually calcium sulphate now isn't it?

[jwi]

At my old University campus we could buy chemically pure (>99.995%) Magnesium Carbonate (MgCO₃) for basically nothing at the supplier for the labs. It was inconvenient that it did not come in blocks but as a very fine powder. I remain unconvinced that there is something better to dry the hands.

[Fiend]

Why do people even use chalk? I'm blessed with fingers that sweat about as much as a prince dancing with teenage girls in Pizza Express.

And because you are thus blessed, you assume everyone else is??

Obvious troll iz obvious.

I think the texture makes a difference. Don't have science to back it up, but that's coming from a completely neutral initial perspective before trying Beta (and some weird old stuff called 8b+ that came in a foil packet and was also very crunchy) - having said that there could well be science behind the effects of grain size.

I do like the way wasbeen starts with chalk is just calcium carbonate (errr magnesium carbonate) and other ingredients are smoke and mirrors (pretty sure metolius's drying agent does actually exist)  

[wasbeen]

I do like the way wasbeen starts with chalk is just calcium carbonate (errr magnesium carbonate) and other ingredients are smoke and mirrors (pretty sure metolius's drying agent does actually exist)  

Many apologies you are totally right, I meant to say magnesium. I feel a right prick now!
... although, I am not so sure about the Metoulius drying agent:

From Rock and Run and other sites:
"America's number one selling brand of climbing chalk has a specialised formula with an added drying agent that absorbs up to 15% more moisture than regular gym chalk."

...but from Metoulius's website:
"100% Magnesium Carbonate"
https://www.metoliusclimbing.com/super_chalk.html

... Surely they can't both be right unless the drying agent is magnesium carbonate?

[Fiend]

If it's not real a lot of people have some pretty good placebo reactions that it dries their hands too much. I wonder why they don't mention it....as you say there is some bullshit somewhere.

[wasbeen]

If it's not real a lot of people have some pretty good placebo reactions that it dries their hands too much. I wonder why they don't mention it....as you say there is some bullshit somewhere.

Friction labs were making a load of false claims on their website among them claiming that their chalk was especially "pure". Someone used a "Scanning electron Microscope (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X ray Spectroscopy (EDX)" to show that this was all a load of bollocks and that Metoulius chalk was (also) 100% magnesium carbonate. Here is a post about it:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/111741582/frictionlabs-chalk-lots-of-false-statements-in-their-website-i-would-not-trust-t

[teestub]

Considering they are all the same thing, there is incredible variation not only between different products, but different batches of the same product. I remember a few years ago now there was a particularly bad batch of super chalk which was similar to Feta in consistency.

I really wish I didn’t find Friction Labs substantially better than any other chalk, but I do. Maybe it’s 100% magnesium carbonate, but with some special homeopathic ingredient 😂