#11 snooker irons

[keyboard]

Hi

I have purchased a 10 foot snooker Table new, about a year ago...The problem that I am having is the balls keep on popping out of the pockets, especially the side pockets !!!!!!!

I have asked the Table maker about this and his reply was: "All new leather pockets are stiff and with the snooker pockets they are a tight pocket which makes it even worse. " . If that is the case, then after one year, they should be broken in by now...

He suggested to find some # 11 Snooker irons and see if that will solve the problem...

Just what are my options? It is quite frustrating when you want to put a little extra english but cannot because the ball will pop back out... I can do this at will any time.


Thanks Ron

[Geoff Large]

It just maybe that the pocket irons ( pocket plates to GB fitters ) are too close to the fall , the table may have been fitted with shallow capping width , thats the surround wood , if this was wider ( or greater depth ) the pocket plate could be positioned further back , thus avoiding bounce back against the fall , other possible faults could be too high pocket irons , or wrong angle pocket irons , if the face of the pocket iron is too high the ball will rebound back to the table high thus not falling down the fall into the pocket , also if too low the ball may hit the top of the iron and rebound slightly upwards , the face of the iron should be angled so that a ball defelcts back at a downward angle , if hit slow the ball should not bounce back , but if with pace it will .

one thing I will ask is why do the north americans refer to them as IRONS when most are made out of brass ? we just refer to them as pocket plates and they come in various designs such as top plates , broad bow , extra broad bow , extra extra broad bow these are the standard ones some are specific to their makers tables such as thurston jubilee plates and cox and yeman plates

I suspect you have a design fault in the table if it is a modern built one , but if it is a copy of an older table design then thats how they played back then , most vintage Burroughs and watts steel blocks do have bounce back issue's from the middle pocket iron ( plate ) due to the use of bolted up irone , modern two pin can be set further back , and thats what they use on the modern match tables today , if you have bolted up irons like a bvurroughs and watts table , this restricts how far you can position the pocket iron due tot he bolt having to be within the lower body of the cushion . two pin irons can be moved further back , BUT this can cause weakness in the supporting woodwork and break ( wood capping splitting under force ) out of the pocket iron can happen if positioned too far back .