Cloth Streching

[bongo]

In our club, two of the tables had their cloth streched, on these tables, it has the double baulk line effect, there are two baulk lines becuase of where the fitter streched the cloth it needs to be re-marked, is their anything one can do about this? Maybe a possible table rubber to rub out the old baulk line and other spots?

EDIT - I was once told that after you iron the table, the baulk line should be re-marked, do you people out there agree with that?

[senga147]

It depends what the table was marked with. In clubs you often find they are marked with permanent markers. This lasts longer than pencil. The lines will fade quite quickly if it is pencil. If you want to remove permanent marker lines I use cellulose thinners. Use a scrap of snooker cloth and gently rub with the thinner in the direction of the nap. The thinners will evaporate. Remember to rub only with the nap. Never against the nap.

[barracuda911]

that's the 'beauty' of marking the baulk line and D with pencil when the table is first covered with new cloth. When it's time for a stretch and new lines are marked, the older ones will wear away nicely.

[bongo]

It depends what the table was marked with. In clubs you often find they are marked with permanent markers. This lasts longer than pencil. The lines will fade quite quickly if it is pencil. If you want to remove permanent marker lines I use cellulose thinners. Use a scrap of snooker cloth and gently rub with the thinner in the direction of the nap. The thinners will evaporate. Remember to rub only with the nap. Never against the nap.

Thanks for the reply, the old lines were marked in white and the new lines in black, so you can see which were the new ones, but it seems like the new lines were marked with pens, permanent ones.

[Unkle Jackie]

I always use a Liquid Paper pen to mark lines on new cloth. If the cloth need restretching, the white Liquid Paper lines can be brushed away (takes some brushing !) and a new line drawn.

I found that after I became proficient in stretching new cloth, that no re-stretching was necessary. People on this side (USA) of the pond think the you and I are looney if we use an iron on our cloth. So, I always did my ironing (shrinking) after hours and no one was the wiser.

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[bongo]

Thanks Unkle Jackie. It is like that at my club, the owner thinks brushing does nothing to the table at all, but of course it cleans it. For napped cloths. ironing lays the nap in the correct direction. Irons are expensive though, and hot if you are not careful!

[Geoff Large]

Accetone is the best type of pure Solvent chemical to wipe away the line , it is used in the Dry cleaning industry so is cloth safe , use an old bit of Billiard cloth tip bottle over a small thumb sized part and rub across the line 3 inch at a time , if the baulk line is marked out with an ink type marker , be carefull that the ink will not just bleed into a thicker line .
Always use a soft leaded baulk pencil . never a felt tip , why do people want white baulk , it's only for a Camera to pick up on TV .
Accetone is available from chemists , you may get a funny look if you are a hoody , as they think you are going to sniff it .
If you cannot get hold of accetone use nail varnish remover with a good percentage of accetone in it , watch out for added oils in nail varnish remover as this can stain cloth .

Geoff