Club cut slate vs Italian slate

[fkhan]

You don’t need to import slates yourself, I had a quote last year when I was thinking about renovating another Aristocrat table and there was a company up north who could provide new slates for I think 5 or 600 quid?

Could you please send me their details?

[fkhan]

You don’t need to import slates yourself, I had a quote last year when I was thinking about renovating another Aristocrat table and there was a company up north who could provide new slates for I think 5 or 600 quid?

I enquired with a local table dealer here abiut Italian slates. He said he can import them. My concern is, how do I know if they are genuine?

I read some earlier posts which suggested that genuine Italian slates are darker and have Ardesia printed on their sides. Are there any other tell tale signs that I need to look out for? Like a provenance letter, weight of each slate etc. Thanks.

[mikee]

Italian slate is darker and might show signs of bits of flint in it ,its also 1 .75 inch thick .Chinese slate is pale grey colour ,looks too perfect ,is mostly 2 inch thick due to its soft nature and it sags ,some of it is composite made as well ,basically crap .Portugese slate is also crap .Welsh and Irish slate on the old tables is the best ,weighs more ,is rock solid ,very dark in colour .Theres a reason you see these Star tables having balls roll off all the time ,crap wood and crap slate .

[Danger Steve]

I enquired with a local table dealer here abiut Italian slates. He said he can import them. My concern is, how do I know if they are genuine?

I read some earlier posts which suggested that genuine Italian slates are darker and have Ardesia printed on their sides. Are there any other tell tale signs that I need to look out for? Like a provenance letter, weight of each slate etc. Thanks.

Hard to say really? Maybe a conversation for Geoff Large? He could probably even source you a good used set?

I know Chinese slate is 50mm instead of 45mm, colour I think could vary slightly with it being a natural product? My table being from 1983 the slate will no doubt be slightly different to a newer batch. Mine had a red stamp on the shorter side of each piece (can’t remember what it stated). Obviously you’ll have to make sure you have 6 holes across the 6ft length of the two end (corner pocket) slates. On the short end you have 2 holes in the two corner slates, 2 holes in the centre slate and 3 holes in the plain slates, making two sets of 6 holes either side of the middle pocket.

Sorry I may have missed an earlier post.. Are you building up/ refurbing your own table or just replacing slates?

[mikee]

Thurston's have said the reason why the chinese slate is cut for tables at 2 inch thick instead of 1.75 is because its not stable for a billiard table any thinner than that .Maryfield on here has some experience of the chinese tables and slates Steves table from the 80's will be of good quality slate and wood and is 100% a decent British made table

[Danger Steve]

Thurston's have said the reason why the chinese slate is cut for tables at 2 inch thick instead of 1.75 is because its not stable for a billiard table any thinner than that .Maryfield on here has some experience of the chinese tables and slates Steves table from the 80's will be of good quality slate and wood and is 100% a decent British made table

Everything of quality was made in the 80’s

[fkhan]

Hard to say really? Maybe a conversation for Geoff Large? He could probably even source you a good used set?

I know Chinese slate is 50mm instead of 45mm, colour I think could vary slightly with it being a natural product? My table being from 1983 the slate will no doubt be slightly different to a newer batch. Mine had a red stamp on the shorter side of each piece (can’t remember what it stated). Obviously you’ll have to make sure you have 6 holes across the 6ft length of the two end (corner pocket) slates. On the short end you have 2 holes in the two corner slates, 2 holes in the centre slate and 3 holes in the plain slates, making two sets of 6 holes either side of the middle pocket.

Sorry I may have missed an earlier post.. Are you building up/ refurbing your own table or just replacing slates?

Thanks. I am planning to buy a used table from the UK. In the event that doesn't work, I intend to buy Italian slates and join them to a table purchased here.

[fkhan]

Thanks Mikee.

[maryfield]

I have just imported two new sets of slates from Italy. If someone is offering new slates for £500-£600 they are 100% not Italian. Most likely they are Chinese. The Chinese slate has a high quartz content and is brittle. I’ve seen new slates from China that it was hard to tell which was the playing surface. There were grinding marks from machining on both sides. Same old story, you get what you pay for.

[fkhan]

I have just imported two new sets of slates from Italy. If someone is offering new slates for £500-£600 they are 100% not Italian. Most likely they are Chinese. The Chinese slate has a high quartz content and is brittle. I’ve seen new slates from China that it was hard to tell which was the playing surface. There were grinding marks from machining on both sides. Same old story, you get what you pay for.

Please let me know if they are for sale. A complete table would be even better.

[philip in china]

The ones I used to see when I was in China weren't even slate. They werea sort of man made marble.

[mikee]

The ones I used to see when I was in China weren't even slate. They werea sort of man made marble.

Yep , slate composite as well .Although the Chinese make pretty poor quality snooker tables ,they can’t really do anything about the crap slate ,it’s just what it’s like in that part of the world .

[philip in china]

Certainly my British slates are vastly superior.

[mikee]

The star table company would have been better opening up the Welsh mines and producing the slate from there ,obviously not a viable option due to expense ,but in a perfect world would produce a decent playing surface .

[Danger Steve]

Yep , slate composite as well .Although the Chinese make pretty poor quality snooker tables ,they can’t really do anything about the crap slate ,it’s just what it’s like in that part of the world .

Slate composite? Ground slate dust mixed with resin? Something like that? I wonder what difference there is in the weight of the individual pieces? I think mine weighed in around 180kg each, so just under a tonne combined. Obviously it’s the weight that gives the table stability, so you would hope the composite is a similar weight. I wonder what effect table heating has on warping the composite?

I think apart from lesser quality timber and fixings, the poor playability aspect is down to either a rushed installation or the components of the table where bent to start with, or bent over time due to poor storage… I mean really a solid piece of any slate (Welsh, Italian, Chinese etc) supported by a centre muntin is only spanning 2 1/2 feet! How much can that warp? This is assuming the slate is perfectly flat to start with and was shipped over and kept it’s shape. I’m no stone expert but if we say atmospheric conditions can’t warp slate, table heating can’t warp slate and there’s no way a 45-50mm piece of slate can bend over 2 1/2 feet then any slate really should be fine? The combined weight will be important in keeping the table steady, I think back in the day they experimented with thicker pieces to add more weight but the problem is being able to physically lift and manoeuvre them around.

To me the problem with Chinese/modern tables lies in the timber frame itself. Wood is extremely susceptible to conditions, fresh timber not left to season properly will warp, timber stored in a damp environment will warp, heat will warp it, etc etc, so many variables, it must be a table fitting nightmare! I think having the steel cushions helps the tour tables big time! Can you imagine if they used wood cushions! The tour tables spend there time being assembled and disassembled constantly, moved around in boxes, stored in warehouse moved to the next venue etc, a wood cushion would be all over the show! I like where the Rasson tables have gone and tried to embrace a steel framework to support the slate, if I ever sold my table for a new model then I would definitely look at the Rasson as a potential replacement. I just think they need to work on the looks . Snooker table engineering in general I think needs to move with the times, there’s only the cloth manufacturers who try to make improvements.