Reduce the nap.

[Blanchon147]

Is there anyway of reducing the effect of the nap on a snooker table without buying a new cloth?

[williak]

Sure there is, are actually. Never hit pocket weight shots. Instead, use drag where a backspinning cue ball hit at speed will track true until forward roll resumes just before impact with object ball. Use firm stuns instead of slow and weak pop shots. Minimize sidespin or mask it with backspin (see drag shot above.) Finally, adjust positional play away from nappy shots to those less susceptible to its effects. For example, position closer to object balls so nap has less distance to take effect. Also, position and choose shots that are more down the throat of a pocket than into a closed one, thereby keeping your shot margin as wide as possible. I'm sure with a little thought you can come up with many variations on the theme. The fun of snooker is devising effective counters to the many challenges the table presents, no?

[DandyA]

errrr ... I guess you're asking about something other than the obvious ways of brushing, blocking and ironing the cloth regularly ... what's the problem you're having with the nap?

[Joe_]

[Scratch head]. I'm as confused as DandyA. When a company's attempt to get Joe Davis to "endorse" the Janus (a napless cotton cloth) was answered by "...like playing on a shirt", the nap was further entrenched as an intrinsic characteristic of the English games of billiards and snooker. To want to reduce the effect of the nap would mean reducing an intrinsic part of the table. We know though that the No. 10 cloths used for professional tournaments have super short nap and the effect is thus reduced. On the other hand, heavier cloths tend to have greater nap effects. If this is your case, nothing other than normal wear will lessen it AFAIK.

[Blanchon147]

The nap is very strong if you want to pot a ball across the nap you have to aim to is miss and it will curl in to the pocket. I does brush it and iron the table every now and again just wondered whether there was anything else I could do.

[danam1]

How often should a snooker table be "blocked"?
ATB
Danny

[Blanchon147]

After i have brushed it so a couple of times a week. It is a old table if that makes any difference.

[danam1]

Thanks.
What about on a brand new cloth? (strachan 6811).
Danny

[Geoff Large]

lenth of the nap is variable on differant grades and makes .

I will first explain how the nap is put into the woven wool cloth . then explain how differant cloths react to ball movement over nap .

The way they put nap onto the cloth is by passing the cloth on a forward movement under a rolling tube of either fine wires or genuine teasle's ( thistle heads ) this is done under tension so that the cloth is always in constant pressure to the roller containing the teasles or wires , the result is a scratched long nap , if they do not get the tension correct then you may get slight flapping under the roller which will give some areas of longer nap than others , this clolth should be sold as seconds as the nap lenth ( after the cutt ) will not be consistant , but it sometimes gets through quality control .
after the nap is scratched in the cloth is then put onto what I call the lawn mower machine , this is a machine that cutts the nap to lenth , the blade has to be consitantly sharp and also checked for burrs etc , after the cloth has been passed through this machine it is ready to be quality controlled checked and then it will have the STROUD transfer applied to it , I do not know at what stage they put the embroidered logo in as I went around Strachans factory in Stroud many years ago before they where putting this onto the cloth .
the faster cloths have a very short nap applied to them , the harder wearing have a longer nap .

Differant makes in identical weights can give differant results , such as Stracahn 6811 tournement and Hainsworth smart , most players I have spoken to rate the Smart as a Faster cloth , I personaly think if it is it's marginal , number 10 and Hainsworh Match are diifereant beasts , they are ultra thin and very short napped , they do not last long in commercial use and I have recently had two cloths one of each brand just fall apart when stretching these on so the manufacturers over the years are trying to please the Match and Pro players but at the cost of in my opinion in an inferior product , nap lenth and thickness of cloth will effect Ball drift if played across or at a diagonal , resulting in the ball rolling off on a very slow shot or you may notice it when the ball is just slowing down a tend to drift or even snake as it passes over ruffed up nap .

Regular Brushing and Ironing and use a block to lay the nap down before the ironing , will help keep a cloth playing to it's best , on new cloths increase this process maybe 4 times a week , then after a good wear in time reduce to 3 then twice a week . Dust under the cloth will also effect the ball speed and accuracy , as will slack cloth , so a stretch between a two year life span will make the cloth faster and improve ball accuracy .

30 to 40 years ago you would have been playing on no6 west of england or Hunt and winterbottom cloths , if you think ball run off on todays modern fast cloths is bad , you should have played on these , over the years players complaining about cloths have reduced the weight and nap lenths to what we are useing today , I do not think there is any room for improvement in table speed and accuracy unless you go over to the American napless pool cloths .

I just wish there was a Youtube video of Strachan west of england ( now Miliken ) or Hainsworth showing how the cloth is manufactured , If you have seen the manufacture from the bales of wool to the finnished product first hand it is more to understand how it reacts when in use .

[williak]

Wonderful post! Thanks Geoff.

BTW, I agree with your analysis of cloths getting thinner and faster over time. The rugs we used to play on in the 1970s (espeically ones poorly maintained) were a true test of snooker fundamentals. Very little margin for error in position, speed, and spin. Many room owners in Ontario during the day would only replace a cloth when tears became regular occurances due to wear. So, we had to learn to play on tables surfaces ranging from something akin to shag carpet (new) to almost bare slate with not a trace of nap left (last legs).

[Joe_]

I just wish there was a Youtube video of Strachan west of england ( now Miliken ) or Hainsworth showing how the cloth is manufactured , If you have seen the manufacture from the bales of wool to the finnished product first hand it is more to understand how it reacts when in use .

The next best thing is if you could get your hands on a copy of "The Guinness Book of Snooker" by Clive Everton. There is chapter that describes how the cloth is manufactured - complete with some pictures. Lots of other interesting stuff in the book too!

[DeanH]

I just wish there was a Youtube video of Strachan west of england ( now Miliken ) or Hainsworth showing how the cloth is manufactured , If you have seen the manufacture from the bales of wool to the finnished product first hand it is more to understand how it reacts when in use .

Maybe not on Youtube but I have a vague memory of seeing such a film on TV showing billiard cloth being made from bundles of wool to being fitted.
This was many many years ago as I remember being very young and watching with my dad.
Maybe it is just my alzheimers kicking in