Dechalk my office!

October 16, 2006 10:57 AM

What kind of chalk should I be using in my office?

The chalk my university supplies creates a pervasive and possibly weaponized coating of white dust all over my desk, my clothes, my electronic equipment, etc. This is not good. Anybody have a brand of chalk they like which doesn't generate huge amounts of dust and is reasonably easy to erase? This is for my office, not a classroom, so the writing doesn't have to be dark enough to be read from afar. Online purchasability is a plus -- I'll buy twenty boxes and give them out as presents to everybody at work.

posted by escabeche to Shopping (7 answers total)

Maybe invest in a whiteboard or two every year? I'm sure you've thought of that already, but it had to be said
posted by spaceman_spiff at 11:42 AM on October 16, 2006

I know that the engineering department in my university has some special chalk they use for higher contrast and less dust. There are special chalkboards (newer, darker) in the eng buildings too; I don't know if the chalk requires the special board or not.

Googling "dustless chalk" gets lots of results; that's where I would start if nobody else has good ideas.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:55 AM on October 16, 2006

Don't use a standard fiber eraser unless you dampen it first. The best way to keep down dust is to damp erase everything and to wet clean frequently. No chalk is going to perform much better.

Seriously take the white board advice if you prefer less dust.
posted by JJ86 at 11:58 AM on October 16, 2006

Dustless chalk is available at most office supply stores.
posted by catburger at 11:59 AM on October 16, 2006

I've always been told that chalk dust kills electronics, especially computers. This is why whiteboards have begun to replace chalkboards in many places.

When I teach in schools, I find Crayola chalk pervasive, but I can't say it is low-dust.
posted by Riverine at 3:01 PM on October 16, 2006

When I was in graduate school, sometimes the chalk-distributors would leave boxes of Alpha chalk, which writes really smoothly, erases well, and was far superior to the other brands of chalk in the classrooms.

For colored chalk, I really like Omega chalk. It writes and erases well and the colors show up nicely (especially the yellow, pink, and orange).
posted by leahwrenn at 4:25 PM on October 17, 2006

The Alpha chalk that leahwrenn links to is what we use at my department. The normal-thickness version isn't my favorite (too brittle, too narrow), but I love the triple-width. For you, though, I wouldn't recommend it: the thicker stuff is correspondingly dustier.
posted by gleuschk at 5:54 AM on October 26, 2006