Table maintenance

[biggus stickus]

I must confess I used a vacuum on my table for the first time last week. It had not been used for some time and had managed to pick up a lot of cat hair despite being covered. Anyway as you say Geoff I knew my joints were all in good condition and I put an upholstery end on the vacuum and it worked perfectly. It removed all the hair, lint dust etc from the cloth and after a brush, iron and blocking it looked and played great again. There is no way I could of got it clean like that just using a brush.

[Geoff Large]

Be very careful when you use a vacuum on the table , even mentioning the use of them on this topic will make other users think it is the normal thing to do and use them .

The slate bed of a snooker table is made up of 5 pieces since around 1880 /85 onwards , this means there are 4 slate joints , if these are not perfect and have some chips out of them they are filled with either plaster of Paris or soft sand car body filler , you can sometimes suck the filler out of the joint and leave it on top of the slate under the cloth as a bump , a very expensive mistake as a re-stretch or re-cover is the only option to get it right again . even a low powered vacuum can sometime have the power to lift the filler out .

unless you know the state of the joints of a table you plan to use a vacuum on , then do not use one as the risk is too great .

however just under the end cushions there are no joints so suck away , the first joint is around 29 inch away from the end of the slate or 27 inch from the nose of the cushion give or take 1/2 an inch

[inevermissblue]

If you thoroughly vacuum your table brush and only lightly vacuum your table(s) each week, provided they are kept covered.yyou would only ever need your table brush for chalk dust only.

Discovered something very significant recently regarding brushing. Assuming that surface dust is tackled/vacuumed. This is not however the whole story. I play in a club which has 10 tables. 7 of them were recovered recently. The other three were left as their cloths were done not a million years previously. So what concerns me is the chalk that is re-distributed by brushing down to the black cushion. As the 3 tables in question all run out along the top cushion. This is because the chalk which is brushed down, accumulates along the entire length of the cushion.
So the best idea would be to capture the chalk dust in a pan as you go down towards the top cushion. Once finished you would need to vacuum the top cushions end to remove the brushed down chalk.

[itsnoteasy]

Aye it's not good is it Philip.

[philip in china]

The only table that's covered in my club is the match table, but that's only because the roof has a leak above it.

Yuck. I don't like the sound of that!

[itsnoteasy]

The only table that's covered in my club is the match table, but that's only because the roof has a leak above it.

[DeanH]

So, try it some time. Maybe if people see tables covered they will get into the habit.

oh I have but no reciprical response yet

[philip in china]

So, try it some time. Maybe if people see tables covered they will get into the habit.

[DeanH]

oh we have covers, some very old dust sheets
of course if they were my own tables (one day) it will be covered every time it is not beign used with the black fitted cover like I got for the single table at my old club.
The new club has three tables, and in the nearly 2 years being there I have never seen a table covered - ever.

[philip in china]

Mine was free with the table! (Thank you again, Geoff).

[thommo335]

mines always covered when not in use takes seconds to do, the fitted peradon cover makes it too simple not to be lazy.

That's a bit up market for me. Mine for the big table at my house is just a 2.5 x 4.3 metre plastic sheet. As much as anything like a tent groundsheet. Very tough and completely flexible. Does the job very well. On the little table I have, in China, it is a tailored cover out of a lightweight nylon with elasticated corners. Very light and easy.

£33 on fleabay shouldn't be too upmarket? ???

[philip in china]

mines always covered when not in use takes seconds to do, the fitted peradon cover makes it too simple not to be lazy.

That's a bit up market for me. Mine for the big table at my house is just a 2.5 x 4.3 metre plastic sheet. As much as anything like a tent groundsheet. Very tough and completely flexible. Does the job very well. On the little table I have, in China, it is a tailored cover out of a lightweight nylon with elasticated corners. Very light and easy.

[thommo335]

Table maintenance

mines always covered when not in use takes seconds to do, the fitted peradon cover makes it too simple not to be lazy.

[philip in china]

[QUOTE=DeanH;789882]no one covers the tables at the end of the night

I always cover my table after I have finished with it. I imagine most owners do.

[sharkster63]

Do not use an iron where the table slate was filled with wax, not a good idea, especially if he leveled some problem areas with wax as well. Cheers

Hi there!

About ironing: after how many game-hour do you advised to iron the cloth? is this a fix number or this depends only on the speed of the cloth?