Billiard Table
What's in a Billiard Table
Slate - Most high-end billiard tables have this
material under the felt as the playing surface. This is a large piece of a flat,
heavy, large bed of solid rock. Major
suppliers are Italy, Brazil, India, and China, with the
best quality slate for billiard table coming from
Italy. In a billiard
table, the thickness range from about 3/4" to 1", and
about 500lb average weight. Now you know why
billiard table is so heavy, it's not because of the
wood, but because of this big piece of rock under that
cloth. This has huge factor in table pricing. Now,
on lower-end tables you'll find some other base materials
like wood, plastic, and other composite materials like Slatron, which by the way one of the best alternative
for slate. It is made from highly-pressurized wood
fibers embedded on resin. It's very dense, at
least 15x denser that particle board, and it lasts
longer, and comes with good extended warranty too. The
table on the right has Slatron BUT with veneer
table cabinet. Now, The problem with
non-slate billiard table is that
they warp as they age, so you'd end up with bumpy
playing surface. With the slate, your playing
surface will continue on being perfectly flat until
you give up playing, hope you don't, which means you'll
enjoy the table as long as you enjoy playing billiard.
The problem is, slate billiard tables start around $1000.00,
which quite expensive for many people while the
non-slate ones fall anywhere below this price.
Felt - Is the commonly green cloth placed on
the playing surface. It is made mainly from wool
with mixed of nylon material tightly woven for
durability. It makes the surface consistently
smoother across the billiard table, and it provides the
amount of friction needed to do all kinds of
maneuvering and tricks with the billiard balls.
They do get old and used up over time. Good felt
last longer and provides smoother playing surface.
Cushion- A rubber material attached on the
rail that provides the bounce on the billiard balls.
Good billiard table like the Brunswick has good
precision design in their cushion that provides better
accuracy in angle of bounce that do other brands.
Cushion comes in different profiles that include BCA-approved
K-55, K-66, and U-23.
Inlays - This the white materials, mother of
pearl or plastic, that embedded around the rails to
provide reference points on the table.
Table Cabinet-
This is the frame the supports
the whole playing surface. This also has a huge
factor in table pricing. They are constructed
together from different combinations of materials
depending on target table price and final
destination. Laminated wood is commonly
found on inexpensive table and veneer for moderately
priced ones. Solid wood like mahogany,
tulip, oak, maple, pine, etc is what you get in high-end
tables. Billiard tables meant for public use are
constructed from combination of regular wood and
metal frame in order to withstand some abuse. The
billiard table on the picture has laminated wood
for a cabinet BUT has slate for playing surface. Now, you get
an idea how they play around with materials to come up
with a price-appealing billiard table with some
good stuff in it. It's a business after all.
Rails - This is the plank of the same type of
wood used in making the table cabinet that surrounds
the four edges of a billiard table.
Without mentioning the sculpture work,
now you get an idea what makes a cheap and
an expensive billiard table. Of course, it's all
about how much money you're willing to spend on a
billiard table that determines what quality you would
get. But, you know what... it's
all about being able to enjoy the game of billiard in
the comfort of your home with your family and friends,
so get what best for your budget and have fun with it!
Good Luck!
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