Metolious refillable chalk sock

I just bought a refillable chalk sick and was wondering how well it works for climbing and bouldering

I use it and it works like any other chalk ball I've used besides being able to refill it. The chalk that comes in it sucks but I just replaced it with BD White Gold chalk. Of course you can put whatever you want in it. I still keep some loose chalk in the bottom of my bag.

Ok thanks, because I was wondering how good it was before using it. I just finished making a bunch of custom chalk bags so I was wondering how we'll they work

The chalk won't work. Chalk doesn't work unless the chalk bag it is in is of the same brand. Some weird corporate hand-forcing that necessitates individualized gear monopolies or the like. Once they got ya they've got ya!

I bought a refillable ball, can't remember the brand. I stopped using it because it was really stingy with chalk. Could never seem to get much of a coating without really working it. Maybe it was the chalk though and not the particular fabric. Maybe I should have tried refilling with a diff chalk before giving up on it.

Chalk socks seem best for gym use so you don't drop it all over the mats.

I don't like loose chalk and find a refillable sock ball to bot over chalk my hands. I like super chalk the best.

I bought one of the Metolius chalk balls and it was honestly terrible. I couldn't get any chalk to come out of it! I used it on several outings and finally gave up and bought a Bison. A friend also bought a Metolius and had the same experience.

+1 for Bison Ball

It took my Metolius ball a while to break in. Now I have no problem getting chalk from it. It wouldn't hurt to try another brand though.

open it up and dump 1/3 to 1/2 into a small zip lock and save for later..they work a lot better when they are not so full

I like to keep one in with some loose chalk, that way you never really run out of chalk, it might take a little bit to get you hands well chalked. Also I found it really helps to use a very finely ground chalk.

I used to work at a climbing gym and I can confirm they are great for not getting chalk everywhere. But even with the old ones that have gone through the wringer, its still kinda hard to get a solid coating. My advice is, like others have said, keep a little loose chalk in your bag as well.

Bump

Slightly off topic because it's not refillable, but the worst chalk ball is definitely the Metolius EcoBall.

I gave the Metolius refillable chalk ball a try 7 years ago, and I did not like how it didn't dispense chalk very readily. It was quite stingy with the chalk dispensing, especially compared to the Flashed brand of chalk balls.

My local shop sells Metolius refillable chalk balls and Flashed refillable chalk balls. Between those 2 brands, I always recommend people by the Flashed refillable chalk balls even though it's smaller than the Metolius one.

That said, I realized shortly afterwards that I actually don't need any chalk, so I haven't used chalk in almost 7 years.

No doubt different chalk balls have different levels of porousness. But another issue is that if you refill a chalk ball with chunks, nothing will come out---the chalk has to be powdered. So put your chalk in a ziplock bag and roll over it with a rolling pin or beer can, etc. to pulverize the chunks before loading up the chalk ball.

One of the main points about chalk balls is that they deliver less chalk. Experiments conducted by John Stannard 30 or more years ago indicate that using less chalk actually increases skin coefficient of friction over heavy coatings. The amounts of chalk people apply to their hands from loose chalk gives them a suboptimal grip, and you can see a partial recognition of this fact in the habit of chalking the hands and then blowing most of the loose chalk off.

Ecologically, there is a major difference outdoors if chalk balls are used. The residue left on the rock is far less, verging on undetectable in many cases, as opposed to the horrid and semipermanent (no, it doesn't ever completely wash off) degradation of climbs and scenery from chalk overuse.

The price one pays is more frequent chalking. And chalk balls don't work at all well if you need to get chalk on the backs of your hands for jamming.