Any way to speed up a napped wol felt?

D

dcb1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My father who doesn't play pool very much just refelted his 8' table with an inexpensive napped, wool felt. It is so slow, the balls just slow down so drastically I have to hammer the ball very hard to get any position and even then, the balls just don't roll. (brand new aramith balls by the way so it's not the balls).

Without starting over and refelting it again with a worsted wool felt, is there any way I can speed it up? Anything I can apply to it?

Thanks.
 
dcb1 said:
My father who doesn't play pool very much just refelted his 8' table with an inexpensive napped, wool felt. It is so slow, the balls just slow down so drastically I have to hammer the ball very hard to get any position and even then, the balls just don't roll. (brand new aramith balls by the way so it's not the balls).

Without starting over and refelting it again with a worsted wool felt, is there any way I can speed it up? Anything I can apply to it?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Try a warm dry iron, no steam. And when you brush the table brush it from head string down to the foot of the table. That is typically which direction the nap goes. Good luck!
 
Take a STEAMING hot iron and evenly iron the cloth. Should be good after that :thumbup:
 
RunoutJJ said:
Take a STEAMING hot iron and evenly iron the cloth. Should be good after that :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Uh oh. I hear the sound of melted bees wax dripping onto the floor from under the table...

You're cruel, JJ. :p
-Sean
 
dcb1 said:
My father who doesn't play pool very much just refelted his 8' table with an inexpensive napped, wool felt. It is so slow, the balls just slow down so drastically I have to hammer the ball very hard to get any position and even then, the balls just don't roll. (brand new aramith balls by the way so it's not the balls).

Without starting over and refelting it again with a worsted wool felt, is there any way I can speed it up? Anything I can apply to it?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Start over and re-cloth it.....nap sucks; it's like putting on a green that
aint been mowed.

Ironing is worse, imo, unless you iron it every shot, 'cause the nap starts
to come back up as you play and your bridge hand creates rough spots.

I've seen a former world champion snooker player miss a full-length dead
weight roll-off by over a foot on ironed cloth (4rth game of the match)
The table was straight but the cue-ball had to cross a lot of finger marks.
 
As crazy as this sounds - shave it.

Long before I got my Diamond with Simonis 860 I had a 9ft Olhausen with Forstmann. This cloth was 21 ounce backed and slooow. I made a ramp that I could roll a ball down and measure the distance that it rolled.

I repeated this test many times and it always came out the same distance anywhere on the table. The ramp was short and the ball would roll 20 inches per try.

Then I took a old plug in electric razor and started shaving the surface of the cloth I broke the area down to 8 quadrants so it was easy to keep track of every square inch so I was less likely to miss an area. I would have to open the shaver up every so often to clean out the green "whiskers".

When I was done I repeated my ramp test and the ball traveled 22 .5 inches, a gain of 2.5 inches. This experiment did not turn my cloth into Simonis but it did make my table play noticeably faster. :cool:
 
Cuebuddy said:
As crazy as this sounds - shave it.

Long before I got my Diamond with Simonis 860 I had a 9ft Olhausen with Forstmann. This cloth was 21 ounce backed and slooow. I made a ramp that I could roll a ball down and measure the distance that it rolled.

I repeated this test many times and it always came out the same distance anywhere on the table. The ramp was short and the ball would roll 20 inches per try.

Then I took a old plug in electric razor and started shaving the surface of the cloth I broke the area down to 8 quadrants so it was easy to keep track of every square inch so I was less likely to miss an area. I would have to open the shaver up every so often to clean out the green "whiskers".

When I was done I repeated my ramp test and the ball traveled 22 .5 inches, a gain of 2.5 inches. This experiment did not turn my cloth into Simonis but it did make my table play noticeably faster. :cool:
Click to expand...

Very inventive, I've never thought of that...over 10% faster.

ps..to the OP
Check to see that the cloth is tight...loose cloth is slow cloth.
 
pt109 said:
Very inventive, I've never thought of that...over 10% faster.

ps..to the OP
Check to see that the cloth is tight...loose cloth is slow cloth.
Click to expand...

Thanks I was desperate and scared to tell the ole lady I wanted to drop $250 on new cloth:embarrassed2:
 
Cuebuddy said:
As crazy as this sounds - shave it.

Long before I got my Diamond with Simonis 860 I had a 9ft Olhausen with Forstmann. This cloth was 21 ounce backed and slooow. I made a ramp that I could roll a ball down and measure the distance that it rolled.

