What are the pitfalls to buying older tables?

perfectpocketz said:

This is such a hard question to answer....but better understood when your in front of the table.....for example.....you said about the 3 rail shot into the corner.....a lot of variables come into play....how much English....how much speed on the cue ball....I do understand a little more this and a little more that changes everything.
That's the main reason you will see players checking the speed of the table....how much English the cushion take....before they play their match....with pockets roll in or out.
The best way of knowing does your table play well is when the cloth wears in and the slide of the new cloth goes away.
Spinning a ball with your fingers at slow speeds can give you a good idea of how the cushions are going to react.
Does the ball bounce before the English takes....you can see if the ball is spinning pretty good but the ball comes off at and angle sharper than what you think the ball should have.....look at the ball spinning as it goes into the rail.....if you think the ball comes off the rail not taking the spin like it hits the rail and slides instead of twisting first...you can see the ball spinning but don't seem to take the angle of spin you think it should.....your rails could be low....now again this is confusing.....cause if the rails are high they may trap the ball and take more English and come off the rails slower.
This to me....and I could be wrong.....but it just seems to be impossible to tell someone how their rails play....without being in front of the table and watching the responce of the cushions.
Different sets of cushions play different.....height...angle...glue...cloth...so many things will effect the balls coming off the rails.
Truth be told....I can't tell someone how to check if their cushions play corretly....myself...I have to be in front of the table.....and yes I know that's and terrible answer. But I'm just trying to be honest.
How the pockets accept the balls......did English effect the ball going into the pocket.
I wish I could give you a secret way of knowing how to check and see if your tables play fair....good or great.....I can't on this site.
Like I said earlier....when your playing and you hit balls and expect the cue ball to travel off the cushions in a certain way and it don't.....you will know if you play on other tables and the ball do something different.
That's why I've always said.....if you don't know how to at least play fair....how could you ever say I had such and such do my rails and they play great.....now you know why hacks get away with doing hack work....and people say....he did a good job....they don't know what a bad job is until someone points it out.....and to point it out....I think you have to be in front of the table.
Playing pool is time consuming....the more you play the better you get.....so the better you get....the more you know how tables should play when you use English and expect the cue ball to do something....and it doesn't.
I don't know how to explain to everyone....try this or try that....and your table plays great...or it play bad. Sorry
Mark Gregory

Click to expand...

perfectpocketz said:

This is such a hard question to answer....but better understood when your in front of the table.....for example.....you said about the 3 rail shot into the corner.....a lot of variables come into play....how much English....how much speed on the cue ball....I do understand a little more this and a little more that changes everything.

That's the main reason you will see players checking the speed of the table....how much English the cushion take....before they play their match....with pockets roll in or out.

The best way of knowing does your table play well is when the cloth wears in and the slide of the new cloth goes away.

Spinning a ball with your fingers at slow speeds can give you a good idea of how the cushions are going to react.

Does the ball bounce before the English takes....you can see if the ball is spinning pretty good but the ball comes off at and angle sharper than what you think the ball should have.....look at the ball spinning as it goes into the rail.....if you think the ball comes off the rail not taking the spin like it hits the rail and slides instead of twisting first...you can see the ball spinning but don't seem to take the angle of spin you think it should.....your rails could be low....now again this is confusing.....cause if the rails are high they may trap the ball and take more English and come off the rails slower.

This to me....and I could be wrong.....but it just seems to be impossible to tell someone how their rails play....without being in front of the table and watching the responce of the cushions.

Different sets of cushions play different.....height...angle...glue...cloth...so many things will effect the balls coming off the rails.

Truth be told....I can't tell someone how to check if their cushions play corretly....myself...I have to be in front of the table.....and yes I know that's and terrible answer. But I'm just trying to be honest.

How the pockets accept the balls......did English effect the ball going into the pocket.

I wish I could give you a secret way of knowing how to check and see if your tables play fair....good or great.....I can't on this site.

Like I said earlier....when your playing and you hit balls and expect the cue ball to travel off the cushions in a certain way and it don't.....you will know if you play on other tables and the ball do something different.

That's why I've always said.....if you don't know how to at least play fair....how could you ever say I had such and such do my rails and they play great.....now you know why hacks get away with doing hack work....and people say....he did a good job....they don't know what a bad job is until someone points it out.....and to point it out....I think you have to be in front of the table.

Playing pool is time consuming....the more you play the better you get.....so the better you get....the more you know how tables should play when you use English and expect the cue ball to do something....and it doesn't.

I don't know how to explain to everyone....try this or try that....and your table plays great...or it play bad. Sorry

Mark Gregory

Click to expand...

arcticmonkey said:

It seems like a nice weekend project for an engineer out there would be to build a machine that tests how any table plays. Like a much more complicated version of the Stint Meter in golf, it could automatically perform a battery of tests by projecting a ball at different speeds with different spin rates into various spots on each rail and into each pocket facing etc. while producing a standardized/benchmarked report. Place it in the middle of the table and have it automatically scan for rail nose height etc. too.

Just a thought.

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realkingcobra said:

What Mark is trying to say is that without being actually on the table playing, you can't get the feeling as to how the table plays. Mark and I both know and agree on that aspect of rebuilding a pool table and how it should play when its done. When a table plays perfect, it has a flow to it that as a player you can feel, but its very hard to explain in words what that feel is. I test all the tables I rebuild by banking the cue ball all around the table 9 rails,then the length of the table 5 rails. That gives me a great insight as to how the table flows as I watch the reaction of the cue ball coming off the rails, as I see the speed in which the cue ball travels, the distance it travels, and how fast or slow it gets there, including how the rails sound when the cue ball comes in contact with each rail, and how the rail feels when the cue ball is bouncing off the cushion. There's way to much to pay attention to, to try and put this into words.

Glen

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