how many slates on a snooker table

[justfofo]

i saw a table with 5 slates for sale, is this a normal table? how could it be flat with 5 slates ? how many pieces does the normal snooker table have?

[trigger666]

i think 5 slates is the norm (bloody heavy needs 4 of you) for a 12x6 table

[senga147]

Five pieces. Combined weight approx 900kgs. More if its the old 2" Welsh slates. I`ve worked on a few tables which had 4 slates but these are rare.

We sold a table to a client in Calgary which had 2.5 inch Welsh slates (five pieces. Now they were heavy!

[hurricane147]

I think the reason for having 5 slates is that if you had 4 the centre join would be straight across between centre pockets. So after a while you would see the join through the cloth!

[wildJONESEYE]

I think the reason for having 5 slates is that if you had 4 the centre join would be straight across between centre pockets. So after a while you would see the join through the cloth!

another good reason for having 5 slates not 4 or 3 is they are bloody heavy to move as it is lol

[Geoff Large]

I think the reason for having 5 slates is that if you had 4 the centre join would be straight across between centre pockets. So after a while you would see the join through the cloth!

Manufacturers did make them in 4 sections with the joint bang on the middle fall , this was a fault in manufacture . and they soon offset the joint to one side , making one of the four slates slightly larger in width with the centre falls on .

As the slates got thicker 4 slates where too heavy to carry , so that is when they changed to 5 to lower the weight per section .

When tables used to have wood beds ( Gillows and early Thurston ) these where in 3 sections , as they changed to slate they also changed to 4 because of the weight .

Having seen a few oddities in my time as a billiards fitter , I have come across a one piece 10 foot and a three piece full size .
Ive also come across a marble bed , also what is known as basterd sized tables which where made to fitr a room for example a 10 foot 8 inch by 5 foot 4 inch slate bed , oh and also a Glass cue .

The change to thicker slate also came when horse and carts changed to motorised transport , Rail and motorised transport where the norm for delivering tables around the country by the turn of the Century .

The thickest slates I have worked on where just a fraction under 3 inch , it was in our old Elston & Hopkin Billiard Hall in Newerk street Nottingham , it was that thick with the added slate wood lining that the bed cloth showed under the cushions , but it has now gone , as Spot on who run the Hall as a club now got rid of 4 tables for American pool .

[stan-mullin]

Manufacturers did make them in 4 sections with the joint bang on the middle fall , this was a fault in manufacture . and they soon offset the joint to one side , making one of the four slates slightly larger in width with the centre falls on .

As the slates got thicker 4 slates where too heavy to carry , so that is when they changed to 5 to lower the weight per section .

When tables used to have wood beds ( Gillows and early Thurston ) these where in 3 sections , as they changed to slate they also changed to 4 because of the weight .

Having seen a few oddities in my time as a billiards fitter , I have come across a one piece 10 foot and a three piece full size .
Ive also come across a marble bed , also what is known as basterd sized tables which where made to fitr a room for example a 10 foot 8 inch by 5 foot 4 inch slate bed , oh and also a Glass cue .

The change to thicker slate also came when horse and carts changed to motorised transport , Rail and motorised transport where the norm for delivering tables around the country .

Very interesting.
The Norman Clare website gives a great insight into how tables evolved over the years, a good afternoons reading in work!

I like the glass cue idea, do you have any further info Geoff?

[Geoff Large]

Very interesting.
The Norman Clare website gives a great insight into how tables evolved over the years, a good afternoons reading in work!

I like the glass cue idea, do you have any further info Geoff?

I have only seen one about 20 years ago , and it was at the first Frame Snooker club in Nottingham now Rileys , it belonged to a Geordie , his girlfriend at the time was Mangeress , and when he said he had a glass cue I thought he was winding me up , until he got it from the office .
Stange thing though , I saw a glass cue advertised on Ebay a couple of years ago , and when I asked if it was the same cue from first frame club nottingham , the seller quickly withdrew the cue from sale .
Now I did take a shot with this cue , it was very heavy and had a tip bonded to the end , it made a dinging noise when it struck the ball , I think this cue would have been some shop window display cue , I would think it would have been displayed on a central stand with a light shining through it , just like Lalique car mascots . it was too heavy to play with , so must have been some sort of selling advertisment prop by burroughs and watts . As they also made glass paper weights .
I think the Geordie's name was Ian , now I did hear a disturbing story about this guy who is apparently not with us anymore , but its not for this forums hears . hence why I think the cue on ebay was one and the same and who was ever selling it should not have had it , the seller was from Newcastle so it kind of all links in .