I repeated this test many times and it always came out the same distance anywhere on the table. The ramp was short and the ball would roll 20 inches per try.

Then I took a old plug in electric razor and started shaving the surface of the cloth I broke the area down to 8 quadrants so it was easy to keep track of every square inch so I was less likely to miss an area. I would have to open the shaver up every so often to clean out the green "whiskers".

When I was done I repeated my ramp test and the ball traveled 22 .5 inches, a gain of 2.5 inches. This experiment did not turn my cloth into Simonis but it did make my table play noticeably faster. :cool:
Click to expand...

Did you gel or foam shaving cream? You did not dry shave your poor table?
 
dcb1 said:
My father who doesn't play pool very much just refelted his 8' table with an inexpensive napped, wool felt. It is so slow, the balls just slow down so drastically I have to hammer the ball very hard to get any position and even then, the balls just don't roll. (brand new aramith balls by the way so it's not the balls).

Without starting over and refelting it again with a worsted wool felt, is there any way I can speed it up? Anything I can apply to it?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Probably won't be too much help but here are my opinions.
1) I may get roasted for this, but I wouldn't get too hung up on worsted cloth. I prefer it, but there are some really good napped cloths out there. I really used to like J P Stevens, which IIRC is now Forstmann. However, the cloth that I had was not backed. In my experience, backed cloth plays slower. Having said that, I recognize that it does not help your situation, it just seems that people turn their noses up at napped cloth and I don't think that's necessarily justified.

2) Despite your assurances, it could be the balls. Check the side of the box and see if the Aramiths are the "Bridgestone Edition." They tend to abruptly skid to a stop.

Roger
 
RogerO said:
Probably won't be too much help but here are my opinions.
1) I may get roasted for this, but I wouldn't get too hung up on worsted cloth. I prefer it, but there are some really good napped cloths out there. I really used to like J P Stevens, which IIRC is now Forstmann. However, the cloth that I had was not backed. In my experience, backed cloth plays slower. Having said that, I recognize that it does not help your situation, it just seems that people turn their noses up at napped cloth and I don't think that's necessarily justified.

2) Despite your assurances, it could be the balls. Check the side of the box and see if the Aramiths are the "Bridgestone Edition." They tend to abruptly skid to a stop.

Roger
Click to expand...

Its what I learned to play on, and you had to develope a powerful stroke to play on it compared to simonis, which is just a finese game.
 
Table

Sounds like you could have a number of problems... The cloth could be on upside down, cloth could be installed in a fashion that is no good for proper rail rebound, the rails could be set up out of specification for optimum play, install the cloth by gluing the cloth to the entire playing surface of the slate, aged cushions or a loose rail..... might be a can of worms. I would have a pro check it out'
-
I have a cloth that plays fast! And it's a nap cloth' it's a new brand of cloth- pro-line.
 
luke said:
Spray starch and iron.
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Hahahah I used to help a room owner I was friends with do this before his tourneys.... You forgot the last part which was to armor-all it after you were done....

Made unplayable tables act like they were the cream of the crop until the armor-all gave out and then you could just keep reapplying until the humidity in the environment raised the nap up... was time to restarch and iron again at that point.....
 
dcb1:
As a follow-up, if you can afford it, your best bet is what others have been saying. Change the cloth to what you're used to. If you don't, it will play head games with you. You will always be saying, "I would have made that shot on Simonis," or "I would have gotten shape if it wasn't for this nappy cloth."

The flip side is that if you can learn to adjust to what you have, you'll have another tool in your arsenal to help you adjust to whatever playing conditions you encounter elsewhere. You can overcome the head games which will make you a stronger and more adaptable player. This is similar to playing on a bar box vs. 9 footer. The game is different, and shot selection may depend on the table size. You'll only know the difference if you develop as a player on both types of equipment. Ditto large or heavier cueballs.

Good luck.

Roger
 
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Well, I tried ironing and I tried soaking with water to try and get the wool to shrink...no noticeable difference.

I don't trust myself with the shaving idea...could really mess things up.

I think this is a classic case of an old table that needs some money invested in it. I think new rubber and new felt is the way to go.
 
dcb1 said:
Well, I tried ironing and I tried soaking with water to try and get the wool to shrink...no noticeable difference.

I don't trust myself with the shaving idea...could really mess things up.

I think this is a classic case of an old table that needs some money invested in it. I think new rubber and new felt is the way to go.
Click to expand...

That's the spirit......slow cloth takes the joy out of the game.
 
